One year passed...

Well… 21^st of August: It’s been exactly one year since I entered the US. Truly unbelievable! And honestly, before I leave Iran, I could hardly imagine that I’ll have so much new experience and new feelings, such as new ties and belongings, new hopes and disappointments, new goals, new fears and doubts, feeling lonely, feeling the need for new friends from other cultures, etc. Also I could hardly believe that I'll learn that much and meet such new, lovely and unique people in AA, although I knew a new world was waiting for me… And who knows?! Many of these new things may totally change one's life forever... Forever AND without a way of return…

It's been almost another life for me as I started my PhD at UofM, and it’s interesting that I just once traveled to Houston and visited Detroit for couple of times, so I’ve been mostly in AA for the last year; but even this limitation in place couldn’t limit THE NEW WORLD and couldn’t prevent me from exploring that… That’s why I still want to experience it and expand the territory of my life; and of course by “new world” I don’t mean America: It can be a new period of being alone, meeting new people, fighting for academic success, and seeking new cultures, while you’re persistent enough to maintain yours…

I always tell it to myself that you never know what really awaits you, so you should look forward to truly unexpected and unpredicted things, even unpleasant ones; and it’s exactly how I enjoy my life: being in an ocean of uncertainties. But sometimes when I take a look at the past, I should ask myself: “Was it really the thing I was looking and planned for?!”… And it’s more understandable for an Iranian student like me, who cannot take the risk of a VISA application failure by coming back to his country during his education…

Don’t get misled! So far I’ve been extremely happy here, and liked (though not fully satisfied with) what I’ve got, but I could never imagine it last year when I was leaving my beloved country, and leaving behind all of my belongings, lovely friends, and my family in tears… And right now (just at the moment) I feel that I’m missing all of those a lot, and feel extremely alone (Don't worry! Just now!), although it’s been the most successful year of my life…

P.S. 1. Last week two of my old classmates -two of the best friends I’ve ever had- came to Ann Arbor from Atlanta and New York to visit friends they have here and AA; and although I was too busy with my research (and now feel sorry about that) to spend all the time with them, we explored the rest of Arborian things I hadn’t seen before, and reflected on our new life together (Maybe it was their leave that suddenly caused me to feel alone). Then I realized that I hadn’t seen them for a year since they came to the airport to say goodbye to me. You can see them (the second and the last one from the left) in the above photo, exactly at the time of my leave in the airport; and it’s sad that I might not be able to see them for another long period and might not be able so see the other four in the photo for a much longer time; as it’s also the case for my beloved family and my lovely country…

P.S. 2. Why is it sometimes so hard for me to bear the leaves and departures, while I know that it's what should happen in life?! Maybe it's because I usually get too tied soon... Maybe...