New Life Experience

Very often we are faced with situations, challenges or even predicaments that have a lasting impression in our lives and stay forever in our memories. Moreover, they make us change the way we look at things and the way we carry out our daily activities. In this essay I would like to share my experience concerning an event that occurred in my life and changed my way of thinking.

It is worth mentioning that I am from Saudi Arabia and indeed, it is my first semester in Boston. Therefore, it is of no doubt that a new environment and responsibilities that have occurred since my arrival in Boston have given my life a new meaning. Actually, living with parents lacks freedom in some extent, as we have to behave good all the time and each failure may lead to some sort of punishment. Sometimes parents like to make decisions for us, because of the different ways of looking on the same things.

Coming to Boston was the beginning of my new life experience. My parents did not make this decision for me and my life in general did not revolve around them. Furthermore, everything concerning my friends, studying and personal life was entirely my decision. Here in Boston, I got a place where I could go out and come back to whenever I wanted. Nobody managed my budget; I could eat whatever I wanted as long as I could afford it. However, I have to admit that a wrong decision making while planning my budget sometimes left me without money and I was forced to borrow some from my friends. Nevertheless, living alone has helped me to plan and manage my time very well, because most of my time is dedicated to academics and a smaller part of it is divided equally between my friends and entertainment.

First, life in Boston was a real challenge for me as I had to get used to a new climate and new people. In Saudi Arabia, I lived in the desert climate, where it was very hot during the day and cold at night. I used to wear light cloths because of the dry and hot conditions. It was also customary to wear black or white robs or even the hijabs amongst women. In contrary to my native country, Boston was a place where I experienced all the four climatic seasons: autumn, winter, spring and summer. Moreover, I changed my way of dressing, which was also influenced by the new climate; during winter I accustomed to wearing sweaters, jackets and other sorts of clothing to keep me warm. Additionally, in Boston I started wearing more casual clothes, such as suits and many other types, because there were no parents to restrict me and no customs to define my clothing mode.

Living alone has also made it possible for me to choose friends. Before living in Boston, my parents could decide who was good enough to be my friend and who was not worthy of my friendship. Here, in Boston, I can choose friends by myself.. During my life here, I have not only met friends but I have also got acquainted with people of different social, religious, political, racial and academic background. My view on the world has changed as I have found out how dynamic it is and that people in it are unique and different in their own ways. Some of them have to adapt in order to perfectly fit into a society they live in. Moreover, it dawned on me that life depended greatly on the decisions one made and not on those made by one’s parents or other people. I have also learnt a great lesson that wrong decisions could certainly land one into serious problems.

Frankly speaking, moving to Boston has changed my perspectives on life. I feel that I have become more complete as a personality and that I am able to live and make decisions relying entirely on myself.