To the Gulf you say goodbye, and I wiped a tear. Above the Atlantic you will travel, and I did. Between the western mountains you shall live, and I agreed. Across the hills you must step, and I walked. Within its people you can learn, and I listened. And through its lands you shall live, and here I am, living, loving, and adjusting. The mountains and the campus of the Appalachian embraced me ask I approached them, offering me nothing but knowledge and new life lessons. Teaching me how to live independently, and helping me grow.
Entering the university is an honor, because it gives me what other schools across the world can't offer; the knowledge of appreciating the surrounding nature. Every other morning, I would wake up for my 8 am class feeling grumpy, but as soon as I step outside of my dorm, I would fall in love again and again with the beauty of the soft sunrise that spreads its rays through the campus. My "wow-ing" would never stop, the Gulf gave me water and palm trees, yet Boone is rising above my expectations through offering me something different everyday. And by different I mean: rainy mornings, sunny afternoons, and cold nights. It really did happen, and my Saudi body kept on shifting its reactions from one shiver to another sweat.
Transitioning from a home, to a dorm, is the interesting thing about all of this. I was completely shocked upon my arrival to this dorm. I couldn't sleep on the first night, and I was terrified by the idea of sharing the bathroom with others on the floor. A lot of things were racing in my mind, and I realized by my second night that I was scared of the decision which I made of continuing to study abroad. So, not too surprisingly, I decided to turn on my positive attitude and take hold of this room.
My dorm room's dimensions are 15'6" x 10'8", and I basically have half of it. I had half a room to literally: live. I knew that I wouldn't spend most of my day in it, but I was still determined to make it feel welcoming with a good vibe. I did what I had to do, and headed to Walmart! I felt like a mom trying to buy furniture, a dad trying to stay within a budget, and a kid who had absolutely no idea where anything was. I've never look from my parents' perspective of supplying a "room" before, and I never thought that I would take that role very soon. I remembered Ms. Netland's famous phrase that I hated as she kept on teaching me English since the 4th grade "Welcome to the real world".
"But I'm only 17" I told myself. "But you're my big project that I believe in", I heard my dad say. I pushed my cart, paid, carried all of my things by myself, and opened the door of my new life feeling: down. I put my lamp together, but then realized that I didn't know that I had to buy the light bulbs separately. I tried to put my fan together, but I noticed that its "switch-thingy" was missing. I tried to hang a frame, but I forgot that super tape that we have to use on walls. I laughed, and I fixed all of these problems the next day. I changed my attitude, and kept on moving forward, because I simply had to. The next day, everything was put in place, and my eyes were finally dry, because I wasn't feeling down anymore. I was seriously happy about my half of the room, and I was proud of my ability to put together a lamp and fan, and move-in to college life all by myself!
The fan is currently blowing on me, as the lamp spreads its light across this tiny half of the room. I have my frames and pictures hung. And you know what? I have four protective walls around me, a roof above my head, and a door to secure me. I'm blessed. The size of the room doesn't matter anymore, because I have a great half of a rented property to start with. I won't stay seventeen for a long time, because I'm literally going to grow in a couple of months, and grasp more about this life that I have.
The mountains are awaiting for me to discover them tomorrow. I'm going to close my eyes in a warm place, a place in which I can call: home.
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