45 Days in USA – Emotional Suffering to Realized Dreams
45 Days in USA – Experience shared by Reader S from Albany College of Pharmacy, NY
I will never forget the day I left India. I knew life is going to be completely changed and I was preparing myself for it for the last 2 years.
I always knew that I am going to leave home sooner or later and was mentally ready. But, still when there came the time when I had to say final goodbye to my parents, I cried.
I don’t know why I cried. I mean, yes, I was leaving the comfort of home and my parents behind, but there were several reasons.
Firstly, I cried because my mom started crying.
Secondly, I was leaving my sweet home with every comfort provided by my dad.
Thirdly, cried at the prospect of thinking that parents will be left alone.
And some other personal issues. I had heard that everything comes with a price.
I agreed that indeed, everything comes with a price.
At the Airport
As soon as I enter IGI airport, headed towards the counter for the formalities, I looked back one last time towards my parents through the windows (and mom was still crying) .
I tried not to cry, but still I cried. However, rushed to my plane as I heard that plane is leaving in 20 minutes and I was still far from reaching the gate. With some unknown burden on conscience, I took my seat and left India and cried lot of times again on the way.
Yeah! Newwark
However, as soon as I landed on Newark airport, oooooooooooo mannn…. was soooo happy, can’t even explain.
Everything was so damn amazing and new for me. I could feel, it was worth the effort of going through the painstaking application procedure, visa and all that. Totally worth it. Reached Albany, met seniors, got warm welcome from college faculty.
Everyone seemed to be so damn nice here and so helping. Seniors took lot of care of us until we find the room.
For two weeks, it didn’t feel like I was away from home and was enjoying every single moment and was busy exploring new things.
Gloomy Feeling
However, as soon as we shifted to our apartment, things became a bit gloomy again. I mean, not in that sense.
Nothing wrong happened. But fun was gone, was feeling alone.
There was no food in the fridge, mattress had not arrived yet.
I was crying again outside home sitting on the doorsteps as soon as I saw a plane passing overhead. Wished I could catch that plane and go home instantly.
Well, cried for few moments, thought of talking to my mom but thinking that she would cry if I cried on phone, I talked to my bro instead, felt a bit light and from that moment onwards I started working things out.
Settling Down
I started working on my everyday schedule, started keeping myself busy, took interest in what’s happening n college, made new friends and starting enjoyed every bit of my stay here.
Its been 45 days here and have observed a lot and found out a lot of positive things here.
Right now, only negative thing I can think of is your family is not going to be here and you wont get mom-cooked food, but apart from it its been amazing experience.
I have been to NYC & Boston already, what more I can say. But yes, you feel sometimes alone. But me being a reserved kind of guy, I don’t feel lonely that much.
So, it depends upon person to person and also how much you keep yourself busy. I am looking forward to my stay in USA and trying to learn lot of things and make as much use of it as possible because everyone don’t get chance to study in USA and moreover everyone don’t have their dreams realized.
Mine did, so I am pretty thankful to god and all those who helped me to realize it. I will always miss my home, my mom and dad and my native place, panchkula where I spent 23 years of life.
I will miss it whether its my first day in US, or its been 1 year in US or even if I spent 50 years here. I will always miss it because HOME is HOME dear. Nothing can replace it. Not even USA.
Comments
Reader S – What you have described is typical. Depending on one’s social circle, things will be easy to unmanageable.
Making good friends is key to survive first few months in USA.
Students who go to USA with other close friends, feel less emotional breakdown. Also, students who never lived away form home to attend school or college will have some tough time to adjust during first few months.
You have to realize, this will pass. Once you form close group of friends, assignments and projects roll in you will get to settle down and your priorities will change. You will not have time for emotional breakdown.
Yes! You are true dear! Home is home. Nothing in the world can replace home. Friends, mom and daddy, nativity, relative’s, home made food, dad’s inspirational speeches, mother’s love and caringness; everything will be missed when you leave your hometown.
But life has to go on. To achieve something in life, one has to undergo a lot of trauma and sacrifices. And I can understand how painful it was to leave your sweet home in order to pursue your higher studies in USA. By the way, your article is amazing dear! Thumbs up! Detailing your emotional trauma to realize your dreams is awesome. Hope you settled down in USA and feeling comfortable and all the very best for future.
viabu = since sorry my mobile keypad is behaving weird.
dude! Move on! I see u r too much pampered by your parents. On one side you have dreams which you want to realize on the other side your emotional side is totally weak. You cant fly freely until strings pull you back! Family love is nice but in your case its proving detrimental! You dont need anymore sympathies coz you becoming more weak emotionally. And afterall its totally funny to read 23 yr old MAN crying! Now viabu you are in the USA try inventing some new tricyclics or SSRIs which will reduce your emotional dependance!
