When I first arrived in Tbilisi, I was stuck in a dream. It didn’t feel real. I have never been away from home before, and suddenly I was living in another country on another continent. And it was almost unfathomable.
The first few days, I explored the city with my roommate. The city wasn’t exactly how I expected it to be. You can feel the culture difference.
People on the streets don’t smile at you, but they stare for a long time. In restaurants, you don’t give your waiter a tip. When they give you your change, they put it on tiny plates on the counter, as if to avoid direct contact with you. I am required pay in order to use the elevator in my apartment. (Only 10 tetri, which is equivalent to about four pennies.) I rarely took public transportation back at home. Now I take the bus every day and have even had my first strange interaction. An older man tried flirting with me because he knew I was a foreigner. With each new day, I feel myself being pulled from this dream that became a sudden reality.
It wasn’t until after my first two weeks here that I finally begin to feel homesick. It hit me that everyone I was close with was half a world away. And it hurt. I began to sleep more, because my mind started to feel sad realizing how long it would be before I can see my family again. It was easier to sleep instead of feeling that pain.
Then, I found things to fill that void. I made new friends. They are different than what I am used to, but they are helping me expand my surroundings and learn more about the world I wasn’t used to. I began volunteering at a local animal shelter.
While there, I happened to have fallen in love with a three-legged pointer mix named Suzi. I decided I would do anything to bring her back to America with me. Two days out of the week, I get to visit her and take her to the park to play. She only understands Georgian, but she is starting to understand my gestures as commands. And I visited the U.S. Embassy here in Tbilisi. They offered me many opportunities to get involved in the community and teach English to elementary school students.
Being abroad has been a bit of a shock. So far, it has had many downs. But it always finds its way back up in the end. It has only been a month. I am excited to see what the rest of the semester has in store for me.
Arianna Ruiz is a third-year biochemistry major studying abroad in Tbilisi, the capital city of the Republic of Georgia. This is her first time leaving the boundaries of California.
The global experience, as told by SDSU students 
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