After months of hard work, preparation and anticipation, just arriving at the Chicago airport felt like a big achievement--almost as if it was my final destination. However, I soon came to realize that it was actually just a starting point of much that I would have to learn. Although many international students have previously had opportunities to travel internationally and/or spend time in the U.S. before they begin their studies, I have never been to any other country before. As I was soon to find out, this would result in many unexpected, but not insurmountable, challenges.
When I first stepped into the Chicago airport, I experienced a state of mixed emotions. On one hand, I was feeling excited about reaching Chicago. At the same time I was feeling overwhelmed by a number of unanswered questions in my head: What will my school be like? What kind of people I am going to meet? Here I was surrounded by hundreds of people, but suddenly I felt all alone in this strange land. While Chicago was where I always wanted to come, I found myself constantly comparing it with my home town in India.
As I was walking out of the exit, I impatiently looked for my friend, the only person I knew in this country prior to my arrival. After 15 minutes, I thought I should try to call her and began looking for the public phone. I managed to locate a payphone, but quickly realized that I didn’t have the appropriate change to make the call. To make matters worse, I couldn’t find anywhere to make change. There was only one food counter, which had a big board hung outside stating that they didn’t give change for dollars. I felt helpless—I had no phone to call anyone and no way for my friend to get in touch with me.
Determined to get the necessary change, I chose one corner of the airport for my rescue, waited there for couple of minutes trying to look for an approachable person from the strange mob of people passing by me. I finally found one young college age girl. She was waiting few steps away from the corner I was waiting. I gathered all my courage and spoke to her. She took one dollar note from me and handed me lots of different looking coins causing me to panic as I had no idea which one was a quarter. I was too anxious to even think to read the coin and so I asked the girl. She smiled and pulled out two quarters from the handful of change she had given me. I eventually managed to get a hold of my friend, but from this silly experience I learned not to take such trivial things, such as familiarizing myself with local currency ahead of time, for granted.
When I first stepped into the Chicago airport, I experienced a state of mixed emotions. On one hand, I was feeling excited about reaching Chicago. At the same time I was feeling overwhelmed by a number of unanswered questions in my head: What will my school be like? What kind of people I am going to meet? Here I was surrounded by hundreds of people, but suddenly I felt all alone in this strange land. While Chicago was where I always wanted to come, I found myself constantly comparing it with my home town in India.
As I was walking out of the exit, I impatiently looked for my friend, the only person I knew in this country prior to my arrival. After 15 minutes, I thought I should try to call her and began looking for the public phone. I managed to locate a payphone, but quickly realized that I didn’t have the appropriate change to make the call. To make matters worse, I couldn’t find anywhere to make change. There was only one food counter, which had a big board hung outside stating that they didn’t give change for dollars. I felt helpless—I had no phone to call anyone and no way for my friend to get in touch with me.
Determined to get the necessary change, I chose one corner of the airport for my rescue, waited there for couple of minutes trying to look for an approachable person from the strange mob of people passing by me. I finally found one young college age girl. She was waiting few steps away from the corner I was waiting. I gathered all my courage and spoke to her. She took one dollar note from me and handed me lots of different looking coins causing me to panic as I had no idea which one was a quarter. I was too anxious to even think to read the coin and so I asked the girl. She smiled and pulled out two quarters from the handful of change she had given me. I eventually managed to get a hold of my friend, but from this silly experience I learned not to take such trivial things, such as familiarizing myself with local currency ahead of time, for granted.
