Throwback Thursday: Eight Years Later

Eight years later in 2013...Just me trying to be cuddly with Lucky who's not having it. 

Let's rewind.

"Pick you up at Memorial Union." - A. A. G.

I am skipping my story how I got here and the trips we took to Niagara Falls and Miami. I am leaving those to my memoir ;)

MY mother, aunt, uncle, grandfather, and I flew to Chicago from JFK and took the Val Galder bus to Memorial Union, Madison where my brother was supposed to pick us up. We arrived in Madison on August 15th, 2005. Moving day. Bad bad choice. My brother's uhaul had broke down earlier which delayed him a little bit.

 Fast forward later that day

We got to the 2-bedroom apartment I'd be sharing with him. He then went to return the uhaul truck with my uncle. My mom and my aunt started organizing stuffs and then about 5 pm they asked me to go buy food at this Korean place. By this time, my mom had been to Madison several times. But, noooo, they wanted me, the girl who just got here, didn't know anybody or anything, and who just figured out the money bills to go by HERSELF? Yes, just because I spoke English. Important note: At that time, I barely spoke English. Not to mention knowing the culture.

Off I went to point A to point B as shown in figure below. They gave direction: "Just walk straight until you find it. Here's what you need to order." It's 2 blocks away. Easy peasy. 

My Checklists:

1. Arrive safely at the restaurant ü

2. Order Beef Bokum ü

3. Pay correctly ü

4. Have a conversation with a Korean for the first time ü

5. Don't mess up no. 4 û

6. Get home quickly û

When I did no. 4. Basically it was me answering Yes/No to whatever the waiter asked. He was interested in asking me question because obviously I looked new in town. 

Well, he asked me if I was new, in which I said Yes. 

He asked if I was Korean, I said No. 

He asked me where I was from. "Indonesia." 

He asked me if I was studying in college, in which I said Yes. 

Now, he should have stopped. But he then asked me again if I was an undergraduate or a graduate student (I think, I was not sure what he asked). In which, I said, "Graduate." Too funny. Remember the Important note above?

I blamed the universe for not giving me the opportunities to dive into the American culture beforehand. At that time, I still didn't know I made a mistake by saying that. Getting to point no 6, on the way back I kept thinking if I answered something wrong. I kept on walking and for sure I missed the apartment building. I kept walking for 4 or 5 more blocks until I thought, "Hm...It was not that far...Where am I??!!" I walked my way back and guessed the building since there was this one with an open door.

Now.....The thing is.....I didn't bring any keys with me......Thankfully, it was moving day, where people tend to prop the main entrance door open to move stuffs easier. Otherwise...............I don't know. Sitting outside and crying? I didn't even know the door was locked automatically. 

Nevertheless, my brother laughed so hard when I told him about my "graduate" answer. It was his joke for quite some times.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures in 2005. I used Friendster instead of Facebook. So all pictures are gone now. Even the one from high school. This 2005 picture was taken in September. We were about to have a surprise birthday at Union South.

Another milestone in Madison was my 21st birthday. The picture was taken at Capitol Centre Market. My first legal alcohol. Not happy about winter birthday though.

Cheers to more and more exciting stories,