At the age of five, six months into kindergarten, my dad got the opportunity to work in England for one year. A few weeks later, we made the ten-and-a-half-hour flight to a whole new country, blind with no idea of what the culture was like and what we were getting ourselves into. I was immediately placed into a primary school and my mom, brother and I would take bus H34 every day since all of the driving was on the wrong side of the road. At school, I quickly realized that the pace was much quicker. I was placed into first grade due to my age. My peers were already reading and I would try to skim the pages and look for pictures because I didn’t want to seem like I was behind. After a while, I was adjusting to the terms that were commonly used such as the bathroom is the loo, a pacifier is called a dummy, and a trash can is called a rubbish bin. By the end of our year-long stay, I felt like I was learning so much about the culture, but also those around me were learning about my culture as well. I ended up coming home with a slight English accent and coining the terms I learned while I was there. I have been watching Ted Lasso which takes place in Richmond, where I lived during my time there. I cannot wait to travel back to England once again.
The Bolt Magazine 