Weeks 1 & 2

It's been ten days since my arrival in the US. Ten days so busy that it seems to me that I've been here for at least a month. On the first morning when I entered my unfurnished apartment, I thought I would never furnish it! But thanks to Janis, my amazing, amazing host, only four days later my apartment already felt like home. Those first four days were all about the bare necessities - buying an inflatable mattress to sleep on until I get a proper bed, buying kitchen stuff, pillows, comforters (even though I still don't quite get the difference between a duvet and a comforter, I bought a nice zebra patterned comforter), visiting yard sales and giveaways (my first yard sale ever).

Also, getting my student ID, opening a bank account, getting a new sim card and finding a plan that will allow me to be connected on the go, registering my computer for the use in my apartment are just a few things that we managed to do successfully during the first week. Our three wonderful coordinators, Jane, Leila and Talat took great care of all of us and made sure it all went smoothly.

The second week was about getting to know the campus, classes to choose from and  team building. My fellows Humphrey Fellows :-) are all wonderful people and we get on really well. We gave short 15-minute presentations to get to know each other, went to Milbrook Marsh and Niagara Falls and had a lot of fun together. I even managed to overcome my fear of sleeping in outside corridor motels.

The only thing missing is my family.