By Gayathri (Class of 2026)
I am an only child back home. My parents were absolutely sure that they were not going to send away their only child, still 15, to Pune, to a boarding school. But then that was exactly what happened.
Coming to MUWCI, I can safely say that I was NOT homesick for the first 3 days. That’s when I had my first breakdown at MUWCI. I was sobbing my heart out to my second year …. ( I am so extremely grateful I have her in MUWCI). I told her I wanted to go home and that I couldn’t stay here, in the middle of a forest on top of a hill, where nobody knew me. She sat beside me, and she started telling me stories about when she was a firstie. How she too had missed home, how she too had called her parents and how she was in a lot of ways similar to how I was back then.
And that is when I realised, these people try their best to make you feel at home so you don’t miss being home. I realised this was what Gaurav ( Our Head of College ) meant that day when he said “ MUWCI will become your second home”.
The first two months were so packed with Pune Quest, Paud exploration, Buddy ball, Talent shows and so much more…. that you are forced to meet and interact with so many different people. In the process, you end up making really close connections to a lot of them. MUWCI keeps you so busy that you don’t really get the time to sit and think. You get caught up in a lot of stuff happening here, and then sooner than you realise, you are a few months away from becoming a second year. And sooner than you realise you have to be that comforting figure to your incoming firsties.
And all of this absolutely does not mean that I never got homesick ever again. In fact, I did a whole lot of times. But then I had my friends whom I could go talk to, friends who will make me feel at home.
And now I am starting to fully understand why the second years are already upset about leaving in a few months. You leave this place with a lot of memories and experiences you will never forget.
So yeah…
MUWCI has become my second home – my second home with my roommates, advisors, faculty and friends. It’s just one big family. One big family that tries their best to make you feel at home.
