I left Hyderabad, India, and arrived in Schaumburg, Illinois in 2000. I came to the United States right after I got married. I think one of the most difficult things to get used to (and I still am not used to it) is being away from my family and not being able to see them regularly. It is still very difficult to fill that void of not having any family near you in a new unknown place. I still try to visit my family once a year but it's not the same.
The biggest difference between my home country, India, and the U.S. is just the environment and how everyday life happens. In India, mostly everyone has maids who would do everything for you from making your meals to ironing your clothes while in the U.S., I had to learn to do all those things by myself. I had to change my daily routines and my responsibilities and learning to adjust to it was challenging.
My first night I slept with my in-laws in a small apartment with about 5 other people. They came a few months earlier to find a place to stay.
Moving to the U.S. was such a big transition that it was challenging but also an exciting new chapter in my life. I think the first smell I remember was the smell of rain outside. It was raining a bit when we landed and was cloudy so when we went outside the airport I remember smelling the wet outside which was an unknown scent since it rarely rained in India.
* The contributor of this story has asked that their name be withheld.
