When applying for university, it did not occur to me that I would be spending a week outside of England as part of my course, let alone spending a week in India! It didn’t even sink in until I checked in at Heathrow airport! My trip to Mumbai was a part of my third year module, Mumbai Unbound: Development Futures. The main purpose for the trip was to explore places and themes we had studied over the past few months, and to carry out a group project in the latter part of the week.

Everyday in Mumbai was very eventful and exciting! On our first day we were taken on a tour of the city and went to see famous attractions such as the Gateway of India and The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. There were many highlights of the trip, including the visit to the Gandhi Museum, participating in a group interview with the manager of a telecommunications company, Dhobi Ghat which is the largest open air laundromat, and Colaba Market (a fun place to get cheap souvenirs). We also visited Dharavi – known as ‘Asia’s biggest slum’- twice during our stay in Mumbai. Although we all had presumptions before entering the slum, we were all pleasantly surprised. While the residential areas were very claustrophobic, there was a nice atmosphere and a large community there. My group project was about the leather industry in Dharavi, which I will be writing an article on in the near future!

Most evenings, we went to different restaurants, exploring the different tastes of Indian (and Chinese!) cuisine. The food was very cheap in comparison to London. For example, on our first day, we went to an Indian restaurant and ordered bread, a curry with rice and a drink, and the bill was only 2,000 rupees (£2)! All in all, the trip was definitely one of the most educational and enjoyable weeks and it is somewhere I will never forget. I am so fortunate that I was able to go on this trip and explore somewhere completely different. One of the main things I realised is that there are two extremes in Mumbai: there are derelict buildings and poverty, but it is also a city that is home Antilia – the second most expensive house in the world!

Apart from the loud noise (I don’t recall one moment when you couldn’t hear a car beeping) and the chaotic traffic, Mumbai was a real eye-opener and an experience I would recommend to anyone.

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