The 29th of July, 2010 was the day I arrived at the United States of America. At the cost of a cliche, it still seems like yesterday that I arrived at the DFW airport and was standing at the baggage claim already with one eye on the luggage carousel and the other looking out for my cousin who was to pick me up.
There are a few things I felt that day that I distinctly remember.
A feeling of security on being greeted by my cousin at the airport. I believe that not many of the students that leave their home country have this luxury of a familiar face, let alone family, once they arrive at a foreign country for higher education. As the days pass by I come to realize how important family is in this unknown land. Although I have only been able to meet my cousin at two more occasions in almost an entire year, it is just a good feeling to know that in any emergency, family is not far away. I think I especially feel this way because of the close family bonding that we shared since we were kids which is another thing that I see that most of my peers here do not really enjoy even though they may have cousins or aunts/uncles in the USA.
The second thing, I remember was a feeling of a whole new world on taking one step out of the baggage claim area. I remember my heart skipping a beat when the Texas summer heat first hit me. For a second I thought I was in Chennai, except for the lower humidity in the air. I think I have been spoilt by the pleasant, not-so-ridiculous-afterall weather of Bangalore. Especially after going through one complete cycle of north Texas weather, I think Bangalore is indeed a haven. More about the weather to come later.
The third feeling that engulfed me was the feeling of the enormous amount of money being spent on my education. I always did know about all the financials but the realization that the machine has now been set in motion can be a bitch when it overcomes you. This feeling grew exponentially when I signed the electronic cheque for the first semester's fees and continues to grow to this day on every small expenditure I incur; may it even be as small as a sandwich from the dollar value menu. It is now evident that it is a perpetual machine.
I am now going to skip over the obvious things such as amazing roads and the like for which you may refer to any other such a blog or even the book 'The Inscrutable Americans' by Anurag Mathur. However, coming from a conservative country, the amount of electrical energy that is used to light up the cities, the suburbs, the streets or even the freeways seems unnatural at first.
All said and done, the one feeling which has definitely overridden all of the above was the feeling of absolute independence. A welcome feeling at first which died faster than it overcame me as the responsibility quotient started kicking in.
There is so much more to share on so many more topics which each individually deserve their own dedicated stage time. So, they shall follow in more posts to come.
