Legal Alien in Southern California - part 5

Being an international student was expensive. We had to pay ten times more than the residents. Because of that, I always tried my best to get an A in every class.

Since my major was graphic design and advertising, I had to take all kinds of art classes. When I went to the student store and trying to get all the items on the art class list, I heard someone whispering in the Indonesian language. I immediately go to them and introduce myself. They told me there are other Indonesian students in the college. They took me to meet all of them. Most of them are Chinese-Indonesian. It is well-known that Chinese-Indonesian students usually had wealthy parents who sent them to the States to get further education. They were friendly, but I couldn’t help feeling “getting sized up” by them.

After a full day of classes, I went across the street to get something to eat at Subway. It is a franchised sandwich store. You can pick any toppings you’d like for your sandwiches. I’ve never eaten at Subway before, so it was pretty interesting to me. First, I observed how other people ordered their food. I did the same, and then the Subway person asked me what I’d like to drink. I looked at the menu, and I saw fountain drinks. In my head, I was so excited, thinking that it was a drink that came out of a fountain. She looked at me and asked what kind. I look at her dumbfounded and ask what she meant. She pointed out to the soda machine, and I was like, “Ahhh, I see..” So, I guess fountain drink was just a fancy way to call soda, lol.

The first couple of months living in the States were pretty hard. Knowing only a couple of people, not having a car to go around, and learning the bus route was frustrating. On top of all the excitement of all the new things, I couldn’t help feeling homesick.

I started hanging out more with the Indonesian kids. They were all 6-8 years younger than me. Sometimes I felt out of place. With all of the mixed emotions that I was feeling, I needed a release. Music was always my therapy, so I asked them to take me to a music store.

I remember my first “big purchase” in the States was an Ibanez classical guitar for $80. I bought it before getting a phone, before getting a laptop, before getting anything else. Playing the guitar was my entertainment. Living with Mia was not easy, and all I do whenever I feel anything is play the guitar. So in a sense, the guitar was my trusted friend.

We don’t have internet in our apartment. Mia told me that it’s too expensive and we all have the internet on our phones anyway. She said that if I need to go on the internet, I can always use the neighbor’s wi-fi. Apparently, some of them had open wi-fi with no password. Lucky me. They must have been international students who didn’t know any better. So here I was with the phone I brought from Indonesia trying to “catch” their wi-fi. Sometimes I go outside and stayed on the entrance staircase since somehow the wi-fi is better there.

When I decided that it’s time for me to get a cellphone, I asked my host parent, Rick, to take me to a store. He then took me to T-mobile. T-mobile is one of the biggest cellphone providers in the US. Since I didn't have a credit score, I had to buy the phone outright. I chose the t-mobile sidekick. It was pretty expensive, but I felt like one of the cool kids. I got the lowest plan which only had limited data, calls, and texts. In the long run, I realized that it was a big mistake.