Starting Days in Auckland For An International Student
It’s a continuation of my last post. It has been almost three weeks here in Auckland now ( each week is embedded in my racing heart as I withdraw money for the weekly rent from my limited amount!) Believe me finding an affordable accommodation is everyone’s first priority after arriving here. Take my advice and arrange it beforehand from your home countries itself. You will be spared with one less concern in your starting days.
The next biggest concern, even before the study pattern begin appearing in your nightmares, is getting hold of a decent part time job. All agents back home assure you that if you know how to speak English fluently, you will get a part time job within a matter of few hours itself! But that’s a completely wrong picture. Believe me with a 8 point IELTS score, English is not my barrier towards getting a part time job – and I have been up at dawn everyday searching over the net for any response from the hundreds of applications sent everywhere ( you cant be choosy: it doesn’t matter whether I was an Editor back in Delhi, here I should be prepared to work at restaurants, reception, call center, childcare..anything and everything except of course pubs and late night shifts because that’s against my principles). Then a sound advice from a bank manager solved the biggest issue in my CV- I was supposed to mellow down my degrees and experiences. I was over-qualified for such menial jobs and they knew once I got hold of something in my own field, I would disappear into thin air. So with a basic CV, I landed with some one-off jobs and am still hoping to get a regular part-time one soon 🙂
And of course, the main aim of my being here- my studies. All excited to attend my first lecture, I was surprised by everyone’s casual attitude. Leave alone the dresses everyone wore (including the professor) , I was awed by the variety of stuff everyone kept on their table ranging from coffees, energy drinks to beer bottle, right there in the class. That made me feel relaxed that I was amongst friends here, not a typical class back home. But amidst the lecture, I was awed by the vast amount of knowledge everyone had of authors, book reviews, critics and what not. I was here because I loved writing and I have stories to tell. But they were here because they have been influenced by books all their lives for so many years now (by years I mean the ages of my class mates range from 22 to 65! Age doesn’t matter here, your passion for writing does.) Anyways I am loving my course and wish I can cope up to their expectations and not let India down as I am the only Indian in the class. With that note I am off to start writing the first draft of my novel.. Keep me in your prayers always 🙂
My First Week in Auckland
Ever heard of a place called Auckland? Well I didn’t know about it before and I just happen to be lucky enough to get admitted in one of the most popular Universities here- AUT. After a very long flight and horrible food that Thai airways served (My advice : Always opt for a vegetarian meal beforehand as being an Indian you will be shocked by the things they offer under non-veg category. I had to suffice on the salad and the sweets that accompanied the main course and believe me my huge body structure isn’t built upon just that 🙂
Anyways I am really lucky to have this lovely Indian family who have rent out their room for us students. It feels comfortable to be living with someone from your own country, kind of reduces the home-sickness to some extent ( Although I cried myself to sleep every night for the first few days questioning my decision to be so far away from my home ). I have had horrible flea bites all over my exposed skin area and I look horrible with such marks ( It helps when I wear long sleeves, hides up the horrible red patches). I have been to the doctor on my third day itself and have been visiting her regularly now for my treatment. They say I have a very sensitive skin and should stay away from direct sun too (I didn’t know they have ozone layer problem here despite all the greenery and fresh air around. But I have been warned that people tend to get skin cancer here!)
