Thank you Eve for sharing your story. I know it will inspire others as it has us.
Migrating to the University of Life
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Brisbane, Australia Kangaroo Point
Photo Credit: Wikipedia |
For most people, the idea of traveling the world – gazing at the stars
from the deck of a boat sailing along the Great Barrier Reef, spending a
summer working at a vineyard in France or teaching English in uncharted territory like Japan, is the stuff dreams are made of. But
dreaming wasn’t exactly on my mind when, at the age of 15, my parents
decided to take a huge leap of faith and seek a better future beneath
the blazing Australian sun. Our family flew from London to Brisbane one
grey afternoon in June in 1989, and all I can recall from that day were
my friends saying goodbye to me at the airport, their sombre expressions
foreboding that it would be a long, long time before we would see each
other again.
Learning through Challenge
It is one thing to travel on a month’s holiday and another altogether,
to migrate to a new country. At 15, I had two years left to go at school
but when we arrived in Australia, the school year had already started. I
had to wait six months to start school, the loneliest six months of my
life. Having been firmly entrenched in the school system in the UK, with
a solid group of friends I had known since we were practically
toddlers, being in such vastly different surrounds with people speaking
in an accent I sometimes found difficult to understand, was a true
learning experience.
In
the late 1980s, University in Australia was almost exclusively public
and in order to obtain entry, students had to place within the top 10
per cent of the state. Since I started in the last two years of
secondary school, the most competitive and relevant for university
access, the intensity of academic life felt like a baptism of fire. With
the help of a teacher who took me under her wing and introduced me to
the magnificent world of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, I managed to
get by and once I commenced my studies at University, I was well on the
way to feeling like I had found my new home. After graduation, I made my
way to a far-off corner of the globe: Spain. I had always wanted to
learn Spanish and I figured that the best way to do it, was via full
immersion. As luck would have it, I met my husband and today, I call
Spain home, though I will never forget the highs and lows of the
incredible country that is Australia.
Cultural Crossroads
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Brisbane, Australia Town Hall
Photo Credit: Wikipedia |
One
of the best things about travel is learning about a new culture ‘in the
flesh’. Going from rainy days indoors in London to sunny afternoons by
the pool in Brisbane was a nice change, but it went a bit deeper than
that; I delighted at discovering Aboriginal art and culture and managed
to visit the ancient sacred site of Uluru, whose majesty can hardly be
expressed in words. It’s one thing to watch Aboriginal musicians playing
the didgeridoo on YouTube and something altogether to enjoy the
experience live, with Uluru rising in the background, reminding you of
the depth and beauty of Aboriginal religion and culture. In Spain,
experiencing the collective high of Holy Week in Seville or the April
fair, filled with flamenco song and dance, gave me a keen insight into
the heart and soul of its people.
Travel
is also a must for lovers of architecture, who can glean the extent to
which harmony and proportion abound in constructions like the Guggenheim
Museum in Bilbao, the Pantheon in Paris or the Forum in Rome, seemingly
populated by the ghosts of Emperors past who traipse quietly by, immune
to the sounds of the maddening crowd. When you move to these cities and
you have the chance to visit monuments many times over, the level of
connection and understanding with their architecture increases
significantly.
An Informative Edge
When
you first migrate to a new country, you normally have an abundance of
something most people consider a luxury: time. Much of it will be spent
meeting new people and getting to know your new city but in the quiet
moments, you can take advantage of the endless hours of solitude by
opening a good book and learning about everything from the social
customs in your new country or city, to topics you may never even have
considered approaching in the past. In my case, my strong background in
humanities meant that I really lacked a basic knowledge in business; I
decided that the best way to start was using a good introductory business textbook,
which taught me everything from how to draft a business plan to the
basics of micro- and macro-economics. Holding a book between my hands
somehow felt so much more comforting sometimes than using the Internet;
in my case, books were my savior and I devoured them voraciously,
feeling a bit like a business undergrad by the time I’d finished reading
classic textbooks on consumer behavior,
retailing and cost accounting. Many years later, I was able to use the
knowledge I had gleaned in this time period to open up a small business I
had been interested in since I was a teen.
An Edge in Life
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Brisbane, Australia Southbank Beach Fireworks
Photo Credit: Wikipedia |
Arguably
the best thing about living in different countries is the way it
teaches us that people are similar, regardless of the cultural
differences; I’ve lived in three countries thus far and I have always
been lucky to find good friends, each of which enriched my life in ways I
cannot quantify and I would certainly not undo, even if it meant going
through the growing pains of adapting to a new culture all over again.
Travel is the greatest of teachers because it invites us to let go of
preconceived notions and ideas and to open our hearts to the unknown.
Eve
