Call me cheesy, but I love looking at the moon. I love looking at the craters, the dark spots and most importantly, the gentle glow, knowing that my parents, and family, and friends from back home are looking at the same moon during their night. Being over 13,000 kilometres (~8100 miles) from home can make you want for those moments. I first discovered this happiness last year.
Finals week found me too stressed to sleep. So, at one in the night, I stepped out of my cosy, warm room, and decided to walk around campus. Beginning my journey in the football field, I slowly covered almost all of campus. My last stop before heading home was one of my favourite places on campus, Tisch Roof - (hey, I’m clichéd and proud).
As I stood in the pure light of the moon and finally looked up into the sky for the first time that night, a full moon shone brightly down at me. Suddenly, I felt my body relax, my face light up in a smile, and my eyes radiate the happiness I felt inside me. For a split second I felt like I was home, in India, on my balcony. I felt like my mother was going to begin the long process of getting me to come eat dinner, and my dad was going to wait until my mom had called me for the fifth time before chiming in. I felt like my grandmother was going to walk into the room any minute and physically drag me out (yes, I know, my grandmother is ridiculously strong).
And suddenly, a slow breeze wafted gently around me, and I closed my eyes and inhaled the air, filling my welcoming lungs with the freshness. I opened my eyes again and looked straight at the Boston skyline and then slowly scanned the whole of campus. I think I had one of the most important realisations of my college years in that moment.
I may not have been in India, but, I definitely was home.