Bitten off more than I can chew?

Hello everybody,
It has been so long since I last published a post here. Grad school is super hectic and I've been living from deadline to deadline. Its ok to live on a tight schedule for a short duration... when you see an end in sight; but off late I don't see an end to this! I just finished picking courses for my next semester and I've again chosen really hard courses. One of them was a course I had to finish, that is a heavy course and wanted to finish it off. However, I've also chosen a PhD level elective class. We have a lottery system for choosing classes and I got a really late number. I had very few options and thought this seemed interesting. Now I'm having serious doubts about my decision. This semester, I chose fairly moderate load classes and I've been working really hard keeping up. I have no idea how I'll manage next sem. On top of all of this, next semester, I'll have to seriously start interviewing and applying for internships in Summer 16. So till the end of next sem, I think I'll have this crazy hectic schedule. It feels like the sem has just about started and its already time for finals!
I've had quite a few ideas for posts but have put them away for lack of time. I thought I'd take a few minutes off to post at least this.
A friend has taken three heavy load courses this time and is managing fine! I hope I'll be able to manage next semester without a huge negative impact on my GPA.
Among other things, quite a few of my friends are going back home in December. I know that it doesn't make sense for me to go back now, as my parents would probably be visiting in June 16. However, when I see them all excited I feel really sad. It'll be at least a year before I get to see little Tee. By then, he may have forgotten me! I can't bear to think of that situation. I hope some miracle happens and they find a super easy way to transport pets overseas. (Or that he'll start responding to me over the phone or when we skype)
Will resume studying for my test now :/.

Until next time,
Bye! :D

My first day of college in USA!!

Hello everybody,
Its been a loong time since I last posted here. I'm finally in the USA!!! I have so much that I want to share; but I've been so busy trying to get adjusted to all the new things that I haven't had time to write a proper post. Technically speaking, today wasn't my first day at college. Its actually my 5th day. but today was the first day of class, so I'll call it my first day of college. I'll write all about my experience the first time I visited the campus in a later post.
I have classes on just 2 days of the week; but they are back to back with just fifteen minutes between two classes. I have 3 classes this semester. Today morning, I woke up at 7:30 am. I was ready by 8:30 and left home at around 9. (My sister lives in the same city where I attend University and I stay with her) I reached college at 9:20 am. I had already seen my classroom the last time I had been there, so I was able to find it easily. Another class was going on and I sat waiting. I saw two girls from my own country standing near the door. I went and introduced myself to them. They  seemed really nice. As soon as the first class ended, we got in and sat in the first row. The class was Algorithms. The professor was a short soft spoken person. I thought he was really well-organized. He started off with the actual coursework.
My next class (Object Oriented Design)  was in the same room as my first class. I stepped out as I had a fifteen minute break in between. By the time I came back, the first two rows were full! Another person whom I had met at an orientation earlier had taken up this class too. We sat together. (We need to submit a project for this course and it forms a major part of the grade. The professor would be putting us into groups of five for the project work. (I hope I get good team mates!) ) We were asked to introduce ourselves and talk about our expectations from the course. The course would be slightly tailored to our expectations. I found that very interesting!
The next class was Database Design. For this I had to go to another classroom (which was on the same floor). Another friend of mine had taken up this class. I met her and befriended another person in that class. The professor was an energetic cheerful lady. I had heard that she was really strict with grading. From what I saw today, I think scoring well in this subject would be slightly hard. Although happy and cheerful, she seemed like a strict person who wouldn't be lenient with grading assignments.
I had taken most of these subjects at my undergrad level too; so hopefully, this semester  would be easy in terms of study load. I have so many other things that I need to get used to.
After class, we went to the library to get some textbooks. From what I've heard/seen, text books in USA are very expensive. Of the three books, I have brought one of them, the other one, I had referred to during my undergrad course; however, I haven't brought it. But I was able to find an online copy of it. The third book I was able to find a soft copy at the library. By about 4:00 pm I was back home!
I relaxed for a while and tried to look at the online material posted for each of my courses. I'm really impressed with the promptness of the professors in posting material online. I was able to find a lot of useful info.
I love that I have classes on just 2 days a week!
Welcome Week is going on at the university. I still need to plan on what events I want to attend this week. I'll post anything interesting that I experience. I still have lots that I want to tell you all. So stay tuned!!
Until next time,
Bye! :D

Up, Up and Away: few HOURS to go!!

