It all began back in March 2015.
There was news that we might relocate. So as a typical teenager, I had a lot of questions Why and When? At first, it felt unreal, the feeling of unimaginable excitement slowly set in.
Days and Weeks went by without any news about the relocation. My thoughts started to wonder if this was just a maybe or definitely. With no word about the relocation, my excitement slowly but surely faded away. For 4 months we still lived our normal life as an Afrikaans family. I always knew about the relocation but never thought about it.
August came, and everything changed. January 2016 will literally be a new beginning. With relocation comes a lot of admin and packing. It was not easy to accept that my life would completely change it scared me.
September came and went, October came and went. Through all the packing and admin to sort out I literally forgot about the sudden change. For me, November was the month when everything became a reality. It felt like I was waking up from a dream. The feeling of sudden change felt like being punched in my stomach.
Everything settled down for a bit. My parents and I decided that I would go to boarding school and finish school in South-Africa and visit the Netherlands on Holidays. The thought of being alone did not scare me, what scared me was the fact that my parents would not be part of my final year (matric year) of school.
A month and a half into boarding school, I found out that I would be moving to the Netherlands sooner than I thought.
This change was hard for me. I have lived here for one year and I am starting to love it here. The biggest fear that stands between people and acceptance is doubt. As I look back on my journey I can truly say that I would not change anything about it. If you want to know about my first year as an ex-pat go read my post What’s it like to be an expat
Read: 5 years abroad
xoxo
Chante’