Friends

Hello everybody,
I hope you're having a great day! This is kind of a continuation of my previous post. As I mentioned earlier, I recently got my visa and told my friends about me leaving for university abroad. The way some of them reacted, surprised me a little and got me thinking about friendships.
I had kept only three of my very close friends (I'll call them ABC for convenience) informed about my plans from the very beginning. A lot of people put you down if you plan/try to pursue something and fail. So, I thought it would be best to let others know only after things were clearer for me. Once I received my visa, I thought it was suitable to let others know about it. 
For the past 6 months I've been working as an intern and don't meet ABC on a regular basis. A few other friends from my college (I'll call them DEF (God! I need to come up with better names!)) are interning along with me. So for the past few months, I spend most of my time with DEF and have become quite close friends with them. Sometimes I wonder, if I had met them in my first year of college, would I have become best friends with them? They come from a similar background as me, they have a similar upbringing, values etc. However, on many occasions I've found them behaving in a petty/selfish manner. In such situations I wonder, are ABC better people than DEF or is it just the way ABC react to me vs how DEF react to me (considering I'm a newer friend to  DEF than ABC).
I'm writing about this now because I noticed a significant difference in the way ABC reacted to the news that I had got my visa and how DEF reacted to the same news. Our internship offer was such that if we performed well during the internship period, we'd be converted into permanent employees. I have been performing well and my manager offered to convert me. However, I declined the offer as I had plans of continuing my education. I didn't tell DEF about this as I hadn't told them about my plan to study itself. They thought I hadn't been offered a conversion and used to boast a little about their offers. I used to be tempted to tell them that I too had been offered a conversion but held back as I'd have to reveal my other plans then. Finally when it was my turn to tell them about my plans, I thought they'd be a little more supportive and happy for me. They did congratulate me, but it was quite apparent that they were unhappy about it. I told them about it two days back and I already notice the change in their behavior towards me. They've become a little distant and cold.
When I broke the news to ABC, they were genuinely happy and I could see that in their texts itself! Now I do think ABC are genuinely better people than DEF. I'm glad I got to meet ABC before I met DEF. ABC are friends because I like to be with them; DEF are more friends for convenience.
I know this post was really cryptic and personal, but I needed to tell someone about it and I figured, who better than you! I'm sorry if I bored you with little details of my life which may not make sense to you. But I hope atleast a few people can relate to what I'm talking about.
Until next time,
Bye! :D

Up, Up and Away: < 20 days to go! (Visa approved!)

Hello everybody!
I know I haven't been posting anything else apart from this topic, but I think that's all that's going on in my life these past few months. I have no idea when I'll post a quality post next. Please bear with me for a few more weeks. I have a feeling that I'll have some really interesting stuff to write about soon!
Coming back to the topic of this post, I finally finished my Visa interview and my visa got approved! I got back my stamped passport too. The interview went really smooth and lasted no longer than 2 minutes! I had spent months procuring all the required documents and organizing them. A lot of people post a lot of stuff they think is true on groups and forums and get others worried. Even on the day before my interview, someone on the WhatsApp group (of people from my city going to the same university) said some particular document had to be attested and the original was not enough! Although that did not make much sense, when an important thing like your visa is at stake, little things also bother you. Finally it turned out that that document was not required. I felt like I was over-prepared; but its always better to be a little over-prepared rather than under-prepared.
I bought a new suitcase. I'm allowed 2 large ones and a small carry-on. I already had 2 large ones but decided to buy another one as my parents might need the other one for when they travel. I haven't started putting stuff in, I think I'll start doing that about a week  before I leave. I bought a few dresses and shoes that I thought I could use there. I don't even have a vague idea how much all my stuff weighs. This week I'll start putting all the things that I'll be taking in one place. That should give me an idea about how much space I'll be left with if I decide to buy more stuff.
I have a to-do list to which I had just been adding stuff all these weeks; now a lot of them are getting checked off. I had to get my eyes checked (I've heard medical treatment is very expensive in the US). It turns out that I have a slight power but the doctor said that I don't need to wear glasses regularly! (only when I need them).  A lot of my friends are getting a dental check-up too. I'm really scared of the dentist and am quite sure I don't have any cavities. So, I'm planning to skip that. I had to get a vaccination and a blood draw test. (I think I've suffered enough in one month!)
This week will be my last proper week at work. My internship was supposed to end next Sunday, but I'll be taking some days off next week to prepare; I'll go on friday to finish the closing procedures.
Until now I hadn't told most of my friends about my plan to go abroad; I told quite a few of my friends recently after I got my visa. There were mixed reactions. I think I'll make a separate post that and other stuff.
Until next time,
Bye! :D

