My First Week in Vancouver

 

Whenever I dreamt of moving to a new country, I pictured myself getting down from the plane with two suitcases, and staring into a sea of blinking city lights ahead of me, and I would say to myself that each of those lights is a dream. And my purpose here is to catch all the lights, make all my dreams come true.

 

However, the reality was not nearly as pretty; when I moved to Vancouver I found myself in a city full of dreams but my suitcases were nowhere to be found.

It is safe to say that losing my luggage on the first day of a new beginning was somewhat disheartening. I lost a bag full of jackets, important documents, and more importantly, my last pieces of memories (some old pictures) form home. I shuddered with every step on the cold dead pavement, and puffed warm air into my scooped hands as I walked back to my hotel.

The night before school started, I forgot the dinner that I had ordered at the restaurant (I was too excited about starting my new life)! I realized one second too late – all the shops had already closed and I starved that night.

The number of times I got lost in the city, or got on the wrong bus is innumerable. At moments like those, my mind traveled half way across the world and back in time to my life in Bangladesh, where my mom would wait for me to return from school; the spoon already poised with hot food ready to go into my mouth.

 

 

I didn’t have to worry about getting lost either, I always had my brothers wing of protection hovering above whenever I stepped out of the house.

This is nothing like my dream, I would say to myself.

 

 

Finally the day came when I had to move-in to the university dorm. Not technically the first day of school, but the first time I would visit my university. Butterflies scoured my stomach the night before – I tossed and turned in bed wondering what it would be like. My biggest fear was that I would tumble and fall face down in front of a crowd, and I will be remembered as  ‘the girl who fell before her grades had a chance’ at university.

The actual first day of University was quite exciting, it is called Imagine Day. It was more like an orientation, and we were broken up to small groups and assigned an orientation leader. Our orientation leader gave us a tour of the university, and at the end we assembled at the stadium where the dean gave a speech. After it was over, those who had classes that day attended them. I didn’t have any classes so I went back to my dorm.

 

 

 

The next morning I walked to the class with my heart in my hands, excited and nervous at the same time. As I sat down amidst a crowd of intelligent people, a person of five feet, I felt two things – intimidated by all the smart people surrounding me, and inspired by them at the same time. By the end of that class, I was determined that by the time I graduate, I will be someone that I am proud of – fearlessly wise.

With that thought in mind, I walked back to my dorm and counted all the lamps on my way. When I reached my dorm, a gift greeted me at the door.

 

It was my lost suitcase, found and delivered by the airlines.

And I was no longer the girl without a suitcase in a big city.

 

 

 

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Note: This article was adapted and published on The Daily Prothom Alo by Md. Saifullah Riad. Read the original post in Bengali here: The Daily Prothom Alo