Level 8
souvenirs of my childhood, my corner where I hid each time I committed a mistake, or did
something wrong to avoid mother’s or father’s anger. I saw for the last time my bathroom
and the kitchen with the food aroma of every dinner that was prepared by my Mom. Later,
in that new city, when the discovery of everything of a new life that could offer had passed, I
realized how precious living with parents and friends was. I became sad. I missed my parents
and friends; I missed each family dinner; I missed my boyfriend, each corner of my street
and my house. I couldn’t do anything. But life was continuing and I had to study. Some days
later, I went to register at school and complete all kinds of administrative papers. Then, the
first several days of school were not interesting to me, so I went to school and I went home
like a machine. The hot weather of that city made me angry easily. Living alone, I began
being stressed too much. I was so stressed that I felt sick for a week and I didn’t go to school.
But everything changed after that. One day a sudden visit happened. Because I was
absent a little bit from class, one classmate group suggested going to my apartment to
visit me. They guessed there was something that happened to me. When they were in my
apartment, they understood what the reason for my absence from class was. They understood
I had some depression with a side of anxiety, the homesickness I suffered. Some of them
helped me to take notes of what I missed and they even helped me to do homework. And
we became friends. I realized my life was easier and happier when I had some new friends.
They shared with me sadness, and happiness and they shared with me each piece of news I
received from my family. Step by step, I passed through each difficulty of my new life: the hot
weather was ok if I went to the swimming pool. The southern food was so sweet (people in
the south put sugar in their dishes) and was not my taste, but it was ok after some time. Ho
Chi Minh City people were louder than Hanoian people. That character that was annoying to
me at the beginning later became a sign of a good character: they were very open and they
told me what they thought. In brief, I succeeded in adapting to my new life from passing
over difficulties, to succeeding in integrating into that new life.
To sum it all up, these are three effects of my first moving to a new city: my family
spent more money on me, I lived far away from who I loved and what I liked, so I became
homesick, and finally it was a new life to which I had to adapt. And in reality, I succeeded
in doing it. Many people, when hearing “moving,” think that it is simply a change of place;
and they have a reason to say that. But personally, I think that moving to a new city means
“earning” an interesting experience in your life. I think that moving doesn’t mean anxieties. I
want to tell young people that moving to a new city means learning, or rather understanding
many things, even another culture or another way of life.
81