... infiltrates the soil, reaches the water-table and becomes groundwater.

• After years in underground it is pumped from a water-well and used for potable supply.
• It is then discharge as sewage effluent to a river, becoming surface water perched above the local water-table, which seeps through its bed to recharge the underlying aquifer.
• The raindrop then joins the groundwater flow in aquifers and discharges directly to the sea.

... falls directly into an upland lake, becoming surface water.

• After some days it evaporates back to the local atmosphere and falls again as rain, but this time e.g. on permeable ground where it infiltrates to become groundwater.
• If flows underground in an aquifer for more for several years and discharge eventually as a lowland spring.
• It thus becomes surface water again, part of a stream and river system which some days or month later reaches the sea.
• If not infiltrating it becomes directly surface water, being part of a lake, stream or river system and reaches some days or month later the ocean.