Settling-in: Landing in America II

Landing in America – II

I did not know anyone who attended 
my school or lived in Maryland before 
getting my VISA. After I got the visa and 
was certain I would be going to school, 
I started asking around my circle if 
anyone was connected to someone 
who either lived in Maryland or schooled 
at the University of Maryland. 
A friend linked me up with a Ph.D. 
candidate at UMD called R, and from 
the first time we chatted on Whatsapp, 
we clicked. 
That’s definitely one of the most valuable 
friendships I forged in America. 
My mum’s business partner also had a 
friend who lived in a city that was about 
1 hour away from my school and he was 
gracious enough to let me stay at his 
place until I found my accommodation. 
I was picked up from the bus station 
by one of his wards, L, and taken to 
the pharmacy where he worked. 
I stayed there until COB and while I 
was there, I saw a lot of addicts come 
into the pharmacy to ask for medication 
and when the pharmacist insisted 
drugs couldn’t be dispensed to them 
because they weren’t due for a refill, 
they’d scream and curse and threaten 
the pharmacists. 
I was so afraid to go out for fear of 
being kidnapped and ransomed for 
medications. 
The following day, L drove me to school 
where I had to take two exams to 
determine if I could wave the courses 
associated with them. 
When I got to the hall where the exams 
were to take place, I saw my classmates 
standing in front of the hall and I 
rushed into the bathroom saying to 
myself “I am the only black person in 
my class”. I had to give myself an 
aspire to perspire talk before I was 
calm enough to leave the bathroom. 
I would later find out there was 
another Nigerian boy in my class but 
surprisingly, we did not click. 
I met up with my Ph.D. friend, R, later 
in the evening after school and she 
took me to Mcdonalds. 
She bought me the largest cup of soda 
along with fries, a burger and chicken 
nuggets which I thought were wings 
for the longest time and tried to find
 them in every McDonald's outlet to 
no avail! 
That was my first taste of American food 
and it was so good I must confess. 
L picked me up after work and took me 
to his guardian’s house. 
I had to return to school the next day to 
take my medical exam and pick up my ID. 
I just assumed L would drive me like 
he’d done the previous 2 days. 
A little back story on which this 
assumption was formed. 
Although I had a car while I worked in 
Nigeria, I mostly went to work with an 
older friend/mentor of mine because 
I hated traffic. 
They were several times when he’d 
call me to say he was in front of my 
house and I would jump off from the bed, 
fly into the bathroom to brush my teeth, 
shower, and dress up while he and 
the other passengers waited for me. 
He usually closed late and I did not 
mind waiting at work because there 
was internet. 
There was a day he was going to close 
very late and around say 10 pm, he 
asked me and the other guy who 
commuted with him to drive his car 
home, while he hitched a ride when 
he was done with work. 
I can never forget that selfless act ever. 
Anyway, it was with this entitlement 
mentality that I asked L to drive me to 
school and he said he couldn’t drive 
me unless I paid for gas. 
I was quite shocked TBH and thought 
he was being mean but I understood 
after I started earning an income 
that bills in the America left you with 
little to do charity with. 
He asked me to pay $20 for gas and I 
quickly converted it to Naira in my 
head like I continued to do until I 
started earning dollars. 
I sadly agreed to pay the amount since 
I had no other means of getting to school, 
but also decided I was not going to 
return to the house which meant I 
had to get an accommodation that 
very day as I couldn’t afford to keep 
paying $20 for a trip to school and 
back home. 
R graciously left her key for me so I 
could drop my luggage at her house, 
go do my medical exams and find an 
apartment using my school’s housing 
portal. 
After the medical exam, I asked two girls 
for direction to where I can’t remember 
now and found out they were both 
graduate students from an African country. 
They suggested I checked their apartment 
complex for an apartment because it 
was nice, affordable, not too far from 
school and one of the school’s buses 
stopped in front of it. 
I checked out the apartment complex 
and they had a 1-bedroom apartment for 
rent going for $450/month for two people 
or $890/month for 1 person which 
was quite nice. 
It had a newly-remodeled bathroom, 
wall-to-wall, plush carpeting, AC and 
heater, free wifi, a new burner and 
fridge, a dishwasher (Which I never 
used except to store plates), and a new 
microwave. 
I couldn’t afford to pay the full rent of 
$890/month and the apartment manager 
agreed to let me pay $450/alone and 
stay alone in the apartment provided 
they didn’t find me a roommate. 
I wasn’t too comfortable with that 
arrangement and decided to go check 
other apartments. 
I saw a LOT more but 2 of them bear 
talking about here. 
The first, a 2-bedroom condo, was a 
bit far from school, but very beautiful. 
It had; plush, wall-to-wall carpeting, 
exquisite and expensive-looking furniture, 
large rooms and kitchen, and onsite laundry. 
The best part was the rent was only 
$600/month. 
I was already fantasizing about living 
in such a beautiful place when the tenant 
who put up the Ad said he was sorry 
but he wanted a male not a female 
roommate. 
I was quite disappointed because a male 
roommate wouldn’t have been my first 
choice either but I was willing to live 
with him if it meant living in that beautiful 
apartment. 
I can still picture the apartment in my 
head as I am typing this. 
The second apartment was a 2-bedroom 
apartment occupied by an Asian girl and 
she was asking for $650 for the second 
room. 
It wasn’t very nice TBH and was quite messy. 
She said the room had an AC which she 
hardly turned on because it was a little loud 
and wasn’t really necessary since the 
room was airy. 
R asked her to put it on and people of God, 
the noise reminded me of a grinding 
machine for pepper. 
I didn’t have a place to sleep that night 
and was going to take it but R, God
 forever bless her heart, told me I could 
stay with her for as long as I liked until 
I found my own place. 
I slept over at hers, she cooked for me 
and we gisted like long lost friends. 
She followed me to go see the nice 
1-bedroom apartment the following day 
and suggested I took it and just pray 
they never found me a roommate. 
I lived alone in that my apartment 
throughout my first year, paying 
only $450 cuz thankfully, a roommate 
was never found for me. R had a 
friend in my apartment complex who 
was leaving school and she gave me 
her mattress and bed frame, a pillow, 
a chair and a table. 
R gave me sheets and a duvet, cups, 
plates, cutlery, etc. 
I saw on FB that a girl I went to 
secondary school with was attending 
one of UMD’s campuses at the time. 
I buzzed her while I was still in Nigeria 
and she tried to get me an accommodation 
with her friend but that didn’t work out. 
She told me she had just gotten married 
and had a lot of new cookware sets 
that she would give me and I didn’t 
have to buy any. 
Dazz how I was able to furnish my 
house without buying anything. 
My birthday was only a few weeks after 
I resumed and when I told R it was 
my birthday, she took me to dinner at 
olive garden and we had appetizers, 
a main course, and dessert. 
We had a good time talking and laughing. 
The waiters also sang for me and gave 
me a piece of cake with a lighted candle 
on it. 
It ranks high on my list of favorite birthdays. 
I was so thankful to her cuz she was a 
fellow student like me, living on graduate 
assistantships yet spending on me who 
she’d only known for a few weeks. 
She dropped me off at in front of my 
apartment and as I got out of the car, she 
asked me to wait and handed me a paper 
bag containing a gift. I was shocked as 
I wasn’t expecting it. 
I opened it and it turned out to be 
the $65 UMD hoodie I told her I 
admired a few weeks prior but thought 
it was too expensive and didn’t buy it. 
That is one of the most thoughtful things 
anyone has ever done for me. 
To be continued