Ok, I think I'm the perfect person to answer this question for you , and I dson't mean to seem like I'm bragging. Here's why; I moved to Chennai from the US a few years ago and I studied at the American School for a year.
As a city, Chennai is very welcoming. of course, there's a bit of culture shock when you first get here... Not as clean as the west, the language is a bit confusing, etc. But the people here are extremely warm and friendly, and always willing to help. The food is pretty good too. There are a few decent malls, movie theatres and lots of nice restaurants... apart from local cuisine, you also get North Indian, French, Chinese, Pan-Asian, Italian, Lebanese food and many others!
The American school... They have a huge, beautiful campus with lots of facilities. It is on the outskirts of Chennai, very far from the heart of the city... at least an hour away. The main problem that I had with the American school was that while the curriculum is American, the students are mostly international... Koreans and Japanese mostly... the problem is that they don't speak English. Actually most of the kids in the school take English as a second language. I found it hard to make friends in the school because I was one of the only kids who spoke English in my class. This was about 4 years ago... hopefully the situaion is better now.
I wish you the best of luck in this beautiful city which has welcomed so many of us with open arms and warm smiles.
2006-06-18 00:43:27
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answer #2
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answered by allie 4
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Chennai is the Hottest city in India . Its an capital of Tamilnadu state . Chennai is in 3rd position for IT . Here we can see so many IT companies . I dont know abt the american schools on here but we have some international school over here . The climate is soo hot now . So many Tourist places around chennai . Theme Park & Beachs around many . We can see the american movies uptodate . Good shooping places . Clean Roads . Many major international airlines have regular direct flights to Chennai. These include: Air India, British Airways, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, Air Lanka and Malasia Airlines.
GOVERNMENT MUSEUM (Pantheon Road)
Government Museum Established in 1857, it is undoubtedly one of the country's finest museums. It has sections devoted to geology, archeology, anthropology, botany, zoology, sculpture and numismatics. Its most prized posessions are the relics from 2nd century AD Buddhist site of Amaravati and the prehistoric antiques of South India. The sculpture gallery has exquisite carvings of the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths, an interesting collection of wood carvings from processional temple chariots and also a fine collection of South Indian musical instruments and jewellery. The bronze gallery, the country's finest, has superb ancient icons and modern bronzes, including the famous bronze Natraja and the beautiful set of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman.
Timings: 08.00 hrs to 17.00 hrs. Closed on Fridays and national holidays.
National Art Gallery
NATIONAL ART GALLERY
Fine collection of old paintings. On display are 10th and 13th century bronzes, 16th-18th century Rajsthani and Mughal paintings, 17th century Deccani paintings and 11th and 12th century Indian handicrafts. The collection is housed in a beautiful Mughal style building with an exquisitely wrought pink sand-stone facade.
Timings: 0800 to 1700 hrs. Closed on Fridays and national holidays.
VALLUVAR KOTTAM
A unique bit of modern building in the city is the huge auditorium that draws its inspiration from the great temple builders of Tamil Nadu's past. Built in 1976, the imposing merhorial to the poet-saint Thiruvalluvar is a replica of the famed temple chariot of Thiruvaroor, and succeeds in evoking the beauty of the centuries-old masterpiece. The lifesize statue of the saint Thiruvalluvar is seated in the 33 m tall chariot. The lower portion of the chariot has bas-relief sculptures depicting the 133 chapters of the sacred 'Thirukkural'. The Valluvar Kottam auditorium seats 4000 and claims to have Asia's largest seating capacity. The lovely, terraced roof garden has two large pools.
KODAMBAKKAM
India produces the largest number of films in the world annually and more than half of them are in the four southern languages, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada. Kodambakkam is the `Hollywood' of India's south, its High Road lined with film studios, with many a star living not far away.
THE THOMAN TRADITION
San Thome Basilica South India's links with Christianity go back almost to the times of Jesus. One of the Disciples, Thomas Dydimus (`Doubting Thomas'), is believed to have preached the gospel on both southern coasts and spent his last year in the villages near what became Madras. Little Mount, where Thomas is said to have lived, has an old Portuguese shrine, a newer church that could only be described as `mod', a spring with miraculous properties and some `imprints' of the saint. It is said that Thomas used to walk from here to the beach at San Thome daily to preach and when he was killed on St. Thomas Mount, just outside City limits, he was buried on the beach. He was later reinterred a little inland, on the site where later churches rose, the latest of the San Thome Basilica, in whose crypt are some relics of the saint. On his way back to the two Mounts, it is said that he used to rest at a spot near Mylapore on which a Portuguese later built Descanco Church. The church atop St. Thomas Mount is a major Roman Catholic pilgrim centre, the Church of the Madonna of the Mount having a `Bleeding Cross' and a painting believed to have been done by St. Luke.
GUINDY NATIONAL PARK
Once this was all part of Governor's Estate, now it is fragmented and the major part is a thickly forested game sanctuary where the spotted deer and the black buck roam and a wealth of smaller fauna thrive. This is the country's only wild life sanctuary within a city's limits. Raj Bhavan, the governor's mansion, occupies one end of the park, and at the other is the beautiful forest-girt campus of Madras's famous Indian Institute of Technology, one of Asia's foremost educational institutions. In between and edging the road, are a famous Cancer Institute, a Children's Park with its own mini-zoo and mini-railway, a Snake Park rich in reptiles, and Memorials to Gandhiji, Rajagopalachari the first Indian Governor-General, and Kamaraj, a major Tamil national leader. Opposite the park are the Anna University of Technology, whose nucleus was the oldest technical school in the East, and the Central Leather Research Institute. To the east of the park as well as at the back of it sprawls the campus of the Central Institutes of Technology. Not far away is one of the country's finest Race-courses.
KALAKSHETRA
December-January is a splendid time to be in Madras, for it is the music festival season, when there are concerts of classical Carnatic music (and now Hindustani as well) and recitals of classical Bharata Natyam everywhere. But year round, Kalakshetra, an internationally renowned teaching institute, reverberates with classical music and dance. Founded by that unique exponent and innovator of classical dance, Rukmini Devi Arundale, its dance dramas are spectacular, its song and dance pristine. And its Kala Mandalam is an auditorium of unique traditional architecture. Handicrafts are also taught here. Not far away is Cholamandalam, a cooperative artists' colony where modern art and open air theatre thrive.
2006-06-16 20:38:26
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answer #5
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answered by ||| Romeo Boy ||| 4
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