Incredible India: What could have been

[NOTE: this is a post aiming GLP-participants, co-workers & other university/business/professional/.. trip  participants and concerns the "what could have been better" part of our GLP-trip to India. Mind, this is not a letter of complaint, nor is it a "you should've". I'm writing this because there is always room for improvement. I'm writing this because I strongly believe in the GLP-concept and hope that it will continue to improve itself in the years to come.]

Eating the Taj Mahal, because I can

1. Pre-tripping
1. Trip presentation: before we left on our trip, we had only received a brief and general briefing about the GLP-program as a whole and the 'trip'-part was only a part of this. I realize that I missed one (out of only 2) meeting and maybe more information was given at that point. But it would have been nice if we would have received more information about the exact things we were going to do/visit/... during the trip. As this may influence the decision for students to come along or not. It's about value for money in the end, right? 
2. Interview: we have noticed that, unfortunately, not all students were part of 'the group'. If there are only 18 students travelling, and two or three are not part of the group or even trying to get in touch with the other members, I start thinking why they joined an international group on a multicultural trip. If they only want to stick around peope they know, instead of interacting with new and unfamiliar faces, they might as well stay home in my opinion. I believe that the 250-words of motivation we are supposed to write to be 'allowed' to go on the trip are too little and actually useless. Who even reads that? Therefore I think that having some kind of solllicitating interviews for GLP-trips might be a good idea. This will: 
• Filter at least some 'loners' out, which are unlikely to become an active member of the group (Yes, I know this might also scare people away. It's just an idea, ok?)
• Make students engage themselves, let them think about why they want to/deserve to participate in the GLP-trip
• Again teach students how to act in a 'professional' interview. 
3. Forming a group: the mere two meetings we had before the departure were too short and too few to get to know each other. If twenty people are going on a ten-day trip, they should kind of already know each other before the leave in order to improve their experience and decrease the awkward 'what's your name?'-questions after three days... One or two group meetings of an hour or so, combined with the trip presentations, can be enough for everyone to get to know at least the names and home country, increasing the cultural experience for students.
2. Management
1. Timing: one of my main complaints. How often can we leave too late? Well appareantly, every, single, day. We left late because someone was late, but it usually were the same people, every time over and over again. This did not only frustrate myself (in particular) and others, but it also decreased the experience of everyone. It's not that hard: make clear that coming +5mins too late is not done. If they are, they will actually be left behind (or fail for the GLP-points). We're all grown-ups participating in this. We all have had deadlines for courseworks to follow. We are capable of coming on time, so follow your word and leave them behind. It will only need to be done once. I can assure you. I repeat: Scheduled stuff should start on time. 
2. GLP-office delegates: Yes you. You sweet people, who get paid to go on a tiring trip to the other side of the world with some of Coventry's most awesome students. You did great, ready to talk about pretty much everything if we asked about it. But that's where the problem is. We had to ask for it (well not always.). But on certain moments you need to step up and make a decision. If it takes 40mins for the group to decide what the plan is, you step up and say what the plan is. You're still the boss in the end, you're still the guide and we expect you to guide us. So if you plan something, accept changes, but also expect from us to follow this planning. So leave us behind if we're late, but don't waiste time if you can either. More co-operation with the local guides/contacts/... might be usefull. It's kind of weird if 'customers' (being the students) need to start deciding that its better to take the bus straight back because it might be after midnight before we get home if we don't leave at that point. But hey, it's a tiring trip for you too. And you were great, thanks for joining and making this possible! 
3. Representation of the University of Coventry: this is a difficult topic. Yes, CU should be represented equally. Just like the University is a mix of people and cultures, so should the GLP-group be. But, as said, some people are just not made for being in a big group and participating in group activities. So maybe the representation should be slightly adapted? Or is that "excluding" peope? Nevermind then. 
4. Visiting sites and sightseeing during visits
1. Guides: Please make sure the guides, wherever we go: are understandable, know what they are talking about, don't have any tricks up their sleeve to make us buy junk,... etc. How hard can it be to find someone who knows a lot about (part of) north-east India and can accompany us for the whole week? 
2. Shimla: an eight hour (one way) trip to a small mountain city, to visit a temple with monkeys -we still have no idea why this temple is so important...- and a short night to then again be in a four hour busride, is not my idea of perfect time management. Shimla was a great place and experience, but maybe it should be cancelled if we can only stay so little? Or instead of leaving in the morning, leaving early afternoon and do a nice walk in the mountains during morning hours, seeing the sunrise etc? Just some ideas I'm throwing around here...
3. Company visit: Infosys: the idea of the company visit was good, almost mandatory in my opinion even. In the end, it's still supposed to be a study trip right? Infosys as a choice was great. Global company, from an emerging market but with high tech products and services. Amazing. But honestly, I don't care how big their tennis court or food building is. Please next time, give us a (Powerpoint!-) presentation on the company, its strategy and where the future will lead, followed by a debate and/or Q&A.
4. Delhi: Ok, Delhi is big. & ok, we had little time. But when getting to some place, getting of the bus, hearing only half of what the guide's saying as there are too many people around (and half of what she was saying was appareantly wrong anyway), taking a group picture and getting back on the bus is simply too touristic for me. We want to see the monuments yes, but we'd prefer to see one monument less and have some more cultural input instead of being the 'average white-socks-in-sandals and a mickey mouse t-shirt' tourist guy. Thank you.
5. Lovely Professional University
1. Buddies: after our first day at the university (yes, after al the lectures), we got appointed two 'buddies' from the Uni. Two nice ladies were introduced to us to guide us around campus. Well, we had already been guided around the day before. We did not see them again (as we left for three days) until after the debate on Saturday. The idea of giving buddies was great. But they should've actually spent time with us. Maybe it's an idea to take them along with us while we are visiting all the sightseeing locations? It would enfore our group with two native language speakers, of our age, and we would be able to exchange a lot more cultural ideas and feelings at the same time. So security (language) and fun (exchange) can be combined!
2. Debate: awesome concept and great idea to do it against (and in front of) LPU-students. Simply great idea. One negative point: the GLP-delegates were nowhere to be seen during the students' preparation time. Some (mental) support would have been nice!
3. Closing ceremony: very nice that all this was done for us. But honestly, an 'official' ceremony event with camera crew, official speeches of +3 people and an individual picture when we all received our certificate is kind of ridiculous when the GLP-students are the only people in the classroom. Do it right after the debate. Even better: make the debate known around campus (send an e-mail to all students) so that the hall would be full during the debate as well as during the (immediately after the debate) closing ceremmony!
6. The girls want something (and the guys too): In the end, we still are tourists yes. Maybe not with the white-socks-in-sandals. But we are, which means that we would like to buy actual real and original souvenirs as well. Please find some time in the schedule (preferable an afternoon in Delhi) for everyone to do as they please: shopping, sleeping, more sightseeing, etc. We want to buy junk yeah, but not in a mall! Take us to traditional Indian Bazars. We know we are western and we might get robbed if we do something stupid. But we are young adults so we should be capable of taking care of ourselves I believe. So please, no more malls. Ever. 
7. Post-tripping: after a week (or more, depends on the timing of the trip) a reunion with the whole group could be a great event to discuss the trip, improvements/lacks,... and exchange pictures, video's, feedback etc. 

Mind you, we had a great time. Again, this is not to tell you that the whole trip was bad. I do not want to offend anyone or anything. I am purely writing this so that people can learn from it. And also a bit because I need to sort out my frustrations. It was great. But there is always room for improvement right? Experiences are the key to success!