MY STORY:
One of my childhood dreams was to visit Chicago as I knew a lot about this city from books and my relatives. I was almost crazy about it.
In the final year of my undergrad program, I received job offers from three companies including a US based MNC and an Indian IT giant. I decided to join the US based MNC as I believed that if I perform well, I might get a chance to visit the US.
After finishing school in June 2007, I joined the US based MNC in July 2007. In June 2008, I got my first US visa!
Initially, the plan was to visit Dallas in July 2008 for 1 month training. However, the plan changed with the change in travel dates, responsibilities and duration of stay. The management decided that I have to undertake training, learn the new project life-cycle and stay in US for 3 months. (Wow!)
In September 2008, my first international flight to US (via Frankfurt) took off from Mumbai airport. I reached Dallas, Texas in 22 hours. It was a great feeling to be in the US and be close to "CHICAGO!". So, I booked flight tickets to Chicago the very next week.
On 7 November 2008, I boarded the flight from Dallas to Chicago. It was an American Airlines flight and my heart was pounding. I took the window seat for the view.
Sitting next to me was a lady from Chicago. We talked a lot about the city and places to visit in Chicago. The funny thing was that she could not believe me when I told her that I was visiting Chicago for the first time. Finally, after 3 hours, the flight descended and I looked out of the window. All I could see was the fog/clouds.
BUT after 10 minutes, I saw the most beautiful view I've ever seen in my life. It was the view of Chicago suburbs and I could see the flat surface with nice houses, colorful trees (Red, Green, Yellow, Orange) and cars running on the freeways. Believe me, Chicago is heaven in FALL!!
My flight landed exactly after 3hours 15minutes and as the flight attendant announced "Welcome to Chicago!", a teardrop rolled on to my cheek.
