On January 6, 2014, I left Caracas heading for the United States, with the purpose of studying English for later, in what I thought was a distant future, I could practice my profession internationally. EF was the name of the company with which I would make my study trip. My program was to spend six months at the EF campus in Boston learning the English language. I was always attracted to the American culture: its modernism, its education and the liberal way of seeing the life of its youth. Not to mention that one grows watching American films and series and, at least I, always wanted to see lockers, a tree house, a team of cheerleaders or a postman. Boston is not only one of the most beautiful and oldest cities in the US, it is also its main university city, so I could not hide the emotion I felt.
The day came and at the airport I said goodbye with love from my parents. I knew it would be a long time without seeing them and I would miss them very much, but the excitement and nerves did not let me feel nostalgic: I was too happy for that. When the plane finally landed and they moved us to the campus, it was all even more beautiful than in the brochures: The place looked like a Castle with historic buildings of red bricks and giant gardens. There were hundreds of students from all over the world walking in the halls, in the rooms as if they all came from the same country. For me, for example, I had to buy a room with a girl from Brazil and one from Colombia.
The experience of being alone in another country was liberating at that time. I got a part-time job in a coffee shop to pay for food and trips I would like to do on my own; although, the program also combined classes with field trips and student parties. I remember once, on a trip to New York, my roommates and I decided to go around the Big Apple in pajamas (total, nobody knew us), imagine three girls from different parts of the world in the middle of Times Square in their pajamas! That trip left me memories for a lifetime.
In Boston I learned English, I got two Cambridge certificates in advanced English, and I met who would become not only my boyfriend, but also my best friend: a guy from the Netherlands who did not speak Spanish and who had never met anyone from Venezuela. The cultural difference between us was very big and the communication a little difficult, the truth I never noticed him at first impression, but he looked at me as if he had never seen someone more beautiful than me. Over time I was enjoying the way he treated me: he helped me with my classes and motivated me to study more. I liked his different way of seeing life: he told me about his travels, about his life in Amsterdam, he listened to what I had to tell, and I fell in love with him. In Venezuela I used to go out with a lot of kids, but I never wanted to become anyone's girlfriend, I guess I was unconsciously waiting for something special.