Hey there! My name is Arka Prabha Chowdhury. The name sounds weird, right? Well, that's because I was born in West Bengal and that's a quite common Bengali name which translates to 'Sun'.

I am currently pursuing Computer Science and Engineering(5th Semester) at BV Raju Institute of Technology in Telangana, India.

The college may not be renowned all over the world but it comes among the top 10 Engineering universities/colleges in Telangana.

So, I have been living in Telangana for the last 10 years or so. But yet I can't speak not understand Telugu, the native language here, properly. So that's where the outsider part comes in.

I had this fear before entering the college that I wouldn't fit in as I would be surrounded by students who don't speak English well and only know Telugu and so on. You get the idea. But, to my surprise, upon entering the college itself, sitting in my class, within the initial week itself I found my friends. The best part? I still talk to them every day and discuss topics that I love speaking about. Yes, there is still a language barrier, especially amongst seniors and teachers. But I don't let that affect me much.

My first year of college was pretty fun for me as an introvert, sitting at home watching online classes at home on my tablet, and playing on my PS4 while doing so 🫢. (Thanks corona I guess?)

But the other side of the coin was that I couldn't connect with my peers properly. Throughout my life, I have been an achiever in academics and sometimes sports and drama and I wanted to be the same in my college too. So, I love to mingle with like-minded people i.e Toppers.

But that couldn't happen in my first year and I failed to even start coding properly as I had no proper guidance. I did not even do any proper online courses.

So my entire first year went downhill but I still managed to bag an SGPA of 9.68 in my first semester.

Once I started going to college, I interacted with my intellectual peers and understood the value of coding and I immediately knew that I was lagging behind and that I need to start getting serious about it.

So, my second year just ended and man oh man, I think 2021-2022 was the best year of my life. I had so many experiences. I learnt the basics of coding, found my actual interest-Front end Development, and found my new trio group of friends ( Everyone has one right?),worked on several projects, placed 9th in India in a hackathon, won my college hackathon along with my team, led my team through several projects and got many certifications.

I have also participated in my college's MUN and it was quite interesting to participate in a formal debate.( I also looked pretty cool in a suit and tie, it's on the cover image)

I have also recently started updating my LinkedIn profile(Check it out!) and I just love being appreciated for my hard work and connecting with my peers, showcasing my projects and whatnot.

Now, I enjoy the lavish college campus along with legit tasty canteen food, every other day and gossip with my friends, play games on phones and so on.

I would also like to add that my college faculty is so helpful and caring. They treat every student like their own child. They have guided me and helped me along the way. I am proud to say that I have created an identity in the college and most of my peers even from different sections know me and so do the dean, Head of Department etc. It's just an amazing feeling to be recognised everywhere.

Soon, I will work on huge projects on my own and start looking for internships. Wish me luck everyone!

Hope that u enjoyed reading my first blog!

#BlogsWithCC