js - why is await not throwing error when used outside function

Question

I have the following syntax:

const connectDB = async () => {
  try {
    const conn = await mongoose.connect(process.env.MONGO_URI, {
      useUnifiedTopology: true,
      useNewUrlParser: true,
      useCreateIndex: true,
    });

    console.log(`[MONGODB CONNECTED]: ${conn.connection.host}`.cyan.underline);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(`[ERROR]: ${error.message}`.red.underline.bold);
    process.exit(1);
  }
};  

and I've used it like this:

await connectDB(); console.log("print after connection");

it actually works, I thought I could use await keyword only inside an async function, however, no error is being thrown, and the database actually connects before printing the test message. Is this a legal code or I am misunderstanding something?