I had a belief that college would be a lot more difficult than high school and that people around me will change and so will I change myself. The first week of college has taught me that things will be unexpected and different but achievable. At the moment I am yet to figure out the scale to which things will be achievable but I have a strong feeling that I’ll make it out even before I realize.
If I rewind back to 9th of August ’16 when I set my first foot ever in the United States, I remember talking to our flight attendant while waiting in a queue out of the plane. She was the first American with whom I shared the fact of me being a first time traveller to the US for college. She exclaimed that I was brave to leave home in India and come this far.
Now, college is one week old and I question if I’m brave enough to handle the rest of my weeks here. The voice that answers me back is reticent. My mind warns me that the voice needs to be louder, stronger and impactful. And as I struggle with the so-called stereotypical problems of an international student, I feel that it’s not going to be easy. I realize that it will take time. I don’t know how long but I know things will be fine soon.
I am capable of making some comparisons between high school and college because these differences were some of the very first things that impacted my transition to college. Firstly in High school, I studied with people who I had known for more than nine years while in college I meet a new person everyday and sometimes I don’t see the people I met until a long time. In high school, classrooms didn’t change except for labs. In college I spend more time walking from one building to another searching classrooms than I spend sitting in one of my classes, which is extremely helpful considering I want to be fitter. There’s also a great amount of difference in the classes and their size. Classmates and their numbers change from class to class. Also, while earlier I would tend to be drawn into a not so sensible competition with my classmates for finishing classwork faster now I care more about getting things done correctly by myself before worrying about being at the top.
Another transition that I face is sharing a dorm room.
I have never done anything like this before and it’s not as easy as I thought it would be. I mean, taking care of your priorities as well that of someone else’s takes effort. Not just that, you need to move out of your comfort zone because adjustment is a long process. For instance, I wished that I could go together with my roommate for breakfast but that doesn’t happen always because our classes have different times. And I believe she wishes that I don’t wake her up ahead of time with my alarm everyday.
I am glad that the first week has been so remarkable and interesting that I could write about it. I just cannot wait to explore the rest of my days in college, which now feels like eternity but will pass by faster than ever. I don’t care about the pace of time as long as I utilize it well. When I say that, I am aware that every college day won’t be the best. Neither will every problem that I face lead to failure. I will keep in mind that college is difficult but I’ll be more than fine. I believe so because I have no regrets about choosing to come this far to pursue my dreams. The first week of college made me realize that this decision was the best I could ever make.
