1. Missing your mother
No matter how distant you are with your mother. No matter how right you think you were and how wrong your mother was, you are going to miss her soft arms around you and the warmest hugs. This will happen when you start to realise that you’re left to take care of your mess on your own.
2. MISSING THE FOOD.
I know, Bryn Mawr food is the best. There’s so much variety and the school provides for everyone with all kinds of preferences. But eating the same thing every day?
This is where you go back to missing your mom again and regret the day you were too lazy to step into the kitchen and let her teach you the secret family recipe that you drool over just thinking about.
3. Your name is being butchered from all directions.
“It’s Kanai”
“So.. Dana?”
If you have an unusual name then I am sure you have now become tired of correcting people and asking them to pronounce it right. It’s just a matter of accents between different languages. I do go by Dana sometimes.
4. People thinking you’re “exotic”
Yes, I rode my pet elephant to school every morning.
Yes, I lived in a hut.
Yes, I have a tiger.
Yes, Mumbai is just like Slumdog Millionaire showed it to be.
This is not a joke. People are actually surprised that I can speak English fluently and had the access to Wi-Fi to apply to this college. It’s quite pleasant to surprise them with the amount of knowledge I possess.
5. FaceTime becomes your most favourite and used App.
The more friends and family you have, the more of use this app will be to you. And this is not just to talk to your parents every day. It’s to talk to your dogs and make sure they don’t forget your face.
6. Checking the weather every day!
If you are from a warm and humid place like I am, then you’ll realise what a pain this is. Checking the weather app more than I check my emails has become a routine these past months, solely because of this abnormal and moody weather. Cannot wait for the Summer!
7. Using your home language frequently.
I don't know about you’ll but If I see a South Asian, Hindi erupts right out of me. It’s become second nature.
"Nahiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
“I’m Sri Lankan"
LOL.
8. Dressing up for every festival celebrated in your home country, even if you’ve never celebrated it before.
I’ve become more aware of the festivals celebrated in India after coming here.
9. Every time you’re about to go home, you will get a million emails with the title: Shopping List.
People think that just because you study abroad, you have suddenly opened a free shipping and delivery company that works 24/7. I mean, don’t tell me to get Double Stuffed Oreos for you, girl! I’ll finish them on the way.
10. Counting down the days to go home.
