Tired and Worried
Tired and Worried
This whole being an adult thing? It's exhausting. I'm moving to the city of Bangalore in four days to start a new life at a new job, in a strange city where I know nobody. I have a bajillion and one questions, am trying not to be anxious, but it's a bit daunting to think that I have to negotiate life in India (I could do this in the US, I just feel like I need more handholding here, for some reason) on my own.
My primary worry right now is whether or not I'm going to find an apartment in the two days before I start work. My mom is coming down with me to help me look, but she has to get back to Delhi because she's accompanying my dad to the US on a trip, so she leaves the same day I start work.
I suppose it's a bit like college all over again, only college, and my Fulbright program, left me feeling significantly less anxious. We had someone to help us out, certain features of life were built in (like housing), and other assistance was offered. Yeah, I picked up and moved to a strange country for a year, but my apartment was provided. I had a regular stipend coming in plus starting money to cover us until our first stipend was deposited. Someone took us to open bank accounts, to establish our internet, to get our cable hooked up, and we were even taken to Ikea and Carrefour to buy everything we might need before we moved in.
India seems so much more confusing and daunting, maybe because I have preconceived notions of what life is like here from experience. I wonder how I'm going to set up getting money from my parents until I get my first paycheck. I wonder how my transportation is going to work out. I wonder when I will find an apartment, and whether or not I'll have to handle renting furniture on my own. I wonder about how I'll get my cable and internet set up, who to call when the gas tank for the kitchen runs out, what to do if I spring a leak or blow a fuse, or one of the other countless problems that are standard to apartment life. I wonder what it will be like to genuinely live on my own for the first time - no host family, no roommates.
Suffice to say, I'm extremely nervous, but trying to trust that everything will be ok in the end. What was your first experience living on your own? How did you manage? At least, can you reassure me everything will be fine?




