Every one might be curious about living abroad as a tourist, student, citizen, etc. I am a foreigner and I have been living in the Philippines for almost 5 years already. I am a student here aspiring to become a journalist and I never went back to my country for a long time already. I am from Istanbul, Turkey.
Living abroad is a very difficult experience but should be experienced by everyone even for once if possible. Being far from everybody made me more mature and the things that I have seen and felt here have made me think like an Asian.
There are many hard times I went through in the Philippines. I had no friends and I could not even speak even my own language. Whenever I was alone and sometimes I am so alone with no money, food and could not talk to anybody for help. Many times, I decided to stop studying and go back to my country but I already promised my parents that they will in the future be proud of me.
My first year was very hard facing all sorts of difficulties each day. I could not speak the language so I could not communicate with people. I was a bit shy but the good thing with Filipinos is they are very friendly and all the time they forced me to express myself. One of my supporters, my teacher, told me, “if you don’t talk as a mass communication student, you better drop the course.”
In my second year I was already used to how things were and I could already express myself to my classmates and the instructors. But I was still having a hard time with my lonely life. I would go to school, go back home, eat and sleep. It was depressing but I kept studying to develop myself.
When I already reached my 3rd year in school. I had lesser problems with communication as I could already speak fluently. My teacher saw my efforts and was always supportive. So my main problems were money and my lonely life. Then I met her, a very beautiful Filipino woman. I already solved my loneliness but my money problems are still there.
People think that foreigners are rich. Maybe some of them. But if a person is a student. he/she always needs money. Many times I slept without eating anything. Foreigner might have money but the Philippines is expensive for them. We cannot live the same way as the local people. I never took a jeep in this country. I cannot just go and eat some local foods because there are cultural problems, different tastes, different foods which made me spend more and more.
The best thing I experienced was living alone. It made me think a lot so I noticed and learned my mistakes.
And now I am already a graduating student. It was through a long difficult route.
I lost a lot friends in my country. Nobody knows me anymore. But it doesn’t matter, I am about to become a journalist and I had the best experience living abroad which I will share to an audience in the future.** Ahmet Kiran, UB Intern
