Today was a much anticipated day for our section—we would be driving to Pune to meet the SWE Pune Affiliates. This is the first time our section has had the opportunity to meet an international SWE group. We were able to meet for a few hours and discuss many things from how our outreach went last week, to how the SWE Pune Affiliate group functions, how individuals chose their respective engineering fields, how college admissions and what college life is like, if there is a difference in how women vs men are treated as engineers in the workplace, managing work-life balance, to how the SWE India conference went. I think our discussion really opened our eyes to how engineering is perceived in various places around the world and to different ways we can run outreach activities with k-12. Additionally speaking with a professional SWE section was good for us to learn and think of other ways to connect with professional sections near us either in person or virtually for mentoring and other support.
Following this productive meeting we went to the mall for about 2.5 hours for lunch and some shopping. The mall reminded me of the Mall of America because of the set up, number of levels, and the attractions beyond shopping stores (like the high flying simulation, arcade section, vehicle exhibit, and outdoor amusement park rides and rock climbing wall). I was able to get a few new tunics and a charging cord for my computer because mine wasn’t working here, so now my laptop has risen from the dead and is functional once again! After the mall, what did we do? Drove to a special shop that only sold sarees! We all tried on sarees and many of us ended up purchasing one. I was amazed at the shear number of options as well as how inexpensive most of us were able to purchase a saree and the undergarments for.
All in all, our drive there (including a quick stop at a well known Hindu temple), meeting with SWE Pune, shopping, and return drive was over 14 hours. Needless to say I was so exhausted I immediately came home, packed up my suitcase and crashed by 10:30pm. Our morning schedule tomorrow begins at 5am to start the 5-7 hour drive from Walchandnagar to Aurangabad, so rest is a good plan.
P.s. I'll upload a photo of our SWE UofM and Pune together and the Saree shop takeover when I get a chance. For now these are a few images from the temple.
It sounds like you're gaining a lot of knowledge related to similarities and differences, which you can bring back and share with others! Like you said, you may be able to use those ideas when doing outreach in the future.
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