Lost in a new country, Mohammad walked around, thinking to himself, “These people don’t even know what happened to me in the past week.” He walked up to a stranger trying to ask for directions, but they waved him off, as they didn’t understand English. That’s when he truly felt like a foreigner – but what really happened to Mohammad in the past week?

It all happened suddenly; somehow, he felt like that week was both an eternity and a moment of time. It first started with his country getting bombed. In denial, his life was put to a halt. He couldn’t continue attending his classes, much less focus on anything when he was swallowed by the news –  focusing on where they hit again, how things were escalating, and how he could survive this living hell. He couldn’t, at least not anytime soon. The only thing that helped pass the time was the company of his friends, all huddled in fear from the situation, all having a silent agreement of not breaking down in front of each other. This company was what helped him overcome the passing of time and what he would strive for more than anything else.

A week passed by of this constant horror. With many sleepless nights, Mohammad began to wonder about the future, looking for other universities he could transfer to. “Let’s all go to Cyprus,” he suggested. Thus, he distracted himself from the constant darkness they were living in, focusing on the light at the end of the tunnel. Everything changed when he received a call from his embassy, informing him they had managed to secure an evacuation for him by boat to Cyprus. What a coincidence aligned by fate, he thought. However, the catch was that he himself alone managed to get that ticket. None of his friends did – the people who were the only reason he was able to survive this long.

He should have been happy, after all, what he had yearned for the entire week was handed to him on a silver platter. Yet, he finally started to acknowledge what it meant to escape the war – it meant leaving behind the life he built for 20 years. He stared at his suitcase, wondering how he could fit a lifetime into that small bag. He didn’t have time for sentimental thoughts, as his trip was less than 14 hours away. When he called his friends, they were excited for him – a bittersweet happiness. He couldn’t help himself from crying as he hung up the phone. The clock was ticking; he didn’t have time for sentimental thoughts. Seeing how impossible it was to fit everything in one suitcase, Mohammad opted for the next best choice and decided to buy another bag.

It was painful to pack all the sentimental things he owned. He stared at his graduation photos, the movie tickets he kept as a memory for the time he went out with his friend group, the souvenir his old friend got him from Turkey, and the photo album of his first year in university. He had to be strategic with what to take with him. The mugs his friends got him were too much of a hassle to bring, so he looked at them for one last time as he put them away in a donation box. He felt how the world was so cruel and injustice for not even giving him the time to properly say goodbye to everyone he knew, but that was the nature of war that he got used to in the past week. By the time he finished packing, it was already 2 in the morning. Eyes swollen, he decided to catch as much sleep as possible.

He surprisingly had a decent night of sleep, maybe it was due to the sleep deprivation, or maybe because he unconsciously knew how much this sleep was needed. Either way, he woke up and decided not to break down at any instance of the day, as he needed all the energy for the long days ahead. He said his quick goodbyes to his friends who were close by. The goodbyes were short and left tears forming in his friends’ eyes. His trip was gruesome-tiring, facing multiple delays on a cargo transportation ship. He slept on the available chairs, or at least, he tried to.

Twelve long hours later, he arrived in a new country. Being alone on this journey started to take its toll on him, as everyone else was with their families. He missed his friends more than anything, contemplating that he would rather be with them, even if it meant being in an active warzone.

Strangers were mean in that country, and he struggled to find any halal food – barely eating anything. The next day, he visited the university he and his friends planned on going to. He felt deceived. The university was new and shiny but lacked some of the courses he needed. He started to feel that his escape was a bad decision, but what other option did he have?

He signed up for a new life on a whim, and he couldn’t afford to regret it now. But he missed his old life and friends, and he was willing to do anything to get that back. So, he did. He had a way better night of sleep knowing that he had a ticket the next day back to his life.

Chu Zhang

Chu Zhang is a Computer Science Junior at the American University of Beirut. He grew up in the Middle East and had to move a lot because of political instability. Though moving out from Beirut was one of his hardest experiences. He is an inspirational student who is pretty involved with the community around him.