Jessica's autobiography

What does it mean to have a milestone in life? There was a time in my life when I thought I knew the answer. It meant that I would have never thought that I could be changed if I had not stayed in Canada. I had been dreaming about living abroad since I was a little girl but I did not know that it could happen in real until the day I was at the airport to take a plane to Canada. At that time. I did not know that how my perspectives could have been changed by the time I ended up living there.

Going abroad to study English was booming when I was in my 3rd year in University among my classmates and friends in 2009. I always had been eager to go abroad; moreover that boom kind of forced me to decide to go out of country. However, even though I had been thinking about studying and living abroad, I had so much fear about going outside of Korea by myself. So, after I got all my paper works done and until the day before I actually left to Canada, I have regretted about my decision a thousand times. I could not sleep at all because I was so frightened about trip and life in Canada. I had no relatives, no friends and I had no idea how my life was going to be. All worries about these made me almost throw up. Also, the day I left, I was crying a lot when I said good-bye to my family, I knew that I was going to come back and I knew that I could contact with them frequently but I still do not know what made me cry so much like that.

With all difficulties, I finally arrived in Canada after 14-hour flight and I was so thirsty from the long trip but I could not even buy a bottle of water at the store. I was afraid of speaking English so I just endured it. At the Vancouver airport, I kept thinking that “What am I doing here?", “What did I come here for". However, I made all choices so I could blame nobody. Everything was new to me ; people, language, the way people act and think, customs, etc. I was having a hard time to adapt myself to these new circumstances so I relied on Korean friends so much, always hung out with them. I could not even go anywhere without them.

One day, a thought hit my mind. “I did not come here to meet Korean friends and I have got to do something to fix this". So I started doing everything on my own. I planned backpacking to eastern Canada. I made all phone calls to book accommodation and transportation by myself. It was not easy at all but I backpacked from city to city in eastern Canada; Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Niagara Falls. I got so much confidence on that trip. After that, I tried to jump into the new world. I kept trying to make friends from many other countries even though I was shy. In addition, I got a confidence by learning English and getting to know about rules and roles. So I tried to do new things such as volunteering in the city festivals and going outside of city alone. I stated to make lots of friends from a variety of countries. And it was so exciting to me making friends and getting to know their culture.

I have actually stayed there for 10 months and it was not long time at all, although I seemed so long at the beginning. Later, I did not want to leave there, of course it does not mean that I don't like living in Korea. However, the experience in Canada, changed many perspectives of mine. I have learned how to accept and understand the things which are different with me and people who have different perspectives with me. If I did not come to Canada, I could never know new culture and get confidence. By this trip, I truly realized that an experience is worth more than a thousand words.