Flying far from home was never easy, but I had lied myself enough to muster the courage and to cheer myself up. I had lied myself with bigger fancy expectations and dreams, and that was the reason that I was pretty excited to be there. I still remember my first day at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs. It was my very first day at the Australian University.
I had mixed emotions trembling inside my veins. I was really nervous to go in my orientation class but it was a necessary and compulsory event to attend. I hadn’t slept properly at night so it was obvious for me to have a disturbed morning. Homesickness, Saudade, cultural difference, and nostalgia had seized me in that first week of Australian residing. Anyway, I made myself ready to attend the orientation class. My day started with spicy Ramen noodles in breakfast, I know very well that why I had very unhygienic breakfast that morning. It was because Ramen was among those few spicy foods that we find in the Aussie grocery market. I was so desperate to eat something spicy and hot because I was more than exhausted of western spiceless foods.
After my breakfast, I took another hour to decide my fashion of that day. Yes, exactly, the clothing, I had a suitcase full of clothes. I had shopped lots of clothes before flying for Brisbane, and that time I was in a dilemma to decide which cloth to wear. At last, after hours of thinking and demo, I came out with sleeveless cami t-shirt and blue jeans with my black vans and Ray-Ban sunglass. Whatever or however I looked but at that moment I was pretty confident that I looked handsome hunk in the set of new and branded clothes. I went to the train station, swiped my transport card (Go Card) and sat on the platform 4 of the train station.
I stepped at university in around 10 am. The university was so grand and bigger, its whole compound was nearly as big as the village that I used to live in my home country. And the most beautiful thing to witness is Kangaroos sleeping and playing on the grounds of the university. That was my first time seeing kangaroos in real life. I still remember that day and it haunts me to realize that it was passed long ago and it can never be back. At around 11 am, I reached orientation hall, I was a bit late in the session but still, it was not even one-fourth that I missed. We were introduced about Head of Departments, university rules, exams, class formats, and everything. In addition to that, we were facilitated with emergency and non-emergency helpline for in case.
The orientation session was great. I had never imagined that college can be like that. In my home country, I had never seen teachers that much friendly, neither I had witnessed people that much interactive. The whole environment and feeling that I was having that time were different but marvelous. I was sensing that the oxygen in that university was more livable, the feeling was more cheering and satisfying. Out of everything I had my life, an opportunity to go and study at the University of the Sunshine Coast is unforgettable and irreplaceable. Literally, I miss that wonderful day more than anything.