The other girl

I took a different train to campus today. A train that I hadn't taken ever since my first day at grad school. As I climbed down the steps away from the train station, my head started to buzz with the memories of my first ever day on campus.

I was the international student hesitant about my surroundings and wary of my belongings. A girl who chased her dreams to the United States and was excited about the opportunities. I was the girl with the frizzy hair in the Nike sandals and Batik print Fab India scarf consulting her campus map every five minutes. I was the one who dropped jaws seeing the hundreds of iMacs in the lab without knowing where to sit.

I check myself out at the security booth and I saw a confident young woman smartly dressed in a pencil skirt, silk blouse and Nine West pumps. I smile back at her and make my way through the flood of people to sit at my favorite iMac by the window.

The transformation might be complete on the outside. But, somewhere deep down, I am still that girl who came to the US to chase her dreams. I must always remember her.

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