Very nice post. I’m happy to know that you’re learning to cope, gives hope to senti emotional wrecks like me 😛 🙂
hie in gre i got a range of 800-900 will i get admission in us colleges..???
In GRE exam i got a range between 900 -1000 . I am very muddle that in next what i do . please help me to solve my problem that futher i give GRE exam or in that range there is any chance to obtain a good university
I don’t understand wat happens to the generation of today, they can give huge lecture on patriotism,emotion n relation, bt that’s upto the words only, when the matter comes to be practical, they start talking about there future n career. well i ask you people wat is the first priority of a son or a daughter. just to leave your parents crying for the sake of our own desire. if you are really that much eligible you can betterly earn much more here in india, study here, through out your telent, that others get inspired by you, why you people fetches your own telent for the scope of other countries, just to get the tag of foreign exposer.wat kind of happeness do they provide you, people who are studing there never mention the truth, actually they are scrambbing like donkey, ask them about their daily schedule. things that are attracting doller, higher education, n foriegn life is only good in thought’s. wat is need of studing in abroad, Every year indian brain n telent are smartly capturing by the foreign universities by offering schlorship. n we greedy people forget that, the whole invention n exploration which are actually done by the indian student. are stay with that particular university, n the whole credit goes to that particular country. AMERICA invented this, AUSTRALIA invented this, but the labour done behind that success is who’s no buddy knows. we have second largest populated country, with highest engineering colleges. but still we dnt have genius like EINSTIN,STIFFEN HAWKENS, STEVE JOB, etc. why.today we all are studing theories made by these guys, why this world dnt have the theory made by any indian for the research n study. if you guys are really genius built your own world here in india. belive me a day cum soon when foreigner compels to cum to india for study n the whole research n invention stay upto our country itself.. nothing is above then MOM DAD N NATION… stop going out for study.
Paedeep – Good insights, but I don’t see that day coming soon to India. You have to understand there is a vast difference between developing vs developed nation.
India has come so far, but still got a long way to do to reach a status of developed nation.
I understand every word written by Peadeep Agrawal, except, “stop going out for study”
BUT
what I think he wants to says is “stop going out for working”..
it’s nothing wrong to go out and study there BUT they should come back to their motherland and work for this country!!
After all it’s we who make a country developing or the developed!
There is no argument in this aspect, despite ditching the country such people start speaking differences between the contemporary developing and developed countries; nonetheless, anyone agrees to this or not.
Every year Indian Govt is spending my tax money on IIT students, many folds higher than what they actually pay as fees, ONLY to mend them & send them to the customised needs of the celebrated states of America !!
Btw, anyone challenging my premise??
@ P. Agrawal – You make some good points, but your post overall sounds woefully ignorant. First of all, of course life is hard there, everyone DOES knows this, but you are paid back in return for how much ever you work. Maybe you spend all day in the office, but you can come back home to a big house in a big car. Working same amount in India, it would take you years to be able to earn as much as you could as a fresher in the US. For example, BE graduates here earn 3 lacs p.a. whereas if they spend 2 years studying in the US after BE, they may be able to earn that in 1-2 months. If you do an MBA from India, a majority of people will earn only a 6-figure annual salary. You make it sound as though it’s a crime to want to study abroad. No one says it’s compulsory to work in US after your studies there, I for one intend to come back to India once I finish my MS and try my best to contribute to here. It’s each to his own really. If someone wants to come back, they will, if not, okay. There’s nothing wrong with “our generation” for wanting to do that. If the older generations had as much exposure and opportunity as we do now, there would be nothing stopping you from doing the same thing.
And you really think it is not a parent’s dream to see their child succeed? The person who wrote this post sounds like he really cares about his family. Isn’t that what matters? And he is going to the US with their support. They will obviously feel happy that they can provide him the resources he needs to achieve his dreams. You can’t be a baby and stay back just because you and your family will miss each other. Everyone has to grow up eventually and learn to be independent.
Also, it’s ‘talent’, ‘Einstein’, ‘Stephen Hawking’ and ‘Steve Jobs’.
Lastly, I don’t understand what you’re doing on Happy Schools Blog when you don’t believe in studying abroad. Are you here to lecture the ones that do?
*everyone DOES know this
Anisha Kamble,
Thanks for the support.
