Our Stories @ Austin

Are we in the USA??

It was 11:30 on the Wednesday night of 8^th August 2007 when we (me and my husband Gaurav) found ourselves flying over Austin….a city we had never been to before …..thousands of miles away from home, it was the strange city that we intended to make ours for our future years to come.

The feelings were very mixed. We were landing into the totally strange city in a not so strange for Indians, country, USA. Like most Indians, we had also pictured a glamorous image of America in mind during our childhood and career making years of college. And I think most of you will agree that images made in childhood fantasies are so strongly preserved in our minds always that they refuse to fade away easily, no matter how much we know or have known in reality in our present. So, inspite of all the idea we gained about USA through reading blogs and more than that, the fact that I had been to northern states of US for 4 months before already, we both were experiencing same sense of excitement to see each and every strange part of this country.

We were mesmerized by the enormous and technically lot advanced air ports. We did not realize that we boarded the airport-train from the third floor, till I looked on the other side window across us! And the speed at which it was moving, felt like another plane ride to reach the domestic airport. America is business centre of the world and the fact was proved by just seeing the huge crowd on Chicago International Airport with the demography consisting of people from all continents of the world visiting for all sorts of varied businesses, educational fields and personal reasons. Looking around, we were slowly trying to digest the fact that we are out of India by seeing the different skin colors, the different accents people were talking in, in our very own and well known English language, and of course the eye-catching glamorous dresses worn by the girls and ladies around.

When Pay-phone paid Gaurav!

Well, well…..we are here…..we are really in USA! And now we had to call one student from University of Texas at Austin, to inform him of our arrival so that he can come and pick us up. And we could see some pay phone near the airport lobby. So Gaurav took phone no. and a quarter (25 cents) to call. As a smart chap he is, he tried to figure out how to use it and dialed the number, dropped the coin in the machine and here we go…our first earning …..the call didn’t go and he received two quarters back from the coin phone. So isn’t he smart enough to make the pay phone pay him the penalty for not connecting! Okay, so funs apart, don’t think that if your call didn’t go you will receive additional quarters always but ya, as he does, don’t miss the fortune if you are standing and a pay phone is close by, you might want to hit it gently once or twice by handJ.

Finally, he got the student through somebody’s mobile phone and the person came to take us. Our luggage did not come with us to Austin and was still at Chicago, so we just had two cabin bags and a laptop bag. As we could not make any accommodation arrangements before arriving Austin, the UT student dropped us at Rodeways Inn hotel (supposed to be comparatively not so expensive!) close to UT around midnight and we got a room.

Our first night at Austin

It was very cozy air-conditioned double bed-room with TV, phone, microwave and a nice bathroom. We were very happy and enjoyed watching TV and relaxing in the nice room after the 30 hours long journey from New Delhi to Austin. Next morning we got up and got ready for the breakfast which was complimentary at the hotel. There were juices, apple, orange and my favorite cranberries, other than milk and cornflakes for us vegetarians. Soon after breakfast it was 11 AM, time to pay for other day or check out and we realized that 70$ per night is a luxury for students like us and we must find a cheaper place to stay as soon as possible.

Hitting the Austin roads

Now we started our house search, and called a few property dealers. Soon, a lady Erica from Apartment Finders agreed to come and pick us up from hotel to show us some apartments. We were excited as it was going to be our first chance to see Austin in sun shine. Outside was bright and sunny, and a smart, young lady Erica, was waiting for us in her Chevy. We were soon on 12 lanes I-35 interstate highway and several limousines, BMWs, Hybrids and many personal trucks, and sports cars were running on the road in front and behind us. There were no wrong side overtakes, no abrupt lane changing, no traffic jams and overall it was a respite for someone who was used to cursing Bangalore’s traffic everyday.

Erica showed us three apartments that day but we were kind of lost with the locations and could not be sure of its proximity to University. So next, we decided to walk over on our own and look around. We did a part lunch of apple and bananas we got from breakfast, and dared to step out on foot in hot and sunny day. But walking on unknown roads in that harsh sun was not as easy as moving with Erica, and soon we were thirsty and hungry. We were not able to do anything more than noting phone numbers of a few properties on the road that we thought was close to UT and ended up at a convenient store for water. It was ran by a Pakistani person and he gave us water bottles for free (spending dollars initially was not that easyJ). He suggested us some more places to look for and our search continued till late evening with no substantial result.

No more luxury!!

Next morning (Friday) Gaurav announced that we are vacating the hotel room. We had no clues where we are going to end up but he was sure that we don’t want to pay any more 70 bucks per night in that hotel. Also he had to check-in for his arrival at the University International Office at around 3:30 that afternoon.

