The unforgettable, difficult experience that I encountered was nothing short of a rollercoaster ride. Every twist and turn along the way tested my resilience and pushed me to my limits. It was during this challenging period that I discovered the true strength within myself and learned valuable lessons that will stay with me for a lifetime. Although it was undeniably tough, I am grateful for this experience as it has shaped me into a stronger and more compassionate individual.

I had a typical upbringing in a regular family, so my childhood was like my friends'. I had the freedom to play, make friends, and do all the things kids do. However, things changed when I started secondary school at 11 years old in my hometown.

In my country, Grade 6 marks the beginning, and Grade 9 signifies the final stage of secondary school, while high school, also known as senior school, commences at Grade 10 and concludes at Grade 12, similarly to most countries. As a class leader in Year 4 and 5 at primary school, it instilled great motivation within me to maintain this position in Year 6. During that time, there were two specialized classes for students proficient in English. Being a commendable student at primary school, it was customary for me to pass the entrance test. However, my best friend relocated to Ho Chi Minh City to pursue their education at an international school, leaving me feeling uncomfortable and lack of confidence. Nevertheless, time elapsed, and it was finally the first day at my new school.

Year 6 was tough until I finished my exams. I got many bad grades, which made my parents sad. Despite the challenges, my GPA was okay, and I learned a lot from my friends. I also discovered new interests in geography