Know I now you all are probably tired of me saying stuff about time, how it's to fast and that it's speeding by for me. Well I'm going to mention it more and more because that's how I feel right now.
This time last year I was just finishing school and getting ready for summer vacation. I was slowly getting my visa and other documentation done as well I just can't believe that all this all happened a year ago!
Time is going by to fast for all of us. My friend's son just turned four years old the other day, come this Fall he will be in Kindergarten! My little sister is graduating from Grade Eight in less than a month and will be going to high school the day I make my way home. My brother has just bought his first car and is completing an awesome co-op to do with his college program and my older sister is completing a summer job working in a law firm and then going into her third year of law school.
SAY WHAT!?!?
I know right?
I agree with this quote 100%. If you knew me when I was a teenager and I told you I was going across the ocean to work for a year you would have said, "Yeah right, and pigs can fly!" And I would have laughed because it would have been a joke all along. Yes it is true that for the majority of my life I could not imagine leaving my little country town and thought all I needed was within a 50km distance.
But the funny thing with that is the changes I had in my life. Leaving high school, and still unsure of everything, I went to College - for the first time but not the only. Leaving home really made me think hard about my life and the choices I had made and where I was going. With this fact, and other events in my life, I chose a different path - and look where it got me! The idea of leaving home didn't scare me as much, to begin with. When I first applied to the agency - Scotia Personnel Ltd. - I really applied to see if they would hire me, which they did, and didn't think twice about it. I love working with kids and I've always wanted to go to England so I thought why not do both, and this thought didn't even scare me.
I was matched up with families and interviewed with some as well, which still didn't scare me - I was nervous but not scared. It wasn't until I actually sat down with my mom and dad and asked them what they thought of this whole process that I got scared. Why you ask? Why after all this time? It was because of what they said.
No they personally didn't scare me, it was in what they said. They both told me how brave I was for doing this, how courageous I had become in the last three years and that they were both happy and excited for me and my new adventure.
Now why did this scare me? Because they were the first ones who said this to me. How does being brave have anything to do with this I thought. And then that's what scared me... the fact that I hadn't given two senses thought about this. The fact that I applied for this job overseas and it didn't faze me, that scared me. The fact that when people called me brave for doing this and it didn't faze me, that scared me.
What was I actually getting myself into? What if the family was horrible to me? What if I had the worst experience possible and had no money to get home? All these thoughts went through my head for four months before I left. But you know what I realized after it all? The fact that no matter what happened, good or bad, it was an experience altogether and that I would be going to England!
When I left my family at the airport I was scared - traveling by myself, not seeing them for a year (or more), not being at home for certain events - all these things scared me. But then I thought of where I was going, what I would be doing, what I would be seeing and the excitement came back.
So if you ever come across anything that may scare you and excite you at the same time, take it. You never know when you will get the chance again.
