The past year - part 1

Well it's been exactly one year since I have landed in the US and just thought would write a blog to give an account of what all happened. It all started with me sitting at the Anna Intl. terminal, Chennai waiting for a Malaysian Airline flight to LA with a mind cluttered with thoughts of anxiety, excitement and of course fear. Anxious just wondering how my life is gonna be like away from the comforts of home, amma samayal(mom's cooking), friends, sms kadalai,cricket match etc. Excited, about the courses that lay ahead. And fear, for a lot of reasons starting with whether I will be able to do justice to the decision I had taken, whether I would be able to sustain my stay during study, whether I will be able to cope with the course work, whether I will be able to clear the immigration and customs at LA (given that I was carrying tonnes and tonnes of avakai and vadu mangai) and the list goes on. Had a good friend who was there with me for most part of this year but for the last month or so.

First few moments at LA wasn't the way I would have liked it with my friend getting screwed by immigration officials due to some miscommunication about his paper work. Then we had to find a shuttle (which we had no idea how it looks like) to take us to a senior's place. The shuttle fellow dropped us two houses away from the destination and there we were standing with all the luggages on the middle of road at around 11:30 pm wondering which way to go. Then came the next struggle, finding an on campus job. Walk into every building and knock every door was the only advise our seniors gave us. Doing that we found out that without a work ex (had no idea that Infy,TCS... were given so much respect here) it is impossible to find a programmer job. Search went on and on from the book store to the library to another library to dept front office etc. We were greeted with one of these two sentecnes "do you have a work study?" or "oh you are early for fall recruitment, come see us in a week". First sentence basically meant international students can't a job at that place and second one gave me hope but also gave me fear as waiting one week would mean competing against hordes of desis would come in. All this while the word food only meant cerals and subs. Btw I forgot to tell you about the computer lab assistant job that I had applied for like million times and I m still awaiting a call.

With the desparation of finding an on-campus job reaching its peak, the search turned towards various cafes. But being late meant that most jobs were already taken by desis (omg never thought there were more desparate people than me!). Closest thing to getting a job was an interview call for a computer store assistant position with an hourly pay of 8$, but given the hundreds of them who were called and my question answering skills I dint get it. Then there were some hope when a cafe manager told me that he had a position open and got my schedule and contact number, a huge sigh of relif! But as luck would have it, when I went there after the weekend I was told that I always end up coming when the manager was busy and that the job has already been taken. The manager then asked me if I was willing to work on Saturdays and Sundays, with anything for SSN and a job I more than gladly accepted. He again asked me for my class schedule and contact number and thats when I realised that he thrown the tissue paper on which he had written my information the previous time. By this time classes had begun and was in full swing with assignments galore. The semester went on with weekly classes and weekend job which left exhausted by the time monday begun. It had its effect on my grades and there started another worry "finding an internship". Wondering whether or not to quit the job I decided to continue with the job to see how my grades were in the next test. The reason for this second thought about quitting the job was the goodies I got right from millk,choc drinks,colas,doughnuts, pasteries, soups etc and also not to forget the 7$ meal coupon with every shift. Man that 7$ coupon would fetch me 2 or 3 meals :D. But when the grades went down the next time around, I quit the job but it was too late to rescue the falling fall grades. But some how managed to escape with a decent grade at the end.

All this while I met new people and that in itself would require a blog to discuss about. This is when I realised the potential of HR, there were people who complained about sleeping on floor, complaing about a roomie who eats more, talking at the back of you, spreading rumors about you(there were some hilarious ones too!), immature mark seekers or should i say mark fighters who compared their grading with some one elses' and made sure that no one else would get to talk to teh TA or professor during their office hours, people who always try to prove a point to you (grow up man!) and to cap it all up a professor who rejected my assignment claiming that I had copied just because I had submitted both mine and my friend's. One of the longest semesters of my life ended n there i went to vacation to my sister's place. Phew wondering what would I have done without her.

PS: too much typing for a sunday night, to be continued later....