Departures and Arrivals

Today is my last exam and my last day of college in India. As usual, I woke up with all the messed up thoughts like, "Will I be able to pass the exam?" As I rushed into the bathroom and brushed my teeth, I started scrolling through WhatsApp to see if any papers came in and then got dressed up. My dad came out of their room and asked the usual questions. "Did you take your bike keys?" bottle? hall ticket?" I nodded and said, "Of course, I did." Once he made sure I had all my belongings, we both walked towards the door, as I was wearing my sandals, he told me, "All the best" and smiled, I looked at him and was very nervous as I told "bye". As I waited for the lift he was looking at me with cheerful eyes and saying, "bye ma" When he saw the lift arrive, I waved at him as the lift closes.

I rushed to college and then went to the exam room. I saw all my friends murmuring the imp concepts and ranting about our college and exams, and some of them making plans for that afternoon before they leave for their hometown. For the first time in my life, I was feeling empty and too sad to leave these people and the city I loved for the past 2 years. I wrote my exam well, and when I came out of the exam hall, all my friends gathered around me, took me to my favorite restaurant near clg, and celebrated my departure. As I was eating biriyani, one of them took out a gift box wrapped in pink, as soon as I saw that, my eyes filled with tears and the spoon in my hand fell onto the plate, Even though I spent most of my clg time with them, I never realized their value until then. As I was unwrapping the gift, all of them were looking at me with 4 eyes, 2 of theirs filled with tears, and 2 cameras. The moment I saw black boots, I was too excited and hugged my friends who were beside me and gave air kisses to the ones in front. Kriti, Sara, and Swetha were always by my side in all my ups and downs and it was the best parting gift they could have given me. We started talking about our past moments in these 2 years for 2 hours, and then we left as they had their trains that night.

For the next 2 weeks, I was busy shopping and sweeping all the malls to buying all the things for my journey. Out of the way, my mom kept asking what I wanted to eat every 1 hr and was looking at me as much as she can, I got to sleep in my parent's bedroom, and everyone around me was acting so sweet.

The d day came, and by 9 I reached the airport with my mom, dad, cousin, and aunt. I kept clinging to my dad and didn't want to take a step away from him. This was my first solo trip and 1st journey out of the ordinary. I was acting all tough and all by telling them " I am going to enjoy my life in Korea, and explore all the culture and oppa's", but down to myself, I was sad and almost broke, to leave my life in India. As I escalated through the elevator to the 2nd floor, tears rolled down my cheek, but I still waved to my parents with the brightest smile possible. For the next 8 hrs, I just followed the flow and reached my destination, without realizing it.

As I stepped into the airport, I was swayed by the view. The airport was beautiful, everyone was rushing their way to the gateways, most of them on their phones and the airport was almost as silent as a prayer hall. As I was walking to the gateway, I saw people carrying placards and journalists waiting and looking eagerly at us, but it wasn't for me, of course. They were apparently waiting for a girl band to arrive, which is common in Korea. As I was standing by the cab lane, I saw many couples wearing matching clothes, holding hands, I saw that my body temperature rose and my cheeks were turning red, and I was smiling as if I've reached my final destination in life. As I was deep in thought, suddenly I heard a guy shouting at me asking "Hey, where do you want to go?". I took a deep breath, came to my senses, and told him the address to my college as he was struggling to put my luggage in the cab. After 1.5 hrs of driving, I reached my college.

As soon as I reached the security office, I saw Miss Sue smiling and waving her hand at me. She is my FA, that was the first time I met her in real life. For the past 3 months, I have been in contact with her to know all the details regarding my stay, studies, and stuff. She was always sweet and answered my texts immediately, and in reality, she was beautiful on top of her sweetness. She made all the arrangements for me, As I walked by her side from the security office near the main entrance,

That night I settled down in my dorm, Finally, my room was glowing pink and my bedsheet was white and I had cute slippers near the door. A dreamcatcher was hanging down the wall on the right side of my bed, last but not least, my family picture was near my bed. The room was set according to my likes and fantasies. I sat down on the floor, leaning on the side of the bed, and started scrolling my phone. As I was scrolling through, I started having thoughts about meeting new people and becoming friends with new people immediately, and those thoughts were comforting and made me smile with joy. As I climbed onto my bed, my glance went to the window present right beside it, and I could see the sweetest moon, which is at a long distance from me but gave me the comfort that it is always present when needed, as my parents are. With those emotions clinging around, I slithered into sleep.

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