Preparing to Leave
You have a couple of months - or a few weeks - before you move to another country and start college.
What do you do to get ready?
There's a lot of requirements: sending final exam scores and other documents, getting immunizations, maybe filing for a visa, stuff that you need to do in order to go to college. That's what the college tells you to do, in a checklist on your portal or in an email. You just go and do those things so they get ticked off and all the requirements are complete.
But there's more to it than that. I repeat: you're moving to a new country. You may not visit home often. You need to prepare for that reality.
This is what I'm doing, in no particular order.
1) VISITING FAMILY.
Most of my family in India - other than my parents and brother - lives in Hyderabad. Since I'll probably spend visits home largely in Mumbai, I'm going to see my relatives pretty rarely, if at all, over the next few years. We did a goodbye tour, meeting the Hyderabad family one last time before I go. It was cool, I got to spend some time with my extended family and also my grandparents.
2) MEETING FRIENDS.
Chances are, most of your relatives are adults (grandparents, aunts, uncles, older cousins), so they'll likely still be living in the city when you visit. Friends, on the other hand? They're your age, so most of them will be off to college too. You and your friends will scatter for college, whether abroad or in India, and it'll be difficult to coordinate visits. Go meet them before you leave!
3) VISIT A PLACE YOU LIKE.
Let me explain. Is there a restaurant you enjoy going to? Or a park, or a bookstore, or some place to spend time? If there's a place you enjoy spending time at, something that carries memories for you or that is unique to home? For example, there's a tiny bookstore near my house that I like browsing through. There's also a place that's kind of a street market - always fun to walk through and buy stuff.
There's a mall, but there are malls everywhere. I'm not going to find the street market in California, so I'm going to go before I leave.
4) ORGANIZE YOUR THINGS.
Full disclosure: I really don't like organizing my things, largely because it means digging through a mess that has accumulated over three years.
That being said, you should probably organize your stuff. Why? Because you need to figure out what you're going to take to college, what you're going to leave behind at home, and what you don't mind giving away or getting rid of. I mean, this is just as good a time as any to do an overhaul and remove some things- jeans that don't fit, T-shirts that are too small, textbooks you don't need.
5) SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR TEACHERS.
This one might be slightly less obvious than the previous ones, so hear me out. You may not have always enjoyed school. You may have raged at the way the school operates or at something the management made you do. You may have disliked some teachers. That being said, you're going to college because you showed the university your academic abilities through your grades. You got those grades by working, yes, but also because of your teachers (or at least some of them).
I often was angry at the hoops I needed to jump through to get my documents, or at the amount of work due in a short period of time. But my teachers were great, helping me all they could so I understood the material, improved my grades, and made my deadlines. Two wrote me recommendation letters, and overall my teachers often took time out to help me through IB. That's something that needs to be acknowledged. I've seen my teachers a few times since my board exams ended, but I'm planning to go after results come out (fingers crossed!) and personally thank them for all their help. Most of them were pretty cool anyway, so it'll be good to see them before I leave.
6) SPEND TIME WITH YOUR FAMILY.
Not the same thing as 1), I promise. My first point was about relatives you're close to but don't often see - for me, that's basically everyone who lives in Hyderabad (a one-and-a-half-hour flight from Mumbai). This point is about your immediate relatives - the ones who live with you or at least see you every week.
These are the people who are an integral part of your everyday life at home, and they will not be with you in college. Spend time with them.
And...that's it for now! Let me know if there's anything I missed out on. Good luck with your prep!
What do you do to get ready?
There's a lot of requirements: sending final exam scores and other documents, getting immunizations, maybe filing for a visa, stuff that you need to do in order to go to college. That's what the college tells you to do, in a checklist on your portal or in an email. You just go and do those things so they get ticked off and all the requirements are complete.
But there's more to it than that. I repeat: you're moving to a new country. You may not visit home often. You need to prepare for that reality.
This is what I'm doing, in no particular order.
1) VISITING FAMILY.
Most of my family in India - other than my parents and brother - lives in Hyderabad. Since I'll probably spend visits home largely in Mumbai, I'm going to see my relatives pretty rarely, if at all, over the next few years. We did a goodbye tour, meeting the Hyderabad family one last time before I go. It was cool, I got to spend some time with my extended family and also my grandparents.
2) MEETING FRIENDS.
Chances are, most of your relatives are adults (grandparents, aunts, uncles, older cousins), so they'll likely still be living in the city when you visit. Friends, on the other hand? They're your age, so most of them will be off to college too. You and your friends will scatter for college, whether abroad or in India, and it'll be difficult to coordinate visits. Go meet them before you leave!
3) VISIT A PLACE YOU LIKE.
Let me explain. Is there a restaurant you enjoy going to? Or a park, or a bookstore, or some place to spend time? If there's a place you enjoy spending time at, something that carries memories for you or that is unique to home? For example, there's a tiny bookstore near my house that I like browsing through. There's also a place that's kind of a street market - always fun to walk through and buy stuff.
There's a mall, but there are malls everywhere. I'm not going to find the street market in California, so I'm going to go before I leave.
4) ORGANIZE YOUR THINGS.
Full disclosure: I really don't like organizing my things, largely because it means digging through a mess that has accumulated over three years.
That being said, you should probably organize your stuff. Why? Because you need to figure out what you're going to take to college, what you're going to leave behind at home, and what you don't mind giving away or getting rid of. I mean, this is just as good a time as any to do an overhaul and remove some things- jeans that don't fit, T-shirts that are too small, textbooks you don't need.
5) SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR TEACHERS.
This one might be slightly less obvious than the previous ones, so hear me out. You may not have always enjoyed school. You may have raged at the way the school operates or at something the management made you do. You may have disliked some teachers. That being said, you're going to college because you showed the university your academic abilities through your grades. You got those grades by working, yes, but also because of your teachers (or at least some of them).
I often was angry at the hoops I needed to jump through to get my documents, or at the amount of work due in a short period of time. But my teachers were great, helping me all they could so I understood the material, improved my grades, and made my deadlines. Two wrote me recommendation letters, and overall my teachers often took time out to help me through IB. That's something that needs to be acknowledged. I've seen my teachers a few times since my board exams ended, but I'm planning to go after results come out (fingers crossed!) and personally thank them for all their help. Most of them were pretty cool anyway, so it'll be good to see them before I leave.
6) SPEND TIME WITH YOUR FAMILY.
Not the same thing as 1), I promise. My first point was about relatives you're close to but don't often see - for me, that's basically everyone who lives in Hyderabad (a one-and-a-half-hour flight from Mumbai). This point is about your immediate relatives - the ones who live with you or at least see you every week.
These are the people who are an integral part of your everyday life at home, and they will not be with you in college. Spend time with them.
And...that's it for now! Let me know if there's anything I missed out on. Good luck with your prep!
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