Hello everybody,
Today is the day! Today night, in a few hours I'll leave the country to go to USA for my studies. I'm really sad, excited and a little tense at the moment. All my bags are packed and ready. I just need to have my dinner, change my clothes and leave. All my bags are just within the allowed weight limit. Hopefully the scale I used co-insides with the scale at the airport. I've been home all of this week and I feel really sad to be leaving for such a long time. I'm not too sad about leaving the house (that I've lived in ever since I was born!) or the city etc. I will miss all that, but not as much as I'm going to miss my parents and Tee. My mom was almost in tears today morning. Day before I couldn't sleep till around 2 am and kept sobbing in bed. I feel really sad to be leaving behind my parents especially at this stage when they are getting old. I see that they have lesser energy than they used to a few years back and I fear they may become weaker by the time I see them next. The thought that they may struggle all by themselves when I'm away enjoying my life haunts me. Technology is a boon; I will be able to see them and talk to them online everyday; but, I won't be able to understand the little struggles they may face on a day-to-day basis or help them out in any little way I can. But I guess I'll have to bear with it for now. Hopefully after 2 years, I'll get a job that will allow me to stay close to my parents and take care of them. I am teary eyed as I write this as I think about all that they have done for me and my sister. They've done the best that anyone could possibly do for their children. They've worked hard all their lives ignoring their health to do the best for us. And now, after all that I'm leaving them here and going away so far. This post is also a reminder to the future me. I hope I never forget all that my parents have done for me and never hurt them ever! I'm scared that I may change as a person and get too engrossed with my own new life and forget all about my parents. I HOPE and PRAY that never happens. If such a day comes, I hope at least this post may remind me. Me and my mom had a little squabble with my sister a few days back. The amount it hurt my mom deeply hurt me. The way they look forward to my sister's call every evening and if  she doesn't ask about them one day, the expression on my mom's face after I end the call is heart breaking. I hope I never ever do such a thing! Although I scream at them, I fight with them, at the end of the day they always forgive me; they could never do anything to hurt me so much that I would not forgive them.
I just hope these few years away in a new country won't change me. I hope my parents and Tee are happy and healthy here and I hope very soon we'll all be united again.
So, those are my thoughts right now. I don't want to cry before I leave, but I'm so on the verge off it right now! Ugh! a  really bad time. God! why do things have to be so difficult! Why hasn't teleportation been invented still!? I hope the journey is smooth! See you on the other side! (Hopefully I'll be in a saner state of mind in a few days time!) I still had a lot more to write about about this past week (happy stuff). I'll put it in another post after I reach USA.
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