But on the positive note, the thing that strikes me most here is the friendly nature of people and the neatness all around. Everyone actually thanks the bus driver when they get off the bus! And the thing about following the traffic rules by the pedestrians blows me over ( They have proper traffic lights for us to use when we are crossing and no one can cross in between! Man if these people were in India they would surely get a shock. We do have traffic lights for pedestrians but come on, who can honestly say that we followed them even once while we were there? )Â
The orientation at AUT and the way they welcome us is really superb. They are such friendly people and take so much interest in you and then they remember all the things you shared! I really feel very welcomed by my university and love the free feeds that they offer every other day ( being a new international student with no part time job at present, you tend to get tight around the purse strings and these free lunches are always appreciated 🙂
The thing that scared me most at the University was a meeting with my fellow students and teachers. They were all talking on such high level that it went over my head mostly. They all are so well read and knowledgeable people that I feel dwarfed by them (Believe me when a 5 foot 11 inches lady feels dwarfed it means serious situation!) One of my fellow student has already written 3500 words of his memoirs whereas I haven’t even completed planning about what all I wish to include in my novel. My classes will start next week and I am already feeling kind of nervous. Plus I really need to find a part time job somewhere soon to pay these huge weekly expenses… Hmmm to be away from home this way… Anyway to relax away the built-up tension, I am going sailing today with a friendly group who have arranged to visit a nearby island on their sailboat. I have been on streamers before, but lets see what this new experience will be like. I guess I have written too much already as people in today’s world have less time to devote to their own life , leave alone whats happening in someone’s life. But I appreciate the relief I get by writing down my thoughts and concerns. I guess the blogging thing is working for me, you should try it too 🙂
A New Journey
To be frank, I really don’t know what I am doing here as it’s my first attempt at blogging. I just wanted to share some of the many thoughts running through my mind. And believe me when I say Many thoughts 🙂
I believe life is not just a journey towards our final destination, I believe that it’s more of a series of journeys and rest stops along the way. It’s uphill, downhill and sometimes just a boring straight road ahead. I said boring because I have just moved forward from the straight road of my life map, and I know how boring it can get. I am a person who doesn’t like still waters, I enjoy the ripples that each drop from heaven or hell produces in my life. Yes, even the drops from hell are enjoyable in retrospect as I love the lessons I learn during the hard times and it feels great to know that I am maturing with time.
Coming back to the straight boring road I was travelling on, actually I am speaking in terms of my career choices. I was working in a reknowned multinational company surrounded by a great work environment, appreciation from seniors and peers alike, a satisfactory income and most of all my beloved friends. But underneath the cosy life that I was leading I missed the feeling of adventure, of excitement, of the enthusiastic feeling of waking up each day with new ideas to implement and most of all the passion for writing that got buried beneath the hustle bustle of a busy active life. So about a year ago I quit my job and joined my line of work as an Editor at a new publication house. I always dreamt of writing my own book one fine day and luckily enough a masters program in creative writing caught my eye and here I am in Auckland, so far away from my cosy life of India. I am about to begin my journey of writing my own novel and as I look back, I am really grateful that I was encouraged to follow my passion, to quit a comfortable zone which took 5 years to built up and was just beginning to pay off when I decided to quit. I won’t say that I was courageous enough to just go for it. It took me months to decide whether or not I was doing the right thing. I was supposed to be settled in my life at this age and here I was picking up the pieces of my long forgotten education once again.
I am sure there are many people out there who sit back sometimes to think about what their choices had led them to. Who wouldn’t have pondered at least once or twice about a deeply buried passion? Who wouldn’t have got the desire to rewind their life and take a different turn somewhere? Who wouldn’t have wanted to really feel completely happy with what they are doing in their life today and what they could have done if only they could pursue their dreams leaving all this hard earned success behind for once? But my dear fellows life has no rewind button. Maybe that’s for the better. Otherwise we all would be so rash in our decisions and not care about the future as we could rewind it and change it according to our wishes. So that leaves us to change our present instead of wishing to change our past. Although it is really a tough decision to arrive onto, yet believe me the relief to be finally doing the right thing is so great that you would later laugh at the time wasted being indecisive before. So gear up dear friends and step into your real path so that each step that you take is filled with your deepest passion that leads to fulfilled dreams.
With this note I would like to take my leave but I will be back with more thoughts on the way my life is turning out to be after taking this deep plunge towards achieving my dream. I know it won’t be easy but I sure do hope it will be an interesting journey towards my goal.
Hani 