Everything started when I decided to do an exchange. At that time I was searching for a new experience and of course searching for a place to learn English.
 
The first question that came to mind was: “Where should I go?” I began by looking for an exchange  in the United States, Canada or England. I really liked the look of a package to Canada, and when I went to purchase it, a friend of mine told me he was going to Australia, so I changed my plans.
 
I choose the school, paid all the tuition fees, organised all documentation for the visa and medical examination, booked the flights, sent everything to immigration, and waited.  I was full of anxiety, and finally my visa was granted. With Visa and airline tickets in hand, the day had finally come.
 
With my friends and entire family at the airport, I checked in and then came my first surprise... my plane tickets were on a list of stolen tickets! So we all had to go to the police station.
I could not took over and still had to go to the police station.  After explaining what had happened and providing the receipts for our tickets, the only solution was to buy new plane tickets for the next day.
 
With everything ready…again, We checked in, boarded the plane and the trip began.  Our first stop was in Chile, "ablei un espanholzito" and everything seemed quite normal. Next stop Australia! After 20 hours travelling I arrived in Brisbane! Time for my second surprise... They sent my luggage to Sydney! I found myself in Brisbane unable to speak a word of English! After hours trying to get my point across the airline employee said that he could send my luggage to my home stay address.
 
‘Never give up’ I was thinking, I went through customs, and being without my luggage it was very fast. But then came my third surprise... I forgot to tell my school that I was not arriving the previous day, so no one was waiting for me at the airport!
 
Luckily I am a very organised person, and I happened to have a phone number in case of emergency and after 2 hours of waiting I was taken to my home stay.
 
Finally I was in Brisbane, and fortunately a few hours later my luggage was delivered.
 
Next day I went to the school and I had my fourth surprise. It was a public holiday! What a shame. So I decided to go for a walk through the city.
 
Unfortunately, my homestay was located quite a distance from school. In fact it took me over 50 minutes by public transport. So I decided to change my homestay before getting too attached to the family. After one week, I organised with the school to move out. I went home and packed my luggage, said goodbye to my "family" and went to my new home.
 
When I arrived at my new homestay, I had my fifth surprise. My homestay’s mother opened the door with 7 dogs! There were 6 puppies and their mother. I felt as though something wasn't working in my life. But this time I decided not to change homestay…again!

 
After 2 days with my new family, I went home at lunch time, to find my sixth surprise. One of the puppies had its head stuck in the door and had been suffocated. I was desperate!!! I had been living in the house for 2 days, unable to speak English and thinking to myself “What is my homestay’s mother going to think of me?”, I phoned her and said "dog black is dead!” as that was all could say at the time. After 10 minutes she arrived home crying. She needed someone to talk to, and I did not understand anything! I politely replied yes, no, yes, no!
 
She asked a friend to come over and he removed the dog from the door. My homestay’s mother wrapped the dog in a newspaper, said a few things to me (I couldn't understand a word) and she gave me the dog. I assumed she had asked me to throw the dog out. So I went to the garden behind the apartment and threw the dog behind a bush where no one could see. Coincidentally it was right outside her window.
 
I thought that everything was solved. However,  when I woke up the next morning, there were crows everywhere outside her window!
 
By now it seemed that the world was against me. But it made me learn never to give up on my dreams.
 
Time has passed now, and it has been 8 years since all this happened. But I'm still here, experiencing unforgettable events every day with more dreams to realize.
 
With all of this experience behind me, nowadays I can help students with Australia Connection to realize their dreams.  If you need any assistance in coming to Australia, please talk to us!

Roger Andrade