Imagine strolling around Lake Michigan with people hailing from all corners of the planet, all with unique experiences and cultural backgrounds; discussing Nietzsche and Dostoevsky with them, and getting the general impression that you’ve known them forever. Imagine this and you’re pretty close to imagining what the first day of the International Pre-Orientation is like.
Since I was the one of the only people from my school to go to the United States for higher education, I had no seniors to help me along the way and ended up feeling a little confused and helpless on getting into the city of Chicago. To me, coming from a small town, it was a crazy mix of overwhelming sights and sounds. But when I entered the campus of the University, I was immediately swallowed into the huge family that is UChicago. The O-Aides made me feel so incredibly comfortable and very at home.
As is both expected and natural, initially most students settled into groups from their countries, but by the time the extremely innovative ice-breakers were over, I knew not only condensed biographies of nearly everyone but also that when you play Broken Telephone in groups of thirty, a simple sentence about the weather invariably transforms into a lengthy narrative involving a charming monkey. It was interesting to finally put faces to the numerous names I had seen floating around the Facebook group. Everywhere I looked were new faces with new stories to tell. Stories I could never have imagined from the small city of Dehra Dun that I left behind not so long ago. An inspiring speech from the Dean of Students followed in a beautiful Neo-Gothic building on the campus. The great thing about the IPO is that it was aimed perfectly to make the international students feel most comfortable in the foreign place that is to be their home for the next four years. To this end, Professor Charles Lipson, accompanied by a few current students, presented an exceedingly useful talk on how an international student can make best use of the college.
Since the rest of the students were not arriving till Sunday, it gave us the chance to explore the campus, and find our way around the grid that was Hyde Park. In addition, we spent the evening in the bustle of downtown Chicago, and got acquainted with the places to eat and shop on Michigan Avenue.
I was allotted a double room in Kenwood House at South Campus and moved-in after the IPO. The whole atmosphere of the House was very familiar and could see my fellow housemates as my support system for the next four years. The dorm was spacious and had sunlight flowing in during the day.
With so many engrossing activities taking place one after the other, there was literally no time to miss home. It was the first time in my life that I felt truly independent. During the IPO, I found opportunities to develop strong bonds within the international community. We were all there for each other, strangers in a land that was soon feeling like home.