1 Page 1 in My Diary

Name: Samantha Dasani

After a week of my arrival to the United States of America, New York City. Today I got some time to write about the experiences and emotions I had gone through this week in my diary.

I have this habit of writing down the emotions and experiences of my everyday life in a diary since my childhood.

I was 11 years old when I first wrote something in a diary, since then it has become a habit to write a diary, once a week or twice a week or sometimes daily.

Happy!

Sad!

Excited!

Homesick!

Independent!

Lonely!

Studying away from family in a different country which is thousands of miles away from my home comes with a wide range of emotions.

When I took that first step and dared to study in the United States of America for pursuing my dream.

I have no doubt that I am thrilled about the opportunity to live in another country. 2 years abroad will probably be one of the best experiences of my life. But also, each day will come with different emotions.

Rewind back to the month or so leading up to my departure, the fact that I was going to be studying in the United States of America didn't even feel real. I had theories and ideas floating around in my mind about what things would be like but it all felt so distant. And it was all the way across the Atlantic Ocean! I made packing lists and checklists weeks in advance, but in my typical style, the last few days were very stressful, with lots of last-minute errands and a few breakdowns.

The idea of studying abroad is very cool. The reality of leaving home is pretty scary. At least, I thought so. I made my whole family drive me to the airport. I gave them about a million hugs each. But ultimately, I had to say goodbye and board the plane by myself. I was nervous when the plane took off.

The landing was much more rewarding than taking off. Just knowing I had made it abroad was exhilarating! I went through customs, grabbed my luggage, and called the car service that was going to take me into the city. It's a great idea to arrange this before leaving home.

Door to door service takes a lot of stress out of the picture when you don't know your way around. The drive-in was so beautiful that I couldn't help but smile the whole way. My new apartment was breathtaking, I couldn't afford to live there again in a million years.

But meeting my roommates was a little awkward. We were all so jet-lagged that the first day was actually a bit of a disappointment. We didn't go anywhere except for the convenience store down the street. Luckily, after a good night's sleep, we were ready for orientation on day two.

At orientation, I met other people on my program to start exploring the city with. I felt safer, more awake, and ready to go!

Making new friends was easier than I thought it would be. Classes started a few days in, and that added some structure to my day, which was also comforting. For a lot of people, the first signs of homesickness started to show during this time… but I was running too hard to look back.