※The East Girl - Part One※
"Screw humanity. Screw them who said that they would help me. It was all a lie. No one helped me when I was literally begging myself with my eyes for them to help me when they were grabbing me like I was some kind of trash...
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Based on Oxford English Dictionary, Islamophobia is dislikeness or fearfull of Islam, esp. as a political force; hostility or prejudice towards Muslims.
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Two Years Ago.
There was no even one word can describe how I really felt back -when the first time I read my e-mail- that I had been accepted to enroll at English and Comparative Literature department as my bachelor's degree in one of the most prestigious Ivy League School in America, Columbia University.
I still couldn't believe it that I really had been accepted to Columbia University. So, I re-read my e-mail over and over again till my eyes couldn't take it anymore.
The next morning I felt so happy even my annoying little brother couldn't make me grumpy just like how he usually did. Thanks for my good mood that morning. My mom and dad who I informed -after my lil brother went to school- about that, just looked at me speechless for more than three minutes, yes, both of them stared at me for the whole three minutes, could you believe it?
It was just like a dream you know, scholarship, full tuition, free allowance and also a dorm near campus which was already prepaid by university. I just... how did I put it into words? I just really really felt so grateful that words couldn't even help me to describe it. I just said alhamdulillah* over and over again. Till my mom, back at home, couldn't help it but just laughed seeing me all over the moon like that.
But, did you know that, it was also the first time for me to go abroad? I had never been overseas before. So, that day I felt lil bit nervous, no scratch that, I felt really nervous that I just couldn't help it but, bitten my lower lip as long as I met new people who narrowed their eyes suspiciously at me.
I didn't know why they were looking at me like that. Call me crazy but, I just replied them with smiling back at them. Because it was what my prophet, Muhammad* (peace be upon him), has taught me through his sunnah*, that smiling was part of charity and smiling was the most easiest charity that we could do whenever and wherever without being bother about money.
If you asked me, why was I going alone? Well, I didn't know if there was any other fellow from my country, Indonesia, who was also going to study in Columbia like I did. So, I just went alone. Forunately, I had sat beside a heart-warming old lady who initiated the conversation with me through the whole sky journey while her husband sleeping in his dream near the plane window.
She said she was from a trip in Bali Island. Okay, I was honestly expecting it, because you know what, Bali is more famous than Indonesia. Sometimes, international people thought that Indonesia was in Bali, not the other way around. In fact, Bali was part of Indonesia. You could go check youself about that in Indonesia's map. Wink. Wink.