So we moved out with only our hand luggage. As I said earlier, our bags had not yet arrived from air lines and we were happy to not have them till we find a house. But still, walking all the way pulling the two cabin bags and carrying laptop bag on shoulder in harsh sun was a challenging phase of life as I remember now.

We decided to see around some of the addresses we have by bus before we reach university in afternoon. It was the first time we thought of taking a bus as better idea than walking and we bought two bus passes 1 $ each which was good for unlimited rides to all Austin city buses for 24 hours from the time we first use that pass. The bus we boarded was really nice, air-conditioned and relaxing. I could not have imagined such a comfortable bus ride before coming to America. While waiting for another bus at the bus stop we came across a lady who gave us her address and phone no., so that we can call her to stay at her home for night if we can’t find anything by the end of the day. We saw two apartments that day and talked to other occupants of the buildings. They said it being very north of Austin, is sometimes not very safe.

Then it was time for us to reach the University for Gaurav’s check-in. It went on till 6:00 in the evening followed by an ice-cream social. But we were more concerned about finding a place to stay. We tried calling every hotel possible, and they all had increased rates since Friday to Sunday they put weekend rates. Even returning to Rodeways Inn was not an option as it was more that 85 bucks per night now. We both were very tired and tensed as well as feeling sleepy due to jet lag ( time zone difference affects body initially).

Learned lesson - not a hard way.

After trying hard for every option, we resorted to call the lady who offered to let us stay at her home in the morning at bus stop. We called her and she asked us to reach a bus stop from where she can pick us up in her car.

We felt a sigh of relief and reached the bus stop. She was there to pick us up. We went to her home. She told us that we can stay in the room on first floor. Although she was nice to us, being strange we were a little wary. The place had many weird things. The pictures, statues, the decorative pieces, almost every corner of the house looked scary to me. We just crossed our fingers, prayed to God that this night goes safely and we will never try to stay with any stranger no matter how much ever we have to spend for a hotel.

With God's grace we were safe and early morning, we thanked her left her house, both thinking that whatever happens, we will finalize an apartment today. So we were again on road dragging our suitcases. It was a hot day even very early in morning, and we had no water. While crossing through a shop, I ran to buy some water but the shops were not open yet. A guy outside the shop had some water and grape juice cans in his car. He saw us poor kids walking on road, and offered us to pick two bottles from his car. We took them seeing that they were sealed and thanked him.

We somehow reached at a student's home in University and placed our suitcases there. Then we reached the property dealer's office and told her to show us some place close to university and still in our budget. Although she had already told us that none of the houses are in our budget in the area we wanted. But she again looked and got ready to show us one efficiency (a small house with only one room) apartment. We rode in her car and saw the apartment. The locality was close to UT and we were kind of okay with the place. After two hours of thought process, we finalized the house and paid the initial deposit of 300$ to the property dealer. But the move-in for the house was only after 14 days. So we had to look for some temporary arrangement to live till then.

We went to a university Co-op house which a place like a dorm where girls as well as boys live and everyone pays per bed not per room. The supervisor of the Co-op was kind enough to allow us to surf internet and use their phone to find about hotels. We were tired but determined. I looked over the places on Internet to find inexpensive hotels, and Gaurav started calling hotels one by one. Finally, at one place, an Indian, Mr. Jayesh picked up the phone. It is Gaurav's interpersonal skills I would say, that he got ready to give us all possible discounts. We took our luggage and went to the hotel. It was far away from the university and it took us almost 2 hours to reach the place. Finally very tired but much relieved having finalized the house, we slept peacefully.

Job hunt began

From next day, our target was to find some financial support. For that Gaurav had to get a job in University. The options were, getting a TA, RAship under any professor or some other 20 hours per week position in university. We talked to many seniors and mailed professors. Almost all said getting a support is tough in first year. But he got responses from some of the professors. We met them, but none of them was in the position to offer him a job right away. In the process we met Dr. Jacob Abraham, who saw my resume and being head of circuit design, he said I can join his group although he cannot pay me since I was on F2. I got a place in University and his group students suggested Gaurav some cools places like petroleum engineering department for assistantship.

Gaurav's hard work paid and he got a job with in-state tuition waiver. It was our happiest moment in Austin since we came. There was an Austin country dance party organized for new international students and we celebrated the moment with it.

Gone to Texas!!

The life was getting stabilized again. We moved into our apartment 3 days earlier than the apartments manager told us. After some initial efforts, we arranged everything needed in our sweet little home. Now we were ready for the semester. UT begins every fall semester with a cultural event called "Gone to Texas" on the eve before the fall classes begin. We went and saw the grand celebration. The enthusiasm with which everyone participated in the show raised our spirits too and we felt that we are loving the university……..and really……from the day the classes began……we never seemed to realize that when in the middle all this we were already, Gone to Texas!