#lifeinus

We all have those moments when you know about the situation you are putting yourself into but you get tired and you want to talk about it... the worst that can happen is to hear this famous question: “Then why did you do it??”

 Coming to US as an Iranian student has many difficulties, it is not like other students. The process from the beginning is hard and it doesn’t get easier after a while. Because of whatever is going on, which I really don’t want to discuss,most of the students from Iran get “single entry” visa which means it is just good for entering the country once and then you are done. You are allowed to leave the country but if you want to come back you need to go to embassy again and start from zero or even below because this time they will try to check everything you have done in their country as well as your own. there is a chance that you wont get the visa, when it comes to US there is no guarantee for anything. So many of us decide to stay in the country till we finish the school and then decide to what to do next. 

Imagine you are in a foreign country, your family have a hard come coming over because getting the visa is hard ( I know people who waited for their visa for more than a year), you cannot go home because you don’t want to put all your efforts in jeopardy so stay in the country for god knows how long. The process normally takes between 4 to 10 years. I think we are allowed to have a break sometimes and start to talk about this with other people without getting judged. When ever you talk about the situation the person asks: “didn’t you know about this??” the answer is “YES, I did” which follows by “So why did you do it?”. I always want to slap the person in the face and say because there is no easy way for success and I took my chances and I am working on it but I am human, I get tired, I need to talk about the problems I have, this doesn’t mean that I didn’t know it or knowing it have would stop me from doing it but please, please be a good friend and just listen. 

In the last post I basically talked about everything that happened to me over the 5 month even though the title was arrival. Now I want to talk about the differences I felt between my life here and back home.

My hometown, Tehran, is a big city with population of more than 8 million which goes up to 12 with commuters. you can find everything in the city, and I mean everything you just need to know where to go or who to call. Most of people drive but the transportation system is good enough to live easily without having a car. the taxi system is way different and doesn't count as fancy and expensive that it is here. Traffic is a huge problem, it can take more than 2 hours to travel from west side to not so west side for example. The city is surrounded with mountains from 3 sides and the south part goes toward desert. we have all four seasons and yes my American friends we do have snow, as a matter of fact we have one of the highest ski resorts in the world right in the north part of Tehran. The main difference is that we don't have just down town in the city, each part of the city has its own down town, shopping center, food courts and parks to go which really helps with the traffic. 

You can a photo taken by me from my beloved Tehran and its mountains. You might think the mountains are really close but it is not, from this point you have about 20 minutes driving without traffic to reach to them. Another fun fact about Tehran is that the whole city has lights, the streets, highways, parks and everywhere you go in the nights you have lights. City it self looks like the down towns in the US. We have big shopping centers like Walmart in US but there is still lots of small business shops to cell the goods. Every neighborhood has its own shops for daily life and of course you have the option to go to chain ones. Malls are important, you can find them everywhere and you can find the stuff you want there. some malls have special categories like electronics only and some don't. Tehran is filled with apartments. Depending on the neighborhood and the flat itself the prices differs. Unlike US the downtowns are not the expensive places. It is expensive to own a shop there but no one wants to leave in the middle of because of traffic and all the people go around there. Houses are build using bricks and cement mostly, what ever they use other than theses is not wood.

Well I talked about all of those so I can start to talk about the differences. First thing most of Americans ask me when they hear the Name of Iran: Ohhh it should be very different here for you!! How are keeping up with the weather?? the answer is Yes it is different, unless I go to a city such as NYC no place is close to where I used to live. It is difficult to live in a small town where you have to drive long way and pay unreasonable parking fee to go to a decent restaurant. It is difficult that I have to have drive in order to get a Diet Coke because back home it was walking distant. About the weather: depending on where you in US you will have something: really dry and hot, really cold and dry, really hot and humid, really cold and yet humid. There are places that more normal with all the seasons but I didn't end up there. In NY we have cold weather with snow. I am not unfamiliar with the snow my friends, I even brought my snow board with me from home to use it during snow season. I know there are deserts in Iran as well and some people are coming from there but I don't think it is polite to make a comment like this when you see someone for the very first time. 

the streets are dark here, even the houses look dark to me. back home we all used chandeliers with several light bulbs on it and all we cared was to having the house lighten up. The darkness of the streets still is bugging me. the streets gets empty around 10 PM and just downtown (in the weekends) are crowded, this is also very different, there are always people outside back home. Restaurants close the kitchen at 9PM, ours were open till midnight only some fancy restaurants close earlier which still is later then 9 PM. Houses are made of wood. Houses are really old. the people in charge in shopping centers are very nice and friendly in contrary to back home which they get board and angry after 10 minutes. The sky is very beautiful here because of being less polluted. The towers are all in the down town and rest of beautiful and shorter houses are scattered in the city (it is more organized). Having fun here is different from back home. Going to bar and having drinks are not acceptable back home (Islamic Country so the alcohol is a no. no.) so you normally go a restaurant or a coffee place or park or even a mall over the weekend. 

In US if you see one mall you know you have seen them all but back home each one is different from the other and you can not find any similarity between them. Streets and everything is different in each city. Driving here is much easier compared to back home and people are more organized.