I called Asim’s cell to know how many of us have already arrived at the University campus. Only fizza and he were there. They started telling me how crappy the university is in comparison to the American University, where we had stayed earlier in the August of 2008. I listened to their rants and after almost 15 minutes hung up. I reached the campus shortly after the call, I could see both of them standing in front of the bus waving at me with lots of sparkle in their eyes and every movement of theirs reflected enthusiasm. As soon as I got down the bus, fizza hugged me hard. I was still in the trance of leaving Minneapolis. In a few minutes, my luggage was out of the trunk and Asim was carrying the big suitcase to the lobby. Fizza got hold of my handcarry. They were extremely caring and loving. The utmost affection covered the grief of leaving my loved ones with a layer, which was later thickened, when I met Mehwish and Osama. We kept our luggage in the rooms, which were not very bright. The Air-conditioners didn’t work unless we slapped them hard. The two beds and dressing tables looked from 18th century and the window was covered with 2 inches of dust. I opened the curtains; the greenery was right in front. It was a gorgeous view. At least, there was this advantage of the room. I changed into a pair of jeans and a tee shirt and went down for dinner, where we all met warmly. Even though we had shouted at the top of our voices after seeing each other at first!
Fortunately, the food was good and they had vegetarian dishes [I refrained from eating the non-halal meat]. Anyhow, that night we talked and talked and talked. Each one of us had so much to share. Our crazy encounters, the cultural shock, the school, blondes, prom, dances and so on. Later at night, I met the rest of the students from Pakistan. The whole university looked like a some small suburb jammed with people from different countries of the Middle East from Yemen to Indonesia and Bangladesh to Kuwait. Our curfew was 11:00pm and it was the lights out time. We all said good night to each other. Sleep was far, very far from my eyes that night. I had so much to ponder over. It was one of the most emotional and weird nights of my life. I had mixed feelings wrapped with anonymous impulse of happiness. Something inside of me was out of place, probably the heart beat.
The following day after breakfast our tours started. I won’t describe everything or else it will never end. Long cut short, in the following three-four days, we went to the Holocaust museum, the Newseum, the National achieves, the biggest Union Station of the United States, American history museum, the Lincoln Memorial, the Dept of State, the State Capitol, White House and the Supreme Court. We took subway to most of these places and the walk after the subway killed our feet.
The most amazing of all, in my view, was the Newseum. There I got to see a lot of interesting artifacts. Especially the section of 9/11, it even had a piece of the devastated WTC. Not just that, but one wall was jammed with newspapers in hundreds of languages, stating the news about WTC. It was just A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Words won’t do justice to its awesomeness. I definitely have pictures of all these places, which I will upload later since my camera’s cord is with Baba, who isn’t in the country right now. Supreme Court was not fun at all. We were made to stay extremely quiet and a group was kicked out for making noise.
White House was okay. When we went to see it, Obama was in there since the flag was up. The security around it is SO darn tight. All those horsemen and the guns, oh-my-gosh. The most interesting thing about the White House is the little cottage with barely an old mattress, a wooden chair and a trunk. The cottage is right in front of the White House since 1980s and the woman who lives in there was a Peace activist. Her son died in the Vietnam War and since then she is living in the cottage and protests against almost every war United States gets into. She has huge posters about the killings in Iraq and how America is forcing democracy in other countries. The woman is probably is her 90s. She has almost no teeth left in her mouth, her face is wrinkled and the sun has tanned her skin to an abnormal extent but she still lives there and remonstrates against the government of the United States.
Apart from these historical and typical activities for exchange students, they had arranged a dance party. It was in a typical American way. The music and every minor thing was like a typical American party but to our surprise they played bollywood numbers too. Of course, I didn’t dance. Actually, I think except for I, Fizza, Mehwish and a couple of other girls and guys almost every single person was on the dancefloor. We went there to catch a glimpse of the room. It was jam packed. I and Fizza tried to get Osama on the floor but he didn’t move an inch from where he was standing. Ozzy was wasted :P LOL. No. Not really but he enjoyed that dance party to an insane extent. We could see the happiness dripping from his face and the reflection of his unlimited fun in the twinkle of his eyes. Some Pakistani girls dragged me and Osama in the mid of their circle. They were expecting us to dance and we stood there staring at each other laughing like some abnormal morons. In a couple of minutes we were out of the circle and headed to a quiet place along with other friends.
On my birthday, I got beautiful cards and gifts from friends and almost everyone wished me. My cultural advisor had given me a surprise birthday party at 00:00. It was totally unexpected and I couldn’t close my mouth of the utter surprise. It was one beautiful day of my stay in DC. Fizza’s gift entertained us all for the whole day. It was a cushion, which makes a farting noise when someone sits on it. The whole day these guys were trying to keep it under anyone who was about to sit. We laughed out our guts. Not just that but the jokes. Ohmygosh!! I just wanted to kill them for that. The fun we had after those sessions, in the cafeteria, in front of the lobby and so on has no comparison. The ridiculously hilarious jokes and the laughers and Osama’s parody of everyone, ahh everything was just too good and beyond my expectations.
