A Teenager’s Guide To Moving Countries

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A TEENAGER’S GUIDE TO MOVING

Moving countries is not easy. In fact, it is darn difficult. I recently moved to England from South Africa, and it was probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do. In fact, moving is rated by experts as being one of the most stressful life events, after death and divorce. Pretty serious stuff! There is a lot of preparation, irritation, and heartache involved in moving. But the good news is that a lot of the stress can be eliminated, and you can even enjoy moving, if you are positive and well organized. After just having moved, I feel like I am quite the expert, and I know some of the things that may be going through your head, so I will try and give you some help.

I don’t want to leave my friends! This was probably the hardest part about moving. I had lived in the same town for my whole life and had put down some serious roots. I had known most of my friends for as long as I could remember, and I couldn’t even comprehend the idea that I was going to leave them. I sort of blocked that thought out until the last minute. I cried a lot the day before we left as each of our friends came to say goodbye. I had thought a lot about leaving, but it didn’t register in my brain, and it didn’t hit me that I was leaving my country until I was on the plane and I saw the little animation on the screen of the aeroplane flying over and away from Africa. And even in England, it took me awhile before I got out of my old routine, and stopped wondering why my bedroom walls had all of a sudden shrunk, and the window changed position.

Now you may be wondering, ”How can I avoid this heartache? I don’t want to go through that!” I have discovered that there are two solutions to this problem. The first is what I call the “I hate humanity, and all that goes with it. And I hate you as well.” approach. It involves never making any friends at all, and requires not putting down anything remotely root-like. Be unfriendly to everyone and establish a well-grounded hate for the place that you live in. Never get a girlfriend or boyfriend and never go to school or church or to the movies or anywhere with other humans. Be bitter and sarcastic to people when you are forced to speak to them. I haven’t explored all of the benefits of this method, but one of them is that you and the people around you will be more than happy to part ways.

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For some very scary people this may be the solution. I personally find it a bit extreme, and maybe a touch masochistic. But don’t let my views cloud your judgement! I chose the next option.  Unfortunately, I am not sure that you are going to like it any more than the previous one. It is called “Time heals All”.

This method requires you to wait for time and memories to run their course.  For the first 2 to 3 weeks the only “to-do” on my agenda was lying in bed, eating sweets and wishing I was back home. ...

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