Getting out of my comfort zone

I'll never forget the day that I moved to the U.S.
It was the summer before my junior year of high school that I decided to become a foreign exchange student in the United States. I had always been fascinated by the American culture and how it is presented in movies or tv shows. It just seemed like a different world to me, having lived in Greece all my life. Sometimes I think this experience as my get-out-of-exams card, sometimes as a desperate need of a change and adventure. Perhaps it was the fact that my mother was once an exchange student herself, back in the hippie '70s, so I felt like it's a family tradition and it's my job to pass it to the next generation. She was always telling me cool stories about her daily life there, her host family, and the people she met from all around the world and became friends for life. Some people called me brave, others unreasonable. If you think about it, why would I ever want to leave my house, friends and family behind to go after this crazy dream?
And so, on August 22nd, 2012 after 4 flights and several failed attempts to fall asleep, I finally landed foot in the "land of opportunities". However, I wasn't feeling nervous till I reached my final destination, Detroit, MI. My whole body was shaking as I was walking towards the "Arrivals" door. I didn't know what to expect.
After 3 months of living under my host family’s roof, I knew I had made the right choice. No one besides my biological family has ever filled me with such love and affection. I won't lie, it was extremely hard to adjust to this new lifestyle. Coming from a big city where I can move myself around using public transportation and being independent to a tiny town outside Ann Arbor was a big change. Cars were replaced with tractors and cows were considered a typical pet. I thought of requesting a different host family, but I loved mine so much I said to myself to look on the bright side. Soon I realized that by giving up some comforts, I gained new ones. I wasn't able to take the bus to get somewhere, but I could bike there. The internet connection was terribly slow, but that just meant more time outdoors.
During those 10 months living abroad, I learnt about something that I'll hopefully carry with me for the rest of my life; positive attitude. Sometimes life doesn't work the way you want to. Sometimes you may "fall", and positive attitude is what gets you up again. This wasn't a typical travel story, it was a life changing journey.