Here’s the end of my story:
Following both Sid and the residence official, I arrived at the middle of a big dirty courtyard full of workers. I could hear nothing except the sounds of all those working machines. As we walked on a little pathway impregnated with both water and dust, I realized that the dorms were located just next to me. I was passing next to different doors, which were in fact the residence’s dorms. Those rooms were opening directly onto this terrible courtyard full of workers. “Don’t tell me I will live in one of those?,” I wonder. While walking in this environment, I could feel Sid’s embarrassment through his face expression. The woman eventually stopped in front of one of the door. It was mine …
Calecas during its renovations last year
What follows may seem unreal but is definitely what happened. As the woman opened the door, the first thing we all saw was a worker full of sweat, wearing dirty clothes and sleeping in what was supposed to be my bed. I will never forget the image of this man laying on my bed with his bottle of water on the floor. As soon as he saw us, he obviously became very ill-at-ease. The man stood up quickly and said something like, “sorry I didn’t know you were coming today.” Then he left and went to sleep in the room next to mine. Both the resident official and Sid gave me a look full of embarrassment, with I think a bit of pity as we were discovering my room. The entire place was very dark, the floor was full of dust and you could see on the mattress of my bed a big yellow dirty mark. The woman left and I stayed with Sid unable to talk or move. He told me he was sorry and that he hoped our coach will make me leave this place soon. Then he left and said he will come pick me up later to eat.
At that moment, completely alone in my room, I could have just cried like this little girl. But I didn’t. I think I didn’t really realize and was too exhausted to start crying. I just sat down on the chair next to my desk and start thinking about the absurdity of the whole situation. I was in the middle of a nightmare. I eventually plugged my computer and sent a mail to my parents saying that I arrived in the US and that I was safe. They figured out the entire story a bit later.
So yes my travelling experience as well as my first days in the US were pretty tough. Yet, I finally changed of room few weeks later and got used to this whole new environment. The people here helped me a lot in this adapting process. My coach, my teammates, my teachers and American people in general all definitely contribute to make me eventually take the most of this experience. And to tell the truth, this first moments taught me a lot. They definitely made me stronger.
maubert2 