Up, Up and away: 50 days to go

Hello everybody,
As  I have mentioned before, I will be pursuing my Master's degree in a foreign university. Leaving the country I was born in and going to a new country and exploring things by myself is going to be an enormous change. I thought I'd do a post on how I've prepared myself for this change, how I feel etc. I'll keep posting under this topic at regular intervals.
Now I have about 50days before I fly. I've booked my ticket but my visa is yet to be done! I need some documents for the visa and I'm waiting for them. I met a bunch of people from my city, who are going to join the same university, yesterday. Social media is SUCH a boon. I was quite unsure about meeting a whole bunch of people whom I had never met before. Most people have at least a year's work experience. (I just finished my Bachelor's this year)  I was a little intimidated by them initially but as I got to know them a little I became a little more comfortable. (Even then I was one of the quiet few in the group). I met 2 girls (one from the same branch that I've chosen) whom I found to be quite friendly. Meeting them helped me get a better picture of the kind of people I'd be dealing with. I'm also glad that I'll have their company to attend college for the first time! I plan to live with a close relative who lives in the same city as the University I'm planning to attend. So, I did not have to get an apartment or find roommates. Almost everyone else has already booked an apartment and know their roommates. They have at least the company of their roommates to attend orientations/ pick classes etc.
I've had mixed feelings about the whole thing. Sometimes I feel excited and happy that I've got this wonderful opportunity to explore the world and myself. Other times I feel extremely gloomy and depressed thinking about all that I'll leave behind. The thought of having no form of income for the next two years (especially after starting to earn a little) and having to burden my parents is scary. By the time I finish my course and start earning again, my parents will be older and I feel guilty that I'm depriving them the opportunity to enjoy their lives when they're fit. I'll have to leave behind Tee (my pet cocker) under my parents' care. I wish transporting pets abroad was easier!
On the brighter side, I may be able to get a better job than what I would get now. I hopefully will become more independent and mature. Emotionally, I'm quite mixed up right now.
As far as preparations go, I've not even bought my suitcases. Since I haven't got my visa yet I'm kind of stalling the travel preparation. I haven't decided on what clothes I'll need, what I have, what I need to buy etc. This weekend I plan to organize my clothes a little and decide on what I'll take and what I wont. Atleast then I'll get a vague idea about how much stuff I have. The airline that I've booked my ticket in  allows only 2 pieces of checked in luggage. Some airlines have a special student offer allowing them to carry 3 pieces of checked in luggage. So, I need to plan well and organize my stuff to fall within the weight and space restrictions.
I think that's it for now. I'll keep posting under this topic more often as the day gets closer. Have you moved away from your hometown ever? How was you experience? Do let me know in the comments!
Until next time!
Bye! :D

My first admit!

Hello everybody,
I'm excited to announce today that I received my first admit to pursue my Masters at a reputed university in USA! As I mentioned in earlier posts that this year would be a year of change for me, this was what I had in mind. I wasn't sure earlier about how things would turn out and hence hadn't told you that I had applied. But now that I've received an admit, I'm pretty sure that I would be taking up the seat if all other things fall into place.
The application process to US universities in a very long process and is quite complicated. When I joined my undergrad college, choosing a college was so simple. Where I live, admission to (most)undergraduate colleges is based on a board exam. Once the ranks are announced, counselling is conducted in 5-6 centers (in different cities) and there is a central system that displays the available seats. Students are called to pick their seat in the order of their ranks. If a seat you wish is available, you pick it up. Its simple and straight forward.
But in the US, the application process itself involves a long procedure. You need to take up the exams, fill in the application forms, write a statement of purpose, request letters of recommendation, pay the application fees and then apply. And even after applying, it takes close to 4-5 months before you get a response. Waiting for a response is quite scary especially when you see others receiving multiple admits. However, I wasn't really nervous as I already have a job in hand; but still, I was a little anxious. Every time I logged in to my mail I would cross my fingers and pray that I hadn't received a reject. Getting no response is better than getting a reject I feel.
Yesterday, just before leaving for work, I checked my mail on my phone. I saw a new mail with the subject 'Update on admission status' and I could see the word 'Congratulations' in the preview line.I was super excited and skimmed over the important details and read it out to my parents who were equally thrilled. I received my first admit from the university I was most keen about.
I still have to finish a lot of procedures that are required before I can be admitted. I still can't imagine moving away to a new country and living away from my parents. I will write more about this in my future posts. Do let me know if you have any thoughts about studying abroad.
Until next time,
Bye! :D

My first week at work - Part 2

Hi all,
Today I will write about my third and fourth day at work. Since I started work on Tuesday, my first week consisted of only 4 days. If you haven't read my first two days, you can do so here.

Day 3:
Today my dad said that he would drop me off at my office, so I didn't have to wake up as early as yesterday or day before. I left home at 8:30 am and reached my office at 9:30 am. My manager had already come. He gave me an overview of the exact project that I would be working on. He used a lot of jargon that I didn't understand exactly, but I got quite a good idea of the problem and the proposed solution. He gave me certain modules that were already ready and told me my part. It was around 11:00 am by then. I had to take my laptop to the IT division to get some initial setup done. It was a 15 minute process but I had to wait for a while as my friend was also getting it done at the same time. We all met at lunch at 1:30. On one floor there is one table that is a little secluded. We had lunch there and talked about our teams and work we had been assigned etc. I'm starting to get the hang of the project I've been assigned and I'm beginning to like it. I finished my work and left by 6:30 pm. The first bus was extremely crowded and I had to manage with two super heavy bags (my regular bag and my laptop bag). The second bus was comparatively less crowded... I got a seat. Reached home at 8:30 pm. That was my day.

