If you think about it, the one who will be with you from the moment you’re born until you take your last breath, will be yourself. If you’re going to be in the long haul, might as well get to know yourself a bit better.
Contrary to what most people think, I wasn’t always such a bright and bubbly person. If I told people I meet for the first time that I was timid, shy and wanted to run away from social situations at the drop of a hat, many would blink in disbelief.
I almost don’t recognise the person I was before I came to UNSW College. Back in my home country, I never put my hand up during class, never spoke to people first and found it hard to make friends. My lacking eye contact and low self confidence didn’t help either. I often looked at the popular students in my school and wondered what it was like to be them. Being the way that I was, it’s a wonder that somehow my parents were able to convince me that I should study overseas, in a land called Australia that I only knew from the internet.
Once I arrived, it felt even harder to talk to people. A different language, a new culture and colourful personalities was very overwhelming to someone like me who lived a lot of my life in a shell. But as the days passed, and I started to get frustrated. Mostly at myself, because I wasn’t living the fun and exciting international student life that so many others around me seemed to have.
So I started to do things that I wasn’t used it. I put my hand up in class, asked questions even though I worried others might think I wasn’t smart and spoke louder to the nice man at the cafe near my house. It felt very awkward at the beginning and even more so when the other person didn’t understand my English.
But I tried, and tried and tried again. Then one day I realised that I felt comfortable speaking English. I didn’t have to practice saying my coffee in my head before ordering, and after talking to people in my class I started to get more friends. And all I did was talk!
So I think it’s really important to put yourself out there and try. Failure is scary and embarrassing, but you can’t grow and become a better person by hiding. Looking back, I’m very proud of myself for changing to become a better person and now I don’t want to be anyone but myself. My goal is to go to UNSW Sydney and graduate from a famous university to get a great job, so I’m very glad that through College I was able to become stronger, more confident and improve my English skills. I know that anyone that comes here can do the same too.
Thank you to our Foundation Studies student, who has requested to remain anonymous while sharing their story.
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