DEPARTED FROM
Indore, India
ARRIVED IN
Dallas, Texas
YEAR
2002
AGE
20
TRANSCRIPT
I came to the US when I was 20 years old. I moved from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India, to Texas. My first day was a lot of excitement and anxiety at the same time. When I landed it was around midday, 1:30 pm or so. I came out wondering where I would find the person to pick me up. The Indian Student Association was helpful in planning and coordinating, but you don’t know who will be there. I waited and couldn’t see anyone, so I called the hotline and got the answer “Don’t worry, someone is going to be there.” A nice PhD student came to pick me up. My expectation of the US was very different, turns out Dallas is a concrete city, and not green. I have a lot of friends and family in India waiting to see if I had reached home safely. I started calling a lot of people to make sure they knew. Then, even figuring out meals and luggage and other things was an experience. I started socializing with a lot of my batch mates in college. It was a fun experience. As you come to a new place, you have a big close-knit society, so you just have to make sure that you return the favors and help other people with their journeys as part of the process.
