As I stood at the International departures gate, watching my mother turn around to walk back to the car, I realized I was terrified. Every memory I had was from Singapore, my home for the last 18 years. My friends, my family, all my favorite restaurants – everything I knew was in this city state half the size of Rhode Island.
It had been a long time since I’d had to make friends. In High School, all my friends had been there since elementary school. Now, I knew nobody, and I felt very isolated. I had just arrived on campus, and was already being shoved into international student orientation. Though nervousness plagued my system, I knew I had to make new friends. This led to my taking every possible opportunity to meet new people. While waiting in line to get my student ID card, I started talking with another new student. At lunch, I asked to join a table of people I didn’t know. I attended night time activities such as painting and karaoke, all in the hopes of making connections. Every interaction became easier to initiate, every conversation flowing better than the last. Throughout international orientation, I had countless conversations with complete strangers, and to this day I still am close with many of these friends.
Transitioning to life in the US was also about experiencing a new culture, new traditions, new foods, new weathers. Everything was new, and for the first couple days, I was biased against it, constantly comparing it to Singapore. However, connecting with such a variety of students throughout orientation showed me the beauty of different cultures, and how appreciating and engaging with many cultures can greatly expand your knowledge of the world. I learned about the shared experiences of myself and a student from Hong Kong, sang Hindi karaoke songs, played soccer with students from Switzerland, India, Oman, France, and met my roommate from the US.
Though it was very difficult leaving my home to travel to the other side of the globe for college, it was an invaluable experience, teaching me how to connect with strangers and appreciate a variety of cultures.
