Seven freshmen will embark on a new school sponsored trip to India over spring break to experience Indian culture first hand with Global Studies Instructor Martha Schuur and yoga instructor Judith Sekler.

Schuur and Sekler have collaborated with Studies Abroad for Global Education (SAGE) to plan the trip, and a SAGE instructor will be traveling with the group the entire time. SAGE has been leading trips to India for eighteen years.

The trip will be based in Northern India, giving students a more rural, rather than fast city-life, experience. Students will visit the Himalayas, the Ganges, and the Taj Mahal, along with experiencing Tibetan culture. Marlborough has hosted trips to Spain, Italy, and France, but never before to India.
“The trip appeals to someone who wants an experience in a developing world culture, and who wants to see first hand the things we talked about in global studies,” said Schuur.

“I really want to travel further outside the country, and India seems like the perfect place,” said Lauren ’13. “I hope to come back knowing a lot more about the country because it has a really interesting culture.”

The trip will also incorporate yoga.

“The whole trip is yoga: getting through the trip, living cooperatively, being where yoga sprang from. All of it is yoga, union with the self and the universe. We will do the physical practices of asana (poses) when we can, but that is not the focus,” said Sekler.

India is a growing and diverse country, and the trip allows students to see first-hand the effects of globalization. According to Schuur, the trip is jam-packed and enriched with Indian culture and religion, over-night trains, and an elephant ride.

Neither Schuur nor Sekler have been to India before, but they believe this will be be a good thing because everyone will be experiencing things for the first time.

Although the trip is open to ninth through twelfth graders, most sophomores and juniors will not be able to take the trip due to college trips over spring break. The majority of sophomores are going on the school-organized college tour, and many juniors take their own college trips. This conflict in timing has left mostly freshmen interested in the trip.

The trip costs $4,300, and includes all expenses except for students’ visas and shots. Regardless of how reasonable the high cost might be, numerous students said it was a primary factor for not participating.