I joined a fellowship program in India in hopes of learning about the social enterprise space and to find out what direction I want to go in career wise. It has been two weeks and I have learned that I will be relying on my co fellows and organization. The program staff are now to preoccupied with the new January cohort. I understand them wanting us to learn to adjust and figure out things on our own. Really I do but dropping people off at housing or rather sending them off to their housing in trains and cabs is one thing. Responding with ask your neighbors when fellows have questions or need help is unproffessional. This program has a degree of unprofessionalism which was blatant during orientation. I understand there is a difference between fixed and flexible time but being adamant that fellows follow time schedule when the staff has a complete disregard for it is not good. The staff seem to be on cloud 9, one staff based in the USA gives me the impression of a crowned princess addressing her subjects and the rest of her staff is part of her court. She isn't even the executive director but after telling her story and some of the emails she sent, I know I won't be in direct communication with her. The on the ground staff in India does try but they are beating to the drum of the USA staff and it seems if you go off beat you are sent packing. There is no transparency between fellows and the staff. We complain, we get dismissed, we use social media to chat amongst ourselves, we get lectured. Now will this blog post result in disciplinary actions? I'll take the risk. We the consumers (fellows) have a right to air our concerns and issues for we are paying customers. We all paid for visas, travel and program fees for this program. Many had different options lined up and we chose this one. The size of the cohort is shrinking each year so let us see how big the January cohort is. My critical feedback is - don't change the structure until you get one version correct. Consistently changing the structure year to year leaves a huge room for error because issues that weren't resolved preciously will still exist. When it comes to orientation - choose speakers that are relevant. We don't want to be lectured if we did we'd go to a seminar. Speakers should be interactive and speak on the topic for the day after brief intro about themselves and their organization. Yes every experience is what you make of it. This can be the best or worst experience and it is on me and my outlook. I wan't to make this the best experience because $5000 of initial cost is no small change for someone who has never held a salaried job. So I know some may consider me childish ranting about my program and the issues. I know every program has kinks to be worked out but I personally don't like how I've been treated by the program but I love my organization that made my transition to Hyderabad seamless..  I am not the only one who has issues with the program. Majority of this years fellows are unhappy about program logistics and customer service. Some fellows have been in other fellowship programs and thought their previous program was unorganized  but that this one takes the cake. It has been 2 weeks and we have until December so I will put on my big girl pants and make the best of this experience as i sit in a darkening apartment due to evening setting in and. enjoying the fan.