TRANSCRIPT
TRANSCRIBED BY Poorvaja R. (x 7)
The first time when I came here, I was lucky that I have my relatives staying in Chicago, so they came to pick me up from the airport. And then, like, first four, five days, I stayed at their home, but I didn’t want to bother them before I came here. Back in India, we had a UIC admit group on Facebook for all the students who were coming to UIC from India in 2016. So then whoever were in the same cities, all of us had met before coming here. We had sort of decided our roommates and all from India, and we had found apartments and everything around the university to live in online. We had done all of this before coming to US. My aunt picked me up here, I stayed with them for a few days, then they dropped me to my apartment. My roommates were— I had already met them twice in India. Then it was fine after that, slowly the college started, we started to set our routine and everything. At the first it was— like, I was never used to cooking for myself, going grocery shopping, cleaning the house, like basically, I never did all of this on my own back in home ever. So, it was a big adjustment to, you know—
I understand.
Yeah, to manage studies with everything else. It was a very new experience.
I still recall that.
Yeah.
I get used to moneys [laughs].
Yeah, that was there, because the thing is, conversion rate of rupees to US is— there is a big difference. Every time we spend any dollar, we think how much we are spending in rupees, so it is a lot in rupees.
Yeah, Chinese people too.
Yeah, we are like, “Oh my god, we are spending so much for just this thing.” But yeah, now I’m getting used to that currency thing. And also, now it’s fine, now that I have made friends, I’m living with my friends. The housework and everything is also pretty good now, because we take turns to go grocery shopping and we take turns in cooking, we take turns in cleaning. Now all the housework and everything is divided, now it’s better than before.
And even with the studies, like, the whole studying pattern was very new for me at the beginning. Because back in India they give you some selected syllabus and in exams, they only ask you from that, so you know if you read only that much, you will do good in the exams, or like, in India there are no assignments and everything, there are just exams. They hardly give any assignments ever.
I mean, if they give assignment, it doesn’t count toward final grade, right?
It doesn’t.
Okay, then same in China.
Yeah, sometimes the professor would give you some homework or some assignment, but kids hardly ever do it because there are no grades for the assignments or homeworks there. Basically professors would give you homework just for your better understanding and it’s up to you if you want to do it or not, back in India. I was not used to so many assignments and quizzes and everything, because in India it’s like, the semester starts, four months of only teaching, and then just one final exam which decides your grade, and that is all. I was never used to so many tests, quizzes and midterms and, you know, everything counting towards the end and all that. Now I’m getting used to all that. That time I was not.
Now finally that I was getting used to the housework and studies, I have just found a campus job. Now I’m again struggling to fit that in my routine. Because even this I have, like— no kids in India do this, actually, you know, like take up a job and study at the same time. Right now that is the new thing in my life, but everything else is pretty much settled. It’s better.
I understand. At the first day you come here, you don’t have any language difficulty, you know, right?
No, no, because it is English-speaking country, and even India, the English is very strong, because all our undergrad and everything is in English medium. Language is not a problem; as far as it’s English, we are good.
All the textbooks, right?
Yeah. Even in India, we study from English textbooks. So that is not a problem for us. Yeah.
Okay. And do you feel lucky you have the opportunity to come to the United States?
Yes, I do, I do. Because I took one year gap after my undergrad in India, and I had a very hard time finding jobs or anything. Which is why I decided to come here and see. I think it is a good opportunity, but I would be sure about it if I end up with a good job.
But I mean, usually opportunity is good. And [inaudible] I mean, usually the result can be predicted.
Yeah.
Also, one thing when I came here, something I found— what’s very unusual for me was, because my aunt stays in Naperville, so it’s a suburb. She picked me up and we directly went to the suburb and in India, it’s like, there’s a lot of population, right? So, you’re used to seeing so many people, everywhere, all the time. And when I went to the suburb with her, you could not see any people on the streets, like all the houses were far away from each other and everything. That, I found, was very weird.
I know.
You know, my first two days, I was like, “How do you live here without people around you?” and everything. But then she said that “When you’ll go to your university area, you will see a lot of people, it won’t be like this.” So yeah, so now when I came to this area, I was like, yeah, it’s better.
Yeah, I mean, cities, like—
Yeah, in cities, you can see people, at least.
I will conclude the city with three words. All people can feel composite, concrete, and concentrated.
Yeah, that’s true, yeah. Concentrated for sure, yeah.
But do you like the quiet environment in the suburb?
I do, I do. But the thing is, I don’t think I can just be there for a long time. I might like it once in a while for some change, for some, you know, alone time or just to clear up your mind or whatever like that. But I don’t think I can just live there alone. I mean, obviously if you have a family, you can live in suburbs. I’m talking about, like the way I can live alone in an apartment here, I won’t be able to live completely alone in a suburb.
Here you have a lot of neighbors, right?
Yeah, you would have neighbors, you just go down on the street, you meet so many people and everything. So that is okay.
Okay. All right. What else? [pause] Yeah, that’s it, I think. Thank you very much.
You’re welcome, no problem.
