Personal Growth

Sunday August 18 of 2019, my life changed forever. I left my family at the airport of my home country of Belgium to travel by myself for ten months to the United States of America. I remember every detail of this day: What I was wearing, the weather, and what the man of the security told me. I was completely scared to be on my own, but so excited to start a new adventure. Before crossing the security line, I said goodbye to my family and noticed everybody was crying except me. I held back my tears because I didn’t want to cry in front of them. I took one last look at my mom, turned my head and started crying for a very long time. It was not only tears of sadness, but I was happy to start my new life. I knew I was going to experience a wonderful year that would change me forever. My expectations were to become more independent, grow in maturity, and of course to improve my English.

My host family gave me the warmest welcome I could ever expect. They greeted me at the airport with a beautiful poster saying “Welcome to our home Clarisse.” My room was decorated and a welcome card was on my bed. My heart was full of joy as I knew I was loved since the first day and that we were going to share wonderful times. Spending a year abroad was something I never thought I would have accomplished in my life. I made the decision because my sister completed an exchange experience last year and encouraged me to do the same. Certainly, it has been the best decision I have made in my life.

Four months have passed since I left Belgium and it has impacted me greatly. I realized the importance of enjoying every single moment of my life as if it were my last one. I realized how much I love my siblings and my close friends in Belgium by being separated from them. They are so important in my life and I am fortunate to have them. Observing a new culture is very rewarding. Life in America is different from life in Belgium. For example, everything is bigger compared to my country such as shops, food portions, houses, and cars. My perspective of American culture has changed. Before coming to the United States, I cared a lot about what people thought of me. By coming here, I realized that it does not matter at all, especially now that I am far from some of those people who judged me in the past.

I am very fortunate to become part of my big American family who has accepted me as their own since I arrived. I have aunts, uncles, grandparents here and we have shared wonderful memories. It would always be my other family even if I leave the United States. I had some challenges by coming here such as being far from my family, having difficulty to show my real personality because of the language or having the feeling that I am different than everybody because I am a stranger. All of these challenges, however, helped me become more mature which was my goal by coming here. I feel more confident because of all the love that I am receiving and because I am proud of myself to travel on my own.

I know a lot of new adventures are waiting for me and I am so happy I made this decision to come.