The first time I was able to leave the country was when I was 14 and I was not really alone because I was with my 2 sisters. We went to an English summer program for a month in Canada.
One of the first things that I remember, is that we missed our flight (HAHAHA), it was over-sold and we got the yellow tickets when we did the checked-in and there were not more flights that day, so we had to wait one more day. We missed the first day of scholl and the placement test for English proficiency.
Anyway, that was my first problem during a travel (one of many). When we arrived we made the exam and stayed at 3 different classes which was good because we got the chance to know different people. I really think that course was very good because we were young people between 13 and 19 years old from different countries (Italy, Romania, Japan, South Korea, China, Brazil, Mexico, etc.). We had classes all week from 9am to 1pm. During the weekends they organized different activities. We also went to Quebec, Toronto and to do some rafting which was so much fun even when I almost drowned.
The payment of the course included hosting with a family, I stay with my middle sister and surprisingly lived in a basement with two other girls from China, with customs not very similar to ours. The couple that hosted us was a little older and I remember we suffered a lot with the food because we barely ate, at the morning was that unsweetened cereal and a mini glass of orange juice. I remember one day my sister and I were so hungry that we decided to made a tour around the house looking for something to eat. We found a very large room filled with boxes of food of all kinds, cereals, a variety of cookies and more. That's when we realized where was the money that we had paid for the lodging and food :(.
The truth is, that I will always remember this trip, share it with my sisters and meet so many people from different cultures at that age was very unic. That was my first experience traveling and there was when I started loving it ...
