It's funny, my flight was late for the introduction and I did not realise that most people had already arrived. I was the last to arrive. My flight was delayed so I landed late and when I came out of the airport, no one was there to pick me up (someone was supposed to).
It was hot and I was aware that I was rather alone. Luckily, I met a nice fellow who helped me. He rang up the number I was given and was told that the driver would be coming now. So I waited and had a good banter with the nice chap. Eventually, the driver arrived and I said my thanks and was on my way. I was feeling rather nervous since I was late, everyone was there already and must have introduced themselves. So many thoughts were racing through my mind at the time.
One of the first thoughts that raced through was the scenery, it was a lot different than I had imagined and people a lot friendlier than I thought as well. Other thoughts included, I just got off a 13+ hour flight journey and I looked hideous and how I should approach everyone who have already settled there. As soon as I arrived I looked around where we are. It was a very quaint village with hardly anything on either side. It was strange, I expected more to the place. I hastily carried my luggage out of the car and stared up at the building I was supposed to enter. I was greeted by another person that ushered me in. I took a deep breath and entered the building. Everyone's head turned as soon as I appeared. Curious faces and smiling individuals. My mind was blank, but I was asked to to first place my luggage on the stage. I did that and then I went back down to sit.
I was welcomed by one of the Aiesecers of Mauritus. His name was Chaman. I felt at ease when I spoke to him. He introduced himself and told me a few words to describe him. I was then asked to do the same. Afterwards ( since everyone was paired up) we had to stand up and introduce each other to the rest of the group. Following this, other ice-breakers ensued with chatting, presentations ( I forgot to send mine so I had to give a speech) and lunch. Here, I began to meet fellow individuals like me on this project and realised everyone was just as nervous as I was. Everyone was in the same situation. I had yet to realise that I would form such a special bond with them and memories that will last forever.
After the introduction, we were allowed to go back to the house. As I was chatting with my newly found friends, I didn't realise where we were going. It was only a short walk to our accommodation and it did not register that I would be living upstairs to the landlord with 11 other people. As I saw the house, I believed that the whole house was for us, however, I was shocked that only the top half of the house was for us. I stood there and thought 'how could possibly 12 people live here?'.
View from our accommodation
Since everyone was already settled, everyone went up first and I came last. Two guys from Pakistan immediately said that I could stay with them in their room. I realised that that the house was tiny and there was only 5 rooms for 12 people. however, one room was the WIFI room and was not recommended for sleeping. There was a living room two shower rooms and a kitchen as well. Everything was basic, but I didn't mind. However, the place was rather unclean and a bit smelly. At first I said I would stay in the WIFI room but was convinced by Neeresh that it was not a good choice and eventually stayed with Bilal and Hasan in their room. This was the first time sleeping on the same bed as another guy and this was for 7 weeks haha.
The Wi-Fi room with super slow connection - Kind of missed this!
My fellow Aiesecers were very multicultural - The 12 of us included:
- 4 from Pakistan - Hasan, Bilal, Maria,
- 2 from India - Sahil and Archit
- 1 from Taiwan - Melissa
- 1 from China - Winnie
- 1 from Poland - Ania
- 1 from France - Orphee
- 1 from Croatia - Veronika
- and me from the United Kingdom
My multicultural family whom I miss a lot still! The struggle and the joy we had for 7 weeks was awesome!
