I Wake Up...

My eyes open to the sound of this artificial beeping that is coming from an electric clock. Usually it’s the sound of the beeping of buses on the highway 30 feet from my bed. That is a different part of the world, I forgot. I forgot that I was on a 24 hour journey to travel all the way across the world. I forgot that my life was about to change drastically as I switched school and the country. There is the school I used to go to on the other side of this highway. There is my mother in the house that I used to live in. There is all the food that I love. Waiting till the next time I got back home. There is my little sister. I remember missing her.

            I remember the ride from DIA to Carbondale in a Colorado Mountain Express taxi cab.

My eyes are stuck to the window looking at the landscape around me. The trees are a much darker green than the ones in India. They are flashing in front of my eyes and I only get a couple of seconds to look around me. And then another different landscape. It’s really because of how fast the tires of this vehicle, which only my father and I are sitting in, are rotating. It’s kind of weird to think that he works so hard just so that my life is better. I remember not thinking this way then. We get out of the cab and we look around trying to make sense of this place. There is no obvious entrance into any building and no building is the most obvious one to enter. Our luggage stays in the cab and it goes to the hotel room in which we are going stay.

I remember not trusting another person with my belongings.

It just feels strange that I am going to call this place home for the next 4 years. I remember not calling this place home till my sophomore year.

I meet people and they hug me when I first meet them. I remember feeling really uncomfortable when they did that. I remember I never hugged anybody else other than my immediate family. And once I remember hugging my girlfriend. My ex- girlfriend now.

I notice that people are really nice to me. I remember that not being the case in India.

I notice that no one really tells you that you are wrong in a harsh way. I remember that not being the case in India.

I notice is everything is clean and organized. I remember that not being the case in India.

I notice that a lot of the girls are hot. I remember that not being the case in India.

I notice that everyone’s eyes and they are so cool in blue, green, hazel, and grey and so on and I think that my eyes are so boring. I remember thinking that.

I notice that everyone’s hair is of a different color than black. I see that most of the boys have long hair. I remember wanting long hair. I remember growing my hair out.

“Hey man, how’s it going?” says a boy with smile that last as wide as his face is.

I don’t know what do say to him as no one has ever asked me that question. I look at him and I smile and then say “it’s good” not knowing that this is what I am going to say for the next four years.

“My name is Jake” he says.

“My name is Kirti” I say it with an accent that only Apu (from the Simpsons) could mimic.

I remember watching hours of Simpsons and Family Guy. I remember learning a lot of English through watching movies.

I remember seeing the price on every single thing.

I go the dorm room that I am assigned. I remember not knowing the word dorm. Especially since its short for dormitory.

I notice that the bed is really comfortable. I remember being really comfortable in a big, nice, clean room with other students. I go to the Bar Fork. I eat. I remember thinking it was amazing food. I remember being persuaded by others to think it wasn’t so good. I go back to my room and I hear the rules about this place and thinking “why would I ever want to break them?” I remember breaking them.

I remember every moment when I have loved this place. I remember every moment where I have learnt and realized that all those flights to come here and back were worth it.

Then I go to sleep. I remember feeling scared, nervous, excited, happy, and sad all at the same time.

And now, I wake up to the sound of this artificial beeping that is coming from an electric clock and I wish that it was the beeping of the buses on that highway that woke me up.