Since my last check-in at Toledo, things have moved on, quite a bit. I have been in Pittsburgh for the last 36 hours or so, and so far, things are going great.
Now I do have a confession to make – my excitement levels at getting admitted to CMU, and getting the opportunity to come to Pittsburgh, were pretty underwhelming. I mean, sure, there was a wide grin on my face the day I saw my acceptance. But honestly, since then, excitement hasn’t bubbled and frothed over. I haven’t been skyrocketing around and ricocheting off the walls of my room. Heck, leaving my home country for the US left me unfazed as well.
But when I saw the sign on the Pennsylvania Turnpike which said “Pittsburgh – 2 miles”, it triggered a reality check of sorts in my mind. I was with my cousin and her family on the way over from Illinois, and then the elephant in the room, or to be more factually accurate, the Honda Odyssey, ambled forward. This was the last time I’d be in close proximity of blood relations in a while. And that’s probably a good thing for me. Not having someone around who is likely to constantly report back to a somewhat overbearing mother, or better still, not having said mother around to helicopter parent me, is a refreshing and welcome change.
Moreover, the drive in reminded me about my destination. CMU. Carnegie Mellon University. The name and the place which had bounced around my head in March, and had since settled down, now reactivated themselves in a frenzy of anticipation. Turning off the highway and onto Forbes Avenue itself was an important event. The shop facades didn’t really blur past, mainly because traffic did not allow any form of blurring whatsoever. But I was straining my neck trying to get a look at the place I’d be calling home for the next 4 years, at the very least.
After paperwork and check-in, and receiving my ID card, I started moving in. I realized that despite getting 2 large bags, 1 large carry-on, 2 cardboard boxes, 1 backpack and 1 guitar, I was relatively better organized than some of my fellow freshmen, who just had things piled up in their car boots. Yet, carrying it all up to the third floor of Boss House was a somewhat demanding task – one that left me drenched in sweat, and wishing for a shower.
So, after a quick lunch at the Red Oak Café (they served amazing vegetarian rueben) with my cousin et al, I was on my own. Which is approximately the same time that the Bobs of Thunder decided to give me, and the rest of the international students moving in that day, a friendly welcome with hail and a thunderstorm. Outdoor stairs were promptly converted to mini-rapids and sloping roads turned into little mountain streams ending in lakes where intersections used to be.
However, I braved the weather to get my meningococcal vaccine at Health Services, mainly thanks to my friend, Utkarsh’s uncle’s assistance in the form of a car ride to get to Morewood Tower was invaluable. That said, the route taken was circuitous thanks to roads being blocked off thanks to the freak weather. The entire experience earned me a clean chit from Health Services, which means I will not be evicted from my residence hall anytime soon. Oh, and I got a Garfield band-aid out of it. And sadly, my umbrella did not survive the downpour, which means I’ll be on the hunt for a replacement.
The rest of the day was actually just spent socializing, be it with fellow international students at the Ice Cream Social at the gym or with the Resident Advisors, Housefellows, Community Advisors and fellow residents in the residence hall itself. Sure, you do get to meet lots of people, but there is no guarantee that you will get all of their names on the first go, and vice versa. It’s not just about getting the names right, but also about retaining those names. I’m hopeless at all of this. I will be able to recognize people I’ve met, and remember the conversations I’ve had with them, but if you ask me to toss in their names to the conversation, and I’ll just want to stare at a wall and dribble.
Of course, since I was trying to be nice, and let my roommate, Juan, have a say in who got which bunk in the room (there’s one loft bed with a table and dresser underneath it, and a regular set of furniture too), I didn’t get to unpacking till late in the night. But after some rearranging, the room felt bigger, and by 2 AM I was done with unpacking. Happy that I found a home for all the stuff I got along.
The actual day of International Student Orientation began with coffee and muffins, which paved the way for a couple of solid welcome lectures for everyone, followed by a spot of immigration document processing. Oh, and because I had braved the rain for the immunizations, I was free in the afternoon to get myself a T-Mobile connection for my phone. 50$. Unlimited calling and texting within the US along with unlimited Internet at 2G speeds. And I’ll be shortly getting a solution for int’l calling at no expense, courtesy my cousin.
But the high point was definitely going to the Cheesecake Factory. Sure, it wasn’t the cheapest place to eat, but since it was part of this orientation activity called Restaurant Hops, I signed up for it. Also ended up making a number of friends who were exchange students at CMU.
Yes, that's whip cream, layers of chocolate fudge, peanut butter and more...
There was also a late-night screening of the movie, Inception, which should go a long way in explaining the lateness of this post (it’s past 3 AM here). It helped that the screening was delayed due to some technical difficulties, but it just meant that we got much more time to socialize than we would have. It was great that a number of non-international students managed to sneak in, even though they move in on Sunday.
Anyhow, it’s getting late, and I need to be up to help a roommate get his stuff in. Oh, and I’ll try to post soon.
(Oh and the reason why I’m not planning on mentioning everyone I met in person is because if I miss someone, they might get sorely upset about it)
