I had a very big culture shock when I first came to the US. For one thing, I was the onlyblackstudent inthegraduateschool at Albany Medical College, however, I didn’t experience any discrimination. Almost everything was a shock really; the accent, the food, the infrastructure, even the weather; in fact, the winter drove me nuts. During my fellowship at Cornell, I had no car, but my house was close to the university, so I would dress up like someone going to the moon and go to work. There was no time to brood, though. My fellowship was very busy, we were always on call. Final year was better, and the fellowship was even better. However, in spite of the busy schedules, it was really fun; and I had a great time, made lots of good friends with both students and teachers, and studied very hard. I only had one bad experience, when two black men mugged me, In the Land of Milk and Honey and collected all my money and everything else I had on me. They put a gun to my face, and a knife to my neck, and then, they cut my face. I was so shocked. I remember telling them that they were a disgrace to the world, ignorant of the fact that my life was in danger. I never believed a black man would attack another black man. When I got home, the part of my face that was cut was so swollen that I tookmyself to the Emergency Unit. When my American friends saw me, they all shouted, “Welcome to New York!” 23 The Birthday Journal
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