It was a rainy morning, not the one that I always experience in Bangalore, India. It’s the weather I have first seen through the windows of an airplane when I made a touchdown in Washington Dulles International Airport, Washington D.C.
Silence.
Then a thunderous sound rattles every part of the plane. It get’s louder.
I set my first foot in the United States. This was supposed to be a dream, seemingly unforgettable. Yet here I am. Looking back at what I left behind, I wondered whether I should be happy because I came here to live a new life in my dream place or to cry because I’ll be missing my friends, family and the indian livelihood.
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Two years ago, When my dad was living in the United States.
“Mummy who’s on the phone” I asked my mother. while sitting on the sofa with my mom, she replied “it’s daddy, and he wants to talk with you about something important”. She then handed over the phone to me. “Hi harsha, good news, we are shifting to the United States after your 10th grade” said my dad. I was soulfully surprised after hearing this news. My main thoughts swirling around my mind about shifting to the United States was “Can I make new friends?”.
Since my childhood, I have grown up with friends all around me. From kindergarten till graduating 10th grade I lived in the same apartment and went to the same school. As a young kid I made friends instantly at school and home. We do things all together, stay together, and live together. All my friends in India are more than just friends to me. My friends from bangalore often stay in touch with me everyday and keep me updated on everything happening there, that makes me feel nostalgic. This proves that distance doesn’t matter for friendship when the roots are strong enough.
The first few days when we have finally shifted here I didn’t think about anything except the presence of nature and U.S life. Days have passed very soon, and finally the time has come for the first day of school at Eagle Ridge Academy. I came back home after school, and while sitting on the sofa I just recalled the last ten hours of my day. Everything was way different than how I thought school in the U.S would be like. All the students are very independent, they won’t interact with each other often, and kind of stay in their own personal space. And the main problem was, I have not watched a single american TV show.
In my classes everyday, I was the odd one out of all who had no friends. For the first time this made me feel isolated and I have gone through depression for a few days because I felt that I wouldn’t need to face this situation if i was in India. Later, I myself started approaching students who were of the same grade level and sat with them at lunch everyday. I became a hungry learner to know about the people around me and their american acsent. This gave me confidence to contribute more in class discussions verbally and I soon caught recognition in class by teachers by which my friends became more willinging to talk with me.
That was the day when I actually got to know the value of friendship as I got to know how hard is it to make friends.
In a year of trasitional journey, I have really not lost anything, but rather gained a lot many. I learned to be personally responsible and more expressive which is an essential trait that everyone should have in their future. Moreover, I have become adaptable and can shape myself according to how I wanted to be. Friendship is like a seed. Once we water it, we can find many roots from that single seed.
