the beginning
What does it take to embark on a journey? For me, it was a little bit of confidence. It all began one night in March 2018 when I was having dinner with some of my colleagues, and we ended up discussing travel plans for May. Being an architecture student, I had been to many places as a part of the course curriculum. But never did I venture out alone. I will always remember that night when at 2 A.M, I announced to my parents that I wish to apply for US Travel Visa.
With all my and my parent’s anxieties and doubts in mind, I began with the process to apply for my visa and in parallel, started planning my trip itinerary. I started contacting my friends and colleagues who would possibly help me out with the procedures and do’s and don’t when on the journey. Many of my friends warmly welcomed me to stay with them as I took my first independent journey and indeed needed someone to be by my side to guide me. Somewhere, beyond the anxieties, there was a stronger belief in confidence and assurance, which helped me take my steps ahead. Two months, went in collating all documents, making my file, tagging it, as if I was preparing for my college submission. With a two-way interview system for the visa procedures - biometric and then personal interview, the stress was on until the end of the personal interview round. When I finally heard - Enjoy your trip, your visa is granted.
Now that one of the hurdles was crossed, there began the second list of anxieties. The central act of logistics was to get the itinerary, tickets, currency, local travel, local contacts and backpack together. Alongside, there was a constant conversation of building up my own confidence to embark and to accomplish my journey but in parallel building up the same with my parents. To assure them that I will be completely fine and that I will be able to do it. I decided to thus visit Boston - where my cousin invited me, Seattle - where I was blessed to make some new friends, and New York - where I relived my architecture days with my dear classmates. It had started with just one place, Seattle, as my new friends invited me over. However, the conditioning that most of us share, of how do you travel so far, spend so much money and visit only one place, pushed me to expand it to two more places.
What does it take to embark on a journey? For me, it was a little bit of confidence. It all began one night in March 2018 when I was having dinner with some of my colleagues, and we ended up discussing travel plans for May. Being an architecture student, I had been to many places as a part of the course curriculum. But never did I venture out alone. I will always remember that night when at 2 A.M, I announced to my parents that I wish to apply for US Travel Visa.
With all my and my parent’s anxieties and doubts in mind, I began with the process to apply for my visa and in parallel, started planning my trip itinerary. I started contacting my friends and colleagues who would possibly help me out with the procedures and do’s and don’t when on the journey. Many of my friends warmly welcomed me to stay with them as I took my first independent journey and indeed needed someone to be by my side to guide me. Somewhere, beyond the anxieties, there was a stronger belief in confidence and assurance, which helped me take my steps ahead. Two months, went in collating all documents, making my file, tagging it, as if I was preparing for my college submission. With a two-way interview system for the visa procedures - biometric and then personal interview, the stress was on until the end of the personal interview round. When I finally heard - Enjoy your trip, your visa is granted.
Now that one of the hurdles was crossed, there began the second list of anxieties. The central act of logistics was to get the itinerary, tickets, currency, local travel, local contacts and backpack together. Alongside, there was a constant conversation of building up my own confidence to embark and to accomplish my journey but in parallel building up the same with my parents. To assure them that I will be completely fine and that I will be able to do it. I decided to thus visit Boston - where my cousin invited me, Seattle - where I was blessed to make some new friends, and New York - where I relived my architecture days with my dear classmates. It had started with just one place, Seattle, as my new friends invited me over. However, the conditioning that most of us share, of how do you travel so far, spend so much money and visit only one place, pushed me to expand it to two more places.