Ever imagined yourself in Hogwarts around the magical wizards and witches? Or ever thought what if you were in the Kings landing in between the madness of Game of Thrones? Or what if you woke up one day and you were put in one of your favorite Japanese manga series?

Thinking of all these fictional places and being there as a character is so exciting and overwhelming. It just broadens a smile of exhilarating feel with twinkle in the eyes. But, once you reach there I suppose you would surely be intimidated by the sheer newness of that place.

You know their culture by seeing your fictitious story lineups, you know their language of how they speak and behave. But a thought pops in your mind: what if they all will laugh at you when you try to make your first conversation? Or maybe laugh at you for a simple common thing you used to do in your real world and it comes off as an alien thing to the people from that land?

All these petrifying thoughts were racing into my head when I started unpacking my bags and started putting my stuff in my empty room. It was my first day in Erie or let me say it was among my first few days in the United States.

The culture was different, the people were different and their daily behaviors were different. After I put my unpacked bags in order, I moved out of the apartment with nervous heartbeats to explore the university’s campus to feel of the winds I was going to feel for next couple of years as a student.

There was a breeze in the air, which felt as if the winds from the Lake Erie were there to guide me. Once I reached A.J’s Way, crossing Waldron Campus Center and Nash library my nervousness was swept away by the breeze and the smiling welcoming faces of the new students who were coming in.

Within a small walk and seeing the same smile of nervousness on faces of new students, I knew it wasn’t going to matter which distant land across the globe I am from. Sitting on the benches of A.J.’s Way I now with little bit of awkward nervousness know that, “this beginning in an altogether new land and culture will ease away as my early nervousness was swept away by the breeze.”

HARSHAL MEHTA, [email protected]

Mehta is a freshman mechanical engineering student originally from India.