This I Believe

I was a girl who was very selfish a year ago. I was an immature child who thought that it would be a piece of cake when I get a chance to go to another country to study. I thought it would be very easy – very. At an age of 12, I got a rare chance to go to the USA and study there for a year because my dad is a professor. With an excited mind, our family decided to go to San Diego, California.

I started my school on January 3rd, 2006. I remember how I felt. As more close I was to the school, I got more nervous and scared. Watching new people, new school, and new side of world I have never known before was just a new experience to me. I could remember everything about my first day of school. My first class was P.E., which I thought would be an easy and not-challenging subject. As a result, just like what I guess, it wasn’t very hard – however, other obstacles were right behind of it.

Because English was my second language, I was not that good at English. Whenever I spoke in English, I occasionally stammered. Because some of American students thought my accent was funny – my English skill was very bad and all that stuff, they sometimes made fun of me. They laughed at me. And pointed at me. And sometimes, followed at what I said. Nevertheless, I have never give up under any circumstances, because I believe in the power of confidence in oneself.

It was quite different than what I expected. Obviously, because I was pretty good at English in Korea (as a Korean), I didn’t worry about not adapting at my environment. However, my inane and worthless prediction was totally wrong. It took me a while to fit in the USA, my school, American student etc. Every time I had to give a speech in my English class, I tried my best. Every time I had to write an essay, I did not give up at any point. I kept writing and writing, even though my grammar, punctuation, capitalization and so forth were all wrong and bad. I did this whole thing only because I had confidence in myself, and knew that I was getting better and better.

After a year of these times, I got over everything I could. Now, as a 8th grade of an American School, I went to the regular courses from ESL (English as a Second Language). Now, I am sure that nobody can make fun of me, because, I trusted myself and believed that I can do this. Even though I thought it would be an easy thing to do, I had a hard time doing it but I am successful now. In addition, I also grew in both mentally and physically. Because I had confidence in myself, I did whole this thing.