Day 4:
Today is a Friday... last day of the week! My dad dropped me off in the morning. My manager had already looked at my work that I had mailed yesterday. There were a few updates and changes that I had to make. Finished them by 11 am. I was done with a major part of the work assigned to me for today by 1 pm. Since it was the weekend, most people were talking, taking long breaks. I met my friends for lunch at the same table as yesterday. We took a longer lunch break than usual. There was some network problem because of which some people could not continue with their work. My manager left at around 3 pm because of the network issue. I had very little work remaining and I completed it by about 4 pm. By then, one of my friends said that our badges were ready. We spent another hour there and finally got our badges. I thought I'd wait for my friend as I'm still not comfortable with the route. I just blogged a little and wasted sometime. I was home by about 7:30 pm. Tomorrow is a holiday! 

So that was my first week at work. I'd love to read about how your first day at work was! Do let me know in the comments.

Bye! :)

My first week at work- Part 1

Hello People!
So much has changed since I last blogged. I started to work from Tuesday at a major Tech firm. These past four days have been very hectic and tiring... but really exciting too! I am still an intern but I don't think it is very different from being an employee.

Day 1:
The first day we were asked to report to the head office which is at a different location from where we've been posted. I had to wake up really early as we were asked to report by 9 am and the place was far from where I live. I woke up around 6 am. I've never been a morning person and waking up at 6 seemed to me an impossible task. However, I woke up even before the alarm went off as hadn't been able to sleep well. We had been asked to complete multiple forms, print them, and carry multiple documents. I had arranged them, and had packed my bag the previous night. I left home at around 7 am. Four of us had decided go together and we had to take two buses to reach our destination. We reached the place just in time. There was a long queue of new joiners at the reception. Most people looked much older than us.We got out visitor badges and proceeded to the Training room allotted to us. There were 96 people starting that day! Since we were joining as interns, we had fewer formalities to be completed so we sat around doing nothing for most part of the day. Around noon they asked us to create a bank account and so we went to the bank and had to fill a series of forms. We were asked to sign a million different forms. I have no idea what all I signed  on! I think I signed on at least 50 pages! An hour later we all had our own accounts, cards etc. Then we had lunch at the cafeteria. It was quite expensive but they had given us coupons so it didn't matter. We went back to the Training room to finish the remaining formalities. We were done by 5pm. We hadn't been told the location of the office where we had been posted till then. They told us to call our respective managers and inquire about where and when to report the next day. All of us had been posted at the same location (Phew!). After that we came out and got a bus quite easily. Two hours later I was back home. I had to leave home by 7am next morning.

Day 2:
I woke up at 6:30am and left home by 7:30. I met my friends at the bus stop. Since we had to report to a new office, we had to look around a little to see which bus would go there. Our reporting time was 10 am and we reached by 9:45. We were given temporary badges but had to wait for our managers to escort us inside the office as we hadn't been given access yet. Our team starts early so, the office was practically empty. I was given my cubicle and laptop. My manager introduced me to the rest of the team. There were too many names and faces and I forgot most names. The person who had interviewed me used to sit behind me in the same cubicle! (I've been shifted to a different cubicle now... next to the person whom I work with). I had to get a lot of initial set up done so spent half the day doing that. I met my friends at lunch. After lunch my manger gave me an overview of the project and what my role would be. She said that most of my work for this month would be associated with one person in the team. He had to leave early that day so I couldn't get much information about what I actually had to do. He told me to install some software and read about certain topics. I did that till about 6:30 pm. All but two of my friends (who live close to my place) left at 6:30. I decided to wait for them as I wasn't comfortable with the route. Their work proceeded till 7:30! It was dark by the time we left. We walked a very long way and didn't notice a bus stop that was close by. I reached home by 9:30 pm and was very tired. I didn't do much after coming back... just had dinner and slept. 

