August 16, 2016 – UConn Orientation Day 1, Hartford, CT, USA

What a wonderful and memorable day to remember for eternity.

A step back – Ever since I got to know about Baseball, Ice hockey, Linkin Park, and Eminem, I had been fascinated with this land of opportunities. When I realized my true potential, I knew USA is going to be an ideal place for me, as it provided equal opportunities to everyone and hardly there was a discrimination based on your gender, color, or birthplace. Almost everything that I imagined for myself has one single word answer – America. And, with that, starting from, I think, 6th grade, I studied and worked hard with one single goal in mind – Come to America and make a living for myself and my family! Every single morning and night that I had spent studying, every time I pushed myself when my body told me to give up, every extra hour I spent working and all the amazing connections and relationships I developed over the years had this one goal in mind. It was not that I hated India or my life there, but with the kind of ambitions and plans that I had, only one country would have been able to fulfill that and that would be the United States of America.
So, when this day arose, I couldn’t help but chuckled at myself looking in the mirror. Though it seemed like this journey lasted for 2-3 days, but it took me more than 13 years to get to where I was currently at and I valued it the most in life and vowed to not take it for granted. It was a pleasant thought to start this important day with and I couldn’t have been happier and more excited about it.

The day kicked off in an interesting way. When I was planning to come to the US, many people reached out (in a good way) telling me how one experiences jet lag when you go to a different timezone especially with a 14 hour difference. For me, the case was a little different. I reached Hartford the day before around evening time, an ideal time to reach any new place, giving me enough time to freshen up and have some food, before dozing off for the night. This setting worked so well for me that I woke up at my usual time on this day and didn’t experience jet lag at all. Even I was surprised when I was the first one taking the shower and my roommates were still sleeping.

We were supposed to report at 9AM, so I got ready quickly and was waiting for my roommate to get ready as we had same reporting time for the orientation. I got a few minutes for snapping some pictures and was fortunate to have this beautiful view. We were at the 9th floor of the building, so it treated us with a nice view of the road leading up to Downtown Hartford.

Once we got ready and started walking to the address that was given to us, I managed to capture a selfie too while walking on the empty streets of the Downtown Hartford. I had chubby cheeks back then! It was a brisk 10 minutes walk to the 100 Constitution Plaza, the building where I would spent next year of my life, attending lectures, drafting University Magazine issues, and creating memories with friends and classmates.

Once I figured out how to enter the building, apparently a hard thing for me 🤪, I saw a few signs guiding us where to go for the orientation. I was nervous at first and was a little quiet, but as soon I walked in, I saw Kathy, who was our on boarding coordinator. Having conversed with her over the emails for the last few months, seeing her in person for the first time, gave me a soothing feeling and immediately I transformed into a good old Milind, who treated everything and everyone as business as usual.

I took a seat in the back as I didn’t want to sit in the front, and soon was joined by my future classmates. I managed to do some small talk, I didn’t know it was called small talk by then. Anyway, we got to talking and after a few minutes, managed to grab a couple selfies with students that I was interacting with. I think, one of those was taken when we were playing a team building activity.

It was very nice of our seniors to spend some time thinking about various team building activities we could do, so that we can bond as classmates and help each other whenever needed. It worked like a charm and I found myself bonding to so many people whom I had talked over the phone when I was preparing for my visa interview and travel plans. It felt both wonderful and awesome to see put faces to the names that I have interacted with for a few weeks and months.

I think from this day onwards, I was known as a selfie enthusiast, I am not sure if that’s the correct term/lingo. You can see here, a bunch of us posing for a selfie, which is etched into eternity forever.

After this photo session and doing so many small talks with many people, it was time to head home finally. During the orientation, we were told different things that we would go through as international students. We were introduced to different terminologies such as CPT, OPT. I was surprised to see that our seniors took time out of their busy schedule and prepare a welcome video for us, showcasing what we can expect from our life at Hartford and UConn and what a great institution it is. They turned out to be right, I must say!

While walking back to my apartment and thinking about all the things that we were just exposed to, I couldn’t help but notice the grandeur of the building and immediately snapped a couple pictures before it becomes way too familiar and old.

I also struck a pose in front of it and it turned out to be a cool one.

After getting back, I had a nice meal with my roommates, talked to my family and girlfriend and enjoyed an afternoon nap, which I craved for.

In the evening, one of our roommates volunteered to drive us around Hartford area so that we get to experience the US life that we had come there for. It was such a nice and gentle gesture from him. This is us all smiling before heading out to an unknown exploration with people I met a couple days ago! Life is crazy!

Many more stories to come!