The first time I bargained for a jar of peanut butter at the market across the street from my house, I realized I had fully embraced some “Delhiite” qualities. Half a year after arriving in India, I now understand how much of me has changed. I have transformed from the Bethesda student who spends $8 on a meal at Cava to the Delhi student who buys a bowl of Chow mein for less than 50 cents at the school canteen.

“Delhiites” are the approximately 22 million people who live in India’s capital city of New Delhi. Since I’m an exchange student, I’ve tried my best to act just like everyone else while I’ve been here. This means that a lot of what I do every day would have seemed odd just one year ago.

I don’t wear a seatbelt when I sit in the back seat of the car. I cross the road whenever and wherever I feel like it, hoping cars will stop for me. I bargain over five cents for rickshaw rides. I push as hard as I can in the throngs of people at the Delhi Metro to avoid getting stuck on the platform and having to wait for the next train. And I throw trash on the ground when there are no trashcans nearby.

What if these actions become habits? Is New Delhi changing me for the worse? I don’t think so. I’m just immersing myself in a new culture, which, like all cultures, has positive and negative aspects. When I come back in May, I’ll also try to waste nothing on my plate, like my host grandmother teaches me, and share my entire lunchbox with my friends just like the other students here do. I will be patient when decisions are made last minute, like they always are done here.

I love living in New Delhi and feel proud to say I’m on my way to becoming a “Delhiite.” New Delhi is a fascinating city because almost everyone comes from a different part of India, bringing their own traditions, language, accent and food.

Sometimes, I’m one of the many tourists, taking photos and learning Hindi. But most of the time, I’m just another person in the line for ice cream outside of school, pushing through the Metro gates to get to the platform and living like the other 22 million “Delhiites.”