@ Peadeep
It would be much better if you stay focus on your life and stop worrying about why people are coming to USA. Everyone has the right to do whatever they want to do in their career. And I know India is filled with opportunities but may be you haven’t encountered that much corrupt persons as I have dealt with them and it has made me very difficult to work over there. Thats why I have decided to come here. Ofcourse corruption is here too, but not too that extent.
Firstly, guys….his name can’t be Peadeep…..think about it!!! It’s a typo on Pradeep. Secondly, dude…umm…I get your point….but Pradeep, if you are so disenchanted by the youth of today and their utter lack of concern for their families and their nation then why on Earth are you on HSB????? More so, you’re making some sweeping generalizations in your post which hold true for only a fraction of the people who go abroad to study….I am supporting my family with my stipend earnings….Last and certainly not the least get some damn grammar and spelling lessons!!! It might just turn out to be one of your biggest “telents”!!!!
hey, i think you cudn’t get admission anywhere in the USA becoz of ur bad english and that is making u bitter….. i can understand but try to understand that other people may not be bitter like you and they dont need to hide it under false patriotism…. i have a cousin who did his MS from the USA and came back to get a nice post at ISRO….
Good One, Right from the Heart to the HEart….
Very inspiring for those who may be experinecing these feelings.
All the Best
can you just please post the admission tracker for spring2011
dis is so inspiring and comforting 🙂 i am currently going thru d same apprehensions as mentioned by the blogger!! though i am still in the application process !!
hi this is not just one persons feeling, every student must have felt at some point of time or the other.
I miss home not one day but everyday , and things go on ……..
Love the post and its positivity…keep them coming 🙂
cheers!
This is perhaps the first HSB post which has made my eyes wet!! I came here last fall, and even after an year not a day passes when I don’t miss my home. I am from Chandigarh and whatever you’ve written on the blog is exactly the same I felt on Sep 10 last year. It was like reliving it all over again.
Just wanted to stay good luck with your studies. Try and skype as much as you can. Seeing each other surely eases you up, so make the most of the High Speed optical fiber internet in america. Thanks again for your post and try not to miss HR-03 or CH-01 😉
When I was planning my itinerary, I too worried about ‘Emotional Breakdown’ like this. I too never stayed away from my Home and my parents. But its been 2 months I am here in US, but I’m not at all homesick. I’m enjoying every moment here. I’ve got so buried in the coursework that I don’t even have time to be homesick. But its fun to study. I’ve been told by people that studying after working for 4 years is gonna be tough. But I think if you work for a long time after your undergrads you come to know the real value of education. you understand how much fun learning has. I am working with one of the brightest professors in the world on a world class research project. Really all the pain from the GRE word list to visa interview…..its worth taking………:)
hey me too planning after two years of experience want to study ms in computer science.i have completed my gre exam and toefl,intially i planned to go for this fall because i got a job so i have shifted it for two years..for me also every one said after job you cant but after seeing ur post got to know it vil intersting and waht u said is really true i think so……..
Everything in life has its own pro’s and con’s. So don’t worry about it. Ofcourse,nothing can replace parent’s care.But think,you are going to get something good out of it like you learn how to be independent and that would also boost up your level of confidence.So Be Happy and feel good! My best wishes to you 🙂 🙂
I am not worrying 🙂 🙂 .. was just telling my experience that how one can feel after coming here… its all very good here for me and yes what you said above is right.
Don’t worry. You will Get accustomed to the Circumstances. All the very Best.Cheers !
Kk & Pk – you should stop commenting! Comments are meant to help others rather than poke fun! I don’t find anything wrong with him crying- it happens and he has learnt from it and is moving on. His post may help someone else in similar situation! So keep your unruly comments to yourself if they are not going to help anyone!
Hahaha…Thanks CJ… I understand the mentality of these guys or girls.. Have seen many like them .. so nothing new !!
Hello sumit i know it’s you. All the best,as u said not every one gets a chance to study in U.S
cry baby
go to mommy
I think you had never lived away from your parents, during UG studies.
But, it’s true HOME is HOME. Nothing can replace it. Not even USA.
Tough time stud! I guess I too have to go through all these but no matter what, my final destination is what I want to go for.
All the best.. Boost up m/ 🙂
your just a baby
Very well said, Home is Home afterall. I was in India for 4 years. As u said, all the GRE…complicated app processes… were worth the pain. It’s like an encouragement for me now! Even I am looking forward to do my further studies in US… n I do feel discouraged at times to again leave my parents and study in a foreign land. Thanks for the post! 🙂