As a girl who lived in a
small town for 18 years I have always dreamed about seeing the opposite side of
the world. All through my teenage years I have been wondering if sun shines
brighter in another country and if there is a place where people are nicer to
each other. Hoping for a better tomorrow I left my country just a week ago to
start my brand new life in Coventry, United Kingdom. Even though Lithuania
(where I came from) is just a tiny dot on the world map, it was extremely hard
for me to see it disappearing from my view as I was sitting on my plane to
Birmingham. Now I am here, exploring not only a new city but also a very new
version of myself.
It is extremely fascinating to be able to do things you
could not imagine ever doing and having to cope with something you have never
had to cope with before. Besides doing laundry, making lunch for yourself and
trying to manage your budget, there is one thing I am still trying to fight the
most – my language barrier. This British experience made me realize that
learning a new language and getting only the best grades in school does not
guarantee you have no problems applying it to your daily life. It is not
impossible but it takes some time to reprogram your brain into not only
speaking but also even thinking,in my case, in English. As I was sitting in a
classroom I could not help but wonder – could I find at least one person who
feels the same way as me? Is there anyone who struggles much worse than I do
and how could I help that person? Then
it popped to my mind – I could actually do something about it.
Being not a
native speaker and not having the widest vocabulary is not the worst thing that
can happen to you. It is much more difficult when you do not know the language at
all. Could you imagine living in the world and not being able to understand
what it wants to tell you? Guided by this idea to make someone‘s life just a
little bit easier I interviewed few native English speakers and asked them one
simple question: What are 3 phrases every foreigner needs to know in case to
survive in United Kingdom? This is what they told me:
These are just a few
things I wish I had known before opening a new, very different and very British
page of my life. Anyway, there should not be anything, even a language barrier, to stand in your
way of pursuing your dreams. Sometimes you have to put yourself
out of your comfort zone in order to make your life count.
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