How does a day in the life of an Indian girl
compare to the day in the life of an American girl?
You may be surprised to discover that the girls have many more similarities than differences!
Scroll down to read about Uppari's and Ellie's lives on opposite sides of the world.
We thank Uppari for sharing the details of her life and Valerie Bartlett at Commit2Change for connecting Uppari with our Girl Scout troop.
Uppari Revathi is a 16-year-old girl and is in 10th grade. She has a 25-year-old older brother who is an inspiration to her because of his hard work and dedication toward his goals. Uppari and her brother are orphans.
Uppari's brother is extremely smart and always scores high marks on his exams. He is very polite by nature and is loved by everyone. He takes care of Uppari, encourages her, and wants to see her in a good position. Her brother enjoys reading and wants to become a doctor. To attain this goal, he is studying Physiotherapy at NIMS University in the Indian state of Rajasthan.
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Uppari starts her day at 5:30 AM on normal days, at 4:30 AM when she has karate, or at 6:30 AM on holidays. She eats her breakfast and then gets ready for school. Her school starts at 8:30 AM, but during the summer, it starts at 7:30 AM because the heat gets so intense later in the day.
She leaves for school and then attends all her classes. Her classes include Biology and Math, both of which are among her favorites. She also takes Tech Lab, a Commit2Change program that teaches girls a rigorous coding and IT curriculum, and digital lab. Her teachers sometimes show her inspirational movies, and she enjoys those the most. She sits with her friends during lunch, and her school ends at 5:00 PM.
Uppari normally has lots of homework, but since she and her classmates are currently doing board exams, there is no homework. After school, Uppari studies for school, takes karate classes, and eats dinner. She also has to do some chores, including keeping her bed clean and arranging her books on her shelf.
On weekends, Uppari likes to read, watch TV, and do arts and crafts. She is currently learning Japanese and really enjoys learning new things.
Ellie lives in the state of Wisconsin, USA. She starts her day at 6:45 AM on normal days. She makes her breakfast, usually something like cereal or a frozen waffle, and then gets ready for school. She packs her backpack and walks to the bus stop at around 7:45 AM. Since the bus is usually crowded and noisy, she spends the trip listening to music through her earbuds.
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Once she gets to school, Ellie chats with some of her friends and checks her phone before heading to the first class of the day. After working on some math, language arts, science, and history, Ellie goes to lunch in the school's common area and eats with her friends. They talk about things like movies, TV shows, and weekend plans.
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After lunch, Ellie attends the rest of her classes, which are electives rather than her morning core classes. She plays the flute in band, works on an art project in her art class, and bakes cookies in her Teen Cuisine class. School ends at 3:30 PM, and Ellie catches the bus home.
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After arriving home, Ellie grabs a snack quickly and gets ready to go to soccer practice. She enjoys running and practicing with her team. When she comes home again, she watches TV for a bit and scrolls on social media. She then does her homework and practices her flute.
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At around 7:00 PM, Ellie eats dinner with her family, and together they play a board game after eating. Ellie reads for a bit, brushes her teeth, takes a shower, and gets ready to go to sleep at around 9:30 - 10 PM.
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On weekends, Ellie spends most of her time hanging out with friends, watching TV, and playing soccer games against other teams. She enjoys school, but always looks forward to summer.
