I'm Home!

The first day or rather first evening in Gainesville. Me standing with Deepika and Vineesha outside Gainesville Regional Airport. Hardly had the chance to speak to anyone in Hindi except among the 3 of us. As I stared at the unfamiliar coins in my hand, on the brink of making a phone call, I suppressed a chilling, depressing thought "I'm too far from home!"

Then Varun and the ISA ppl show up to pick us up. Its my first conversation in Hindi in Gainesville. On reaching A103 Regency Oaks, Ananya's friendliness and helpfulness disarms me. Those were the days of "first" everything. First visit to Butler Plaza, first courier arrives home, first phone call from new phone, first day at university, first visit to CISE... and the list is just too long to put down here though I will certainly describe a few memorable firsts!

There was that first DBI project when we stared at the computer screen for an hour not knowing what to do. Thanks to Nikhil's generous donation in terms of time and brain-power, we got thru it and how! The first Algos assignment where "regrade" was a frightening concept given that for Mumbai Univ regrade means waiting till your next sem exam gets over! But here ofcourse "regrade" means a chance to justify urself and on some occasions redo your work for more marks!

Another notable first would be my visit to food-joints here. Cici's was the privileged first but now endless visits to Starbucks, Subway, Noodle Bar, etc. have made me lost track of the chronological order in which I discovered the delights of American Fast Food.

There are surely those major firsts like the first Gator Night and first day at the University but those are probably well documented and reported on blogs elsewhere. I won't strain my fingers typing them out here or risk boring u with them!

From those first moments I slowly set into a routine. The visits to Publix and gigglingly cursing the cart as we dragged it back full of groceries. Finding out just why Betty and Veronica drool over yet try not to give in to having a Banana Split. Studies and more studies at Library West. Long trips in search of a campus job. Exams and assignments.

Taking an account of the things I believe counts me in as part of the desi grad students population here...I have a job, an SSN, an address that I put in at countless places, a cell-phone, a UFID and a Gator1 card, a BOA account and its debit card. I stay up late-night doing assignments or doing timepass. I get spam mails in my name in the mailbox. I have a UFL mail and a CISE mail account as well. I don't think Krishna Lunch's food is bland anymore, infact I enjoy it as "tasty food". I don't need a map to walk around the campus now.

Even more than these small things, I have lots of friends here who will always help me, be it a difficult assignment, falling ill, getting upset or just generally feeling moody. Thanks to Swati and Megha, there are memories of good cooking (yumm) made with them, outings to Lake Wauburg, Oaks Mall and various small-time places with them, gossip sessions late night and movies watched with them. Interesting coffee sessions and depressing assignment sessions...we have seen them all. Its time to start a memory book here too!

And that one thing that qualified me to type out this post is Janki's visit to UF today. Showing her the bus routes, helping her get her Gator1 card, seeing that she needs a map to find her way about, telling her about various facts and figures she'll need...all those very same things happened to us when it was the 'first' phase of life in Gainesville.

Today after 40 lectures * 3, 10 + 5 + 3 = 18 assignments/projects, countless moments as described above and the realisation that its a few short months before we are "seniors", I can confidently and happily say "I'm in Gainesville...but I'm home!!"