Up, Up and Away: 30 days to go!

Hello everybody,
I hope each one of you is having a great day! I just have about a month left before I FLY! Next week I have my visa interview. I hope and pray it goes well. On the University WhatsApp groups I see only approvals and people saying that their interview was no longer than 2-3 minutes; so, I hope it won't be something that I need to worry about. I have most of my documents ready. One last document that I need to get from my Undergraduate University is pending (I'll get it on Friday).
My internship goes on till the first week of August. I barely have 2-3 days of holidays before I leave. This gives me no time to prepare. I need to finish my packing, organize my documents (separate the ones that I'll need to take from the ones that I'll leave behind, make copies, scan originals etc), decide on which courses I'll take etc. Since I haven't got my visa yet I keep feeling like I have time and the fact that I'm at work for the most part of the day isn't helping.
Packing wise, I've made a list of things that I'll need (I have most things; so, I don't need to go shop much). I've also decided on the clothes that I'll be carrying. All that's left is putting stuff into suitcases (I need to buy one still!) and making sure that the weight is within the limit. I don't think this will take more than a week's time; but since I get time only in the evenings I need to start early- probably next weekend (after my visa!). As I said in an earlier post, I'll be living with a very close relative; so, even if I forget a few things, it wouldn't be much of a problem.
The next important thing that  I need to do is organize my documents. This is such a boring job that I keep putting it off and I've not even started doing it. I need to plan for all the documents I may need for the next 2 years! I don't know when I'm going to do this.
That is the status of my preparation. Coming to mental preparation, I'm more excited about this whole thing than I've even been before. I've started to see more at the positives and less at the negatives. I hope to make new friends, become more independent, learn more about my subject and learn more about myself. All these many years, I've looked up to my parents to guide me about how I need to handle situations. Now, hopefully from all that I've learnt I'll be able to take proper decisions and handle situations that come my way. I know I'll always have them to guide me when I'm in a really sticky situation; but staying in different time zones would probably mean that I'll have to handle most situations on my own. I'm  curious to see how I'll manage.
Some of my concerns at the moment are 1) how I'll handle finances and 2) commute.
Till now, I've always just asked my parents for anything that  I wanted and they'd buy me that. Even now when I'm earning, I don't spend the money that I earn. I'll have to start managing my own account; maintaining a record of the money I have, I've spent etc. Hopefully I'll learn all that soon.
My other concern is regarding transportation. The city where I live in has amazing public transport. I completely rely on buses to get from one point to another (when traveling alone). However, in the USA, most cities (including the city I'm going to) have very minimal public transport facilities. I've also heard that it is quite unsafe to travel alone. Although the university is about 15 minutes by car from the place where I'll stay, it would take me close to 2 hours by bus! I know how to drive a car; but barely drive. Most people from my city/country who are going to the same university have taken up accommodation close to the campus. So, this will be one thing that I'll have to figure out on my own
That is it for now. The next time I write on this topic will probably be after I finish my visa interview. (Hope that goes well!)
If you have any suggestions for any of the problems I've mentioned above, please do let me know in the comments. Even otherwise, feel free to leave a comment; I love reading them! :D
Until next time,
Bye! :D