Help from our Indian dopers, please

My daughter is thinking about studying in India next year, which will coincide with her fourth year of college. Her college is trying to work out a deal to give her exchange status, instead of transfer, so she can still get her degree from the school where she is now, and won’t have to come back here to finish. She’d like to have as much info as she can about customs and culture before she goes, so she doesn’t do something stupid or offensive right off the top. Or at least not too much. So I promised her I’d ask the experts here, if there’s anything she specially needs to know. We think she’ll be able to rent living space from a former coworker of my husband’s. And he’s telling her about how things are. But I’m particularly interested in a female point of view, since that’s what she is. She’ll be a single young woman on her own. Will that cause particular sticky situations? She’s talking about her boyfriend going with her, but I don’t know if that will happen. Is that going to be a problem? Her dad is quite concerned about it.

In other words, anything you can tell me about being single, female, and a foreigner in India would be appreciated. I’m starting with virtually nothing here. Thanks in advance.

Which city and college is she looking at?

She can definitely come to India and live single. As long as she has someone local to help her with her questions, especially in the first few weeks, she’ll do fine. And depending on which city she plans on going to, I can put her in touch with my girl friends there.
My mom runs an exchange program with universities in Europe, and every year we have female students from Europe coming and living with us in India, so if she has any questions about being a foreigner in India, I can answer them.

It’s a safe country as long as you take basic precautions.

That said, India is a crazy country. It will be an amazing experience on many levels for your daughter.