Okay that was - Welcome to Boston.
Yeah its true. I am here. Finally!
A few days before my arrival here, a well-meaning friend advised me - Beware of other students, they are very different here without their shell. I didn't quite understand it then. Now, I do! :) But I'll go into that later.
I think I should start from the start...yeah this is going to be quite long and the only savig factor would be - me getting bored of writing :)
So buckle up people, here's a sneak-peek into my US-travel and an 8-odd stay till now.
Okay, I don't want to bore you all by describing my flight, which in a few words consisted only of - sleep, drinking lots of water & juices(free of cost of course!), some real sad meals, shrek-3(he he), and some more sleeping. In the first half, I was seated in a cramped economy class, but somehow for the second half I had a seat in the first-class which had ample leg space to stretch in! I think the guy in Bombay who gave me both the boarding passes liked my cute little innocent (yeah right!) face!Whatever... Fortunately for me, immigration & customs check went as smooth as a layer of butter (be ready to face such food analogies, deprived of good food for 8 days can do this to you too!). The taxi ride from airport to my temporary accomodation for 20 days cost me around Rs.1280 ($32)! Can you beat that?!!In that amount I can go back n forth between Pune and Bombay atleast 4 times, including in-between journey food. Anyways, my first impression of Boston & US so to say was - hmmmm..well..this looks OK.....Honestly I wasn't impressed that much, not at all awed and amazed, as probably I had always imagined I would be. So I reach my temporary accomodation. And was advised by my friend NOT TO SLEEP. Well, you see I reached in the afternoon around 3, and to avoid
jet-lag. So I ventured out alone, to check my university. It was exciting & a little scaring too, to roam in a foreign place, alone. It was fun to watch the foreigners. Although to put it in politically correct language I was the foreigner, and it was nice to be that for a change. The day passed quickly, and I don't really recall much as I was feeling too sleepy, except that I was missing home way too much, so much that I was wishing I had never come. In fact even today, I feel that sometimes(Shoot me if you want, but it's been just 8 days, what do you expect??!!)
From second day started my experiences which I think I will hardly forget ever in my life. It was these past eight days which helped me understand what my friend had qouted earlier. I was ditched unfairly by some people, met some really understanding people, and also grew up a little more. This was the period when I really understood that leaving your shell back home can make you take steps which can be almost cruel. Last eight days have consisted of nothing but, on-campus job hunt, place-to-live hunt, and some more on-campus job hunt. A lot of frustrating momets, moments when I broke down and cried like a baby, momemts when I missed India, family & friends so much it made feel almost suffocated, moments when I wanted to have faith in God and surrender to him all my worries, moments when I did just that, moments when I was amused, impressed with people around me, thankful for some people, not happy with a few others. I know in some days, I will put all this behind me. I know that some day after 2-3 years I will remember this period and feel nostalgic. But today, trust me it's not easy to go through with! It's not easy not to loose faith and patience. But I'm holding on, waiting for something good. I am sure God will not leave me alone and has a better plan for me than I can ever imagine.
Anyways, till that plan is disclosed to me, let me make some observations about this place called US of A:
- Many people break signals here too, but traffic is very very organized.
- Many drivers actually stop and let you cross the road voluntarily, the zebra-crossing or the crosswalk as its called here, has a respect.
- Truck drivers have the same obscene look all over the world.
- Everything is larger than life size here, right from cars to bananas to onions to potatoes to even people!
- American guys are cute :) and have really good physique (I have had like a million one-minute crushes till now). Not only they possess the looks but also the chivalry and sensitivity that, most Indian men lack/ignore/think nothing of.
- Customer service is something they understand quite well, even though they are less brighter than us.
Anyways, some of the nice things about Boston that I've seen till now include Charles river-side (its very romantic!!!), Waltham(a suburb out of Boston which has the BEST-LOOKING houses ever), the British look that Boston carries in most of its parts and my university. I will update, once I have some more observations to make, till then I am holding-on!!
Here. In Boston.
Sayonara!
