Brown girl meets the world
After dodging many ‘rishta’ aunties, judgemental relatives and envious acquaintances, I finally moved from Pakistan to America in order to study. So, here I am all set to make my life memorable!
But unfortunately, life isn’t easy even in a developed western country especially for a brown girl like me who was born and raised in Pakistan. Well, initially I had to live in a dorm before I could move into my own apartment. Moving on... I encountered quite a few problems, of course. And the major difficulty I faced was finding places, halls and rooms in my university. Yes, even finding your class can become a mission that you may or may not succeed in! However, I found out this piece of information after having suffered hours of playing hide and seek with my university where my destination seemed to be ‘hiding’ from me. Oblivious of what lay ahead, off I went to my university to attend a mandatory training session and ended up wandering aimlessly looking for the hall. I felt like a mouse stuck in a maze. Exasperated, I began to wonder why none of the other Pakistani’s had ever mentioned the biggest trial of living abroad was to find your classes on time.
This was the point in time when a girl I knew decided to enlighten me with the technology of google maps. Yes, we have all heard about it but living in Pakistan, I never understood why google maps were such a big deal, until now. Just a few clicks on my phone screen and the technology safely guided me to my destination.
So, after a week of living in the dorm, I finally got my apartment - thanks to the helpful people around me. Trust me, what I felt is indescribable. Sure, I didn’t have any furniture but the achievement of finding a place to live in was awesome on its own. After the excitement of finding a place fizzled out, what was in store for me were more problems. One of the most important issues that needed immediate attention was the internet service as I had to make contact back home without spending an exorbitant amount on phone calls. I wasn’t sure about how the internet service could be connected so I just bounced out of my door when I heard someone pass by. That’s how things work here you see. You can start off a conversation with anyone without seeming creepy or perverted. However, I ended up cutting the conversation short with him as he seemed too eager to help. Well, it’s not my fault if my ‘desi’ instincts refuse to let go of me!
Things got better from there (or so I thought), as I soon found out that my neighbours were Arabs. They too were equally excited when they found out I was a Muslim. They were so happy with me that they ended up giving me a lot of yummy Arabic food. The next day, I got food again along with a branded scarf. I don’t know the intention behind the gift - did my neighbours mean for it to be on my head or my shoulders? However, the happiness with the neighbours lasted only till the day they saw a guy friend at my apartment stay at my place till 11 p.m. for combined study. After that day, my neighbours and I continued to greet each other but the excitement and the food seemed to vanish. Some things never change, do they? Yes everyone, there is no avoiding judgmental aunties and uncles in any part of the world so give up the idea that you will ever be in a place where you can be free without worrying about the society.
Now that I was all settled in, the next step was to get used to the change in the way of life. The first hardship that came my way was the cultural shock. I was prepared to see women in revealing clothes but I had no idea most of the men here went around shirtless too. This was often the case when men were out jogging and I just couldn’t control my laughter when a hairy shirtless man would jog past me. But since no one laughs at anyone here, I had to keep my amusement all to myself.
Unfortunately, there were also times when I reached the bathroom and realized that I had forgotten the water bottle back in my bag in class. In such dire situations, I ended up wetting the toilet paper and using it. Never in my life had I imagined using the toilet would become such a strenuous task.
These are a few of the problems I faced that no one really talks about when the subject of life abroad comes. We all know how expensive it is to live there and how fast the life in USA is, but no one discusses these minor hurdles that really stressed me out during the process of settling in a western country. Now let’s see what the future holds for me. After all, the
furniture shopping for my apartment is still left. What’s the rush guys? Will tell you all about it some other day!