Minnen och utveckling, England

Detta är berättelsen om Alexandras tid på Ilfracombe.

Hej. Mitt namn är Alexandra och jag har åkt till England på språkresa med Blueberry de senaste fyra åren. Jag hade helt fantastiska upplevelser, de två första åren i Sidmouth och de två sista i Ilfracombe. När jag satt på planet hem i somras skrev jag ihop en text på engelska om mina resor. Jag vill återigen bara tacka för all hjälp under åren, det har varit superbra!

I'm proud of myself. I'm proud that I'm able to say that I'm proud as a Swede. I'm proud of what I have achieved the past four years while being in England on language courses. I'm proud of the fact that my English has improved so much that I now feel nearly fluent in a foreign language. I'm proud that I have been in the UK four summers in a row, two weeks every time. I'm proud to say that I have spent 6 weeks in a completely different country, in a whole new culture, but most of all, I'm proud to say that I've spent 6 weeks away from my parents.

But now, it's time. It's time to say goodbye to this chapter of my life. It's time to close the door, to raise my head even higher and to walk though the next door which lies ahead of me. It's time for me to leave England one last time. I tried to avoid the moment when I had to say goodbye to everything and everyone, but the imminent moment was close. And in the end, I couldn't avoid it any more. When I walked out of Channel school of English in Ilfracombe, Friday 14th of July 2017, it was the last time I walked out of a language school in England as a junior student. Who knows, I might be back to study in England in a couple of years, but I'm now officially done as a junior student.

To leave hurts. Leaving the life you have built up for yourself the past two weeks hurts. Knowing that you might never come back hurts. Leaving all your friends behind hurts. Walking out of the house one last time hurts. Getting in to the car and driving out of the small, seaside town hurts. Jumping out of the car at Heathrow and knowing that this is it, this is when I'm actually leaving hurts. Knowing that my time at the schools and in the towns is over, it really hurts.

I wish I had enjoyed it more. I wish I had done the most out of every second and really tried to see the best of things. But that's also a thing you learn while going on. I think I enjoyed my last two years the most, just because of that, I made the most out of them. But I still wish I had tried to see the positive things in every situation, and in every person I met.

I'm forever thankful for everything I've experienced over the past four years. I'm thankful for every person who was at the schools when I was there. I'm thankful for everyone who ever spoke to me, or even just smiled at me. I'm thankful for all my classmates, people from all around Europe, who all of them changed my perspective and values a bit. I'm not completely Swedish any more, every travel I've ever done has made me more and more international. Piece by piece has my cultural identity changed from Swedish to part-international. I'm thankful for all of my friends. All of the people I met during my weeks who made my experiences the best. Some are special and really changed my weeks and me. Thanks to my travels I now have friends all over Europe, all of which I'm so glad I got to know during my travels. I'm thankful for my two amazing host families. The ones who have opened their arms for me, and let me in. I'm thankful for my parents, for that you let me go on these trips, and that you willingly have paid the price for it, every single year, both economically and emotionally. But most of all, I'm thankful for my experiences as a whole. For all the memories, for all the fun and of course, for how going to England on language courses has changed me.

I am more independent. I am more mature and I am definitely more open minded. I can now accept that not all humans think like me and that that's okay. I may not always agree with them, but I now have an acceptance that they think differently. My values and opinions have been challenged by others and I have grown as a result. I have learnt how to share, and how to live together with other people. I am more outgoing than before and I am now used to throwing myself out there to establish new friendships. I am a better English speaker. I am a better listener and I am a better person than before. I have grown so much, I don't even remember how I was before going away.

But overall, I'm just extremely thankful for these years. My weeks in England have been my summer's highlights. It's hard to grow the way I have from when you're

12 to 15 by doing something else than going away on language courses. The hardest part is not being away, it's being brave enough to take the first step. To walk on a plane by yourself for the first time on your way to the unknown. They say people are scared of change, and that is true. Doing something new can be frightening, but you can never accomplish something you never had before without doing something you've never done. Look at me. I can still remember the dark evening when my mum and I stood in the kitchen when she told me about language courses for the first time. But what she didn't know was that when introducing me to a whole new world, she also changed my life forever. I'll never be the same person again as I was before my travels. I'll always have the memories and the pictures of Devon with me. I'll never be the same again. But that is totally okay, because I am thankful for everything I have experienced.

Skrivit av Alexandra. Läs mer om Ilfracombe här.