By Anu Dev
Well I’ve finally done it. I’ve taken that big step – I’ve enrolled in university. I’m now a med student at UWI Mt Hope, Trinidad. And I’ve survived my first week here! It’s been a lot to take in adapting to a new country with a culture that’s a bit different from Guyana’s.
Their per capita GNP is three times larger than ours – and it shows! It’s a bit different hearing people all around me speaking in a different accent.
And they have some different names for fruits and even some of the fishes over here, so that’s taking some getting used to. And learning new street names and places – I don’t think I even know all of the street names in Georgetown! I usually just say, “I’m at * insert landmark*”. But I guess the biggest change for me to get used to is the living away from home part. Away from my family, away from the friends I’ve made in Guyana. It’s like starting from scratch – a blank canvas.
After being at the highest level of high school (Upper Six) I’m now starting from the bottom again, except this time I’m in a whole new country.
And it’s the little things that are adding up and becoming the big things. I can’t sleep through my alarm and expect my mom or dad to dash up the stairs to my room to wake me up before I miss the bus. No more just dumping my clothes into my laundry basket and finding them neatly packed away in my drawers.
But there’s that powerful feeling of independence and accomplishment when you manage to wake yourself up on time, when you mange to make your breakfast early enough, when you make it to class five minutes early with your hair neatly combed.
But for the first time, I miss our QC uniform. A little bit. In high school I knew exactly what I’d be wearing the next day. Now I throw open my closet door and hope for something to fall out, neatly pressed and ready for me to wear.
And of course, having lived in Guyana all my life, it’s really different being probably the only Guyanese in year-one of med school – and only one of a handful of Guyanese in med school overall here in Trinidad. I have my Guyana Amazon Warrior flag on my wall though! But thank God for Skype and technology! At least I can still stay connected with my family, see them, and talk to them every day.
But this has just been the first week which has basically been just an orientation week familiarising us with what to expect from our classes and how to get around the massive complex.
Next week the actual work begins.
But Trinidad has been absolutely lovely so far. It’s a nice feeling waking up in the mornings to a view of the mountains from my bedroom window.
And also, I wish the new first-formers in Guyana all the best! They’re about to embark on some of the best years of their lives and they’ve already survived first week which, in some cases, can be one of the biggest hurdles.