My third and fourth days  (i.e yesterday and today) have been better than the first two days, but I'll post them in the next post as this post is getting too long. Today was my fourth day. Tomorrow is a Saturday so I'll post Day 3 and 4 tomorrow. Stay tuned! :) 

How was your first day at work? Do let me know in the comments!

Survived Exams!

Hello all!
I'm finally done with my month-long exams. They started on 24th of December and got over yesterday! Phew! Now I can devote all my time to my blog... at least for the next few days... and then I start off with my final semester. Trying to concentrate was SUCH a hard task! I kept thinking of how I could make my blog better, what kind of layout would look better etc. I actually created this blog in between my laboratory and theory exams. :P I don't take exams too seriously. I put in my effort, try my best and I think that is all that should matter. My tip to anyone who is stressed about exams:
If you find yourself nervous even after putting in your best effort, try and think about how insignificant your exam is when compared to the universe. Exams are mere human creations! Humans are just 1 species among 8.7 million species that exist on earth. And one exam isn't even the most important thing for humankind! You see how unimportant it is. So relax! :)

I spent the whole of yesterday evening creating new accounts for my blog. I finally have a new Twitter account a Facebook page and a new Google+ account. It feels like I had a virtual re-birth of sorts. It feels very unfamiliar and empty. I'll personalize it and customize it soon. I have added links to each of them and am trying to make them look better using CSS! CSS is a lot of fun. We spent days trying new styles for our projects and now I can use it for my own site! Excited!

I have holidays for the next week. Next semester I don't need to attend college much... only 1 day a week or so. I will start working as an intern from February! This will be my first actual work experience. Excited and a little scared. Will share my experience once I start. Do let me know if you have any tips for the first day of work!

Bye!

See you soon!

My Resolutions for 2015

2015 is going to be a year of change for me since I will be graduating from college this year. I'm unsure about what I will be doing this year (studying/ working etc. ). I may continue living where I currently am; or may move away to a new city. I'm not sure right now, so coming up with my new year's resolutions was a little difficult. But nevertheless I've come up with a few. Here they are:

1) Socialize more... talk to more people.
2) Plan my work and start off on assignments/ projects well in time. 
3) Update my blog regularly. (I will take a break when I have a lot of submissions etc. but will definitely get back once I'm done with them)
3) Eat healthy
4) Educate myself about the world of finance (I'm clueless right now :( )
5) Watch the news more often.
6) Do more social work. (I recently got to know about a voluntary organization that helps orphaned children. Hope to get associated with it and become an active volunteer)
7) Reduce the time I spend watching TV

These are all the resolutions I have for now. I hope to stick to them and I will make a conscious effort to monitor my progress. Wish me luck! :)

The start of life as an adult

Turning 21 can be both exciting and scary at the same time. Adulthood brings with it both freedom and responsibility. As a kid, I used to think that becoming an adult was the best thing that could happen to anyone. Adults could do whatever they wanted, no one would scold them, they didn't have to go to school, do homework, write exams... how much cooler can life be?
 But now that I am an adult, I am starting to see the darker side of being grown up. I'm not saying that I don't want to be an adult... just that its not all that I had expected it to be. As kids, we don't have to think much about how any of our actions would effect our future (unless you get into jail of course!). We just have to follow our parents, teachers, study hard and have fun. But as we grow up, we need to start taking a lot of decisions each of which could be life changing. Deciding where to live, choosing a career, finding ways to grow in the chosen career path, picking a particular job over another etc are all huge decisions and could potentially determine how you live for the rest of your life.  It is possible to make changes later but it will result in you wasting valuable years of your life. As a teenager, people are more forgiving and mistakes are acceptable. But, when you become an adult, people start expecting more from you and hold you responsible for mistakes. So, it is important to think clearly, weigh all the alternatives before taking a decision. 
Negatives aside, I am enjoying the way people treat me now as an adult. When I walk into an expensive shop, the salespeople actually see me as a customer and attend to me unlike before when they treated me like some kid who they knew wouldn't buy anything. I also like the way my parents/ relatives take my opinion on issues seriously. 
I still haven't figured out much about being an adult, so I will keep writing about this topic as and when my view changes.