DEPARTED FROM
Bangalore, India

ARRIVED IN
Long Beach, California

YEAR
2013

AGE
24

NOW LIVES IN
San Jose, California

When I think about the first day I was to come in, I think I had two layovers. The first one was in Frankfurt, and the second one was in New York. [laughs] I remember coming to New York, and I didn't know where to stay the night where I was supposed to be in Long Beach. So I remember messaging the International Student Union and one of the members on Facebook and asking them, “Can you please let me know if there are any accommodations left.” And I remember that I was told that there was no accommodations left. The only way was probably to go to a motel and if we mentioned that we are students from Long Beach then we would get a discounted rate. [sighs] I just can't describe how sort of annoyed or irritated I was because I was fine and secluded back home but once you came here, you don't even know where you could go.

I grabbed my luggage, and then I took my laptop with me from the airport, and then I got out of the airport. All I remember is, I look for like a cab from the LA airport because I don't remember - I knew that I could come to the Long Beach airport directly. But I think LA was the main international airport. So I came in. And that was around 9pm. And I had to find a cab. And this was one of these group taxis, and then I just took the cab and then I went to the motel, and it was almost 11:30. And I checked in. And by the time I went to the shared motel room, it was almost 1:00am. And I was exhausted. Yeah, that’s most of it that I can remember right now.

The funny part is that as time passes by, you don't remember most of it. I guess we just remember the fun parts but, I guess, it was like the next day where you had to go in, into campus and figure out how you're gonna get your ID and stuff. And all of what happened the previous day is forgotten. The other aspect of it is like, going through the customs and immigration. I guess every time you just go in there's just so many things going through your mind - “Will they let you in?”, “Do they detect something suspicious?” Surprisingly things worked out well enough. There weren't any issues but it's just so hard to imagine the first time you leave the country and you're in a total different zone where you’re just off fending for yourself.