My Lebanese roommate left two days before for her country, and Mehwish came in my room. It was freaking awesome. We talked past midnight and opened quite a few chapters of past :P LOL. It was awesome. We called a friend of us, who wasn’t able to join us because of some reasons. Talking to her was beyond fun. I just want you know honey, that you were missed by each one of us. You’re special and trust me God has better plans for you than this Dc thing J So, cheer up.
Fortunately, the food was good and they had vegetarian dishes [I refrained from eating the non-halal meat]. Anyhow, that night we talked and talked and talked. Each one of us had so much to share. Our crazy encounters, the cultural shock, the school, blondes, prom, dances and so on. Later at night, I met the rest of the students from Pakistan. The whole university looked like a some small suburb jammed with people from different countries of the Middle East from Yemen to Indonesia and Bangladesh to Kuwait. Our curfew was 11:00pm and it was the lights out time. We all said good night to each other. Sleep was far, very far from my eyes that night. I had so much to ponder over. It was one of the most emotional and weird nights of my life. I had mixed feelings wrapped with anonymous impulse of happiness. Something inside of me was out of place, probably the heart beat.
The following day after breakfast our tours started. I won’t describe everything or else it will never end. Long cut short, in the following three-four days, we went to the Holocaust museum, the Newseum, the National achieves, the biggest Union Station of the United States, American history museum, the Lincoln Memorial, the Dept of State, the State Capitol, White House and the Supreme Court. We took subway to most of these places and the walk after the subway killed our feet.
The most amazing of all, in my view, was the Newseum. There I got to see a lot of interesting artifacts. Especially the section of 9/11, it even had a piece of the devastated WTC. Not just that, but one wall was jammed with newspapers in hundreds of languages, stating the news about WTC. It was just A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Words won’t do justice to its awesomeness. I definitely have pictures of all these places, which I will upload later since my camera’s cord is with Baba, who isn’t in the country right now. Supreme Court was not fun at all. We were made to stay extremely quiet and a group was kicked out for making noise.
White House was okay. When we went to see it, Obama was in there since the flag was up. The security around it is SO darn tight. All those horsemen and the guns, oh-my-gosh. The most interesting thing about the White House is the little cottage with barely an old mattress, a wooden chair and a trunk. The cottage is right in front of the White House since 1980s and the woman who lives in there was a Peace activist. Her son died in the Vietnam War and since then she is living in the cottage and protests against almost every war United States gets into. She has huge posters about the killings in Iraq and how America is forcing democracy in other countries. The woman is probably is her 90s. She has almost no teeth left in her mouth, her face is wrinkled and the sun has tanned her skin to an abnormal extent but she still lives there and remonstrates against the government of the United States.
Apart from these historical and typical activities for exchange students, they had arranged a dance party. It was in a typical American way. The music and every minor thing was like a typical American party but to our surprise they played bollywood numbers too. Of course, I didn’t dance. Actually, I think except for I, Fizza, Mehwish and a couple of other girls and guys almost every single person was on the dancefloor. We went there to catch a glimpse of the room. It was jam packed. I and Fizza tried to get Osama on the floor but he didn’t move an inch from where he was standing. Ozzy was wasted :P LOL. No. Not really but he enjoyed that dance party to an insane extent. We could see the happiness dripping from his face and the reflection of his unlimited fun in the twinkle of his eyes. Some Pakistani girls dragged me and Osama in the mid of their circle. They were expecting us to dance and we stood there staring at each other laughing like some abnormal morons. In a couple of minutes we were out of the circle and headed to a quiet place along with other friends.
On my birthday, I got beautiful cards and gifts from friends and almost everyone wished me. My cultural advisor had given me a surprise birthday party at 00:00. It was totally unexpected and I couldn’t close my mouth of the utter surprise. It was one beautiful day of my stay in DC. Fizza’s gift entertained us all for the whole day. It was a cushion, which makes a farting noise when someone sits on it. The whole day these guys were trying to keep it under anyone who was about to sit. We laughed out our guts. Not just that but the jokes. Ohmygosh!! I just wanted to kill them for that. The fun we had after those sessions, in the cafeteria, in front of the lobby and so on has no comparison. The ridiculously hilarious jokes and the laughers and Osama’s parody of everyone, ahh everything was just too good and beyond my expectations.
My Lebanese roommate left two days before for her country, and Mehwish came in my room. It was freaking awesome. We talked past midnight and opened quite a few chapters of past :P LOL. It was awesome. We called a friend of us, who wasn’t able to join us because of some reasons. Talking to her was beyond fun. I just want you know honey, that you were missed by each one of us. You’re special and trust me God has better plans for you than this Dc thing J So, cheer up.
To be continued...
9 comments:
I enjoyed... :)
:) it was wonderful to read and to have an insight into your journey!
That was a good read.
These memories you're going to cherish forever. :)
Will wait for the next part. :)
Aw =)
Enjoyed the post so much!
:)..
Enjoyed reading it.
I'm glad you guys liked it :)
Bless that 90 year old lady!!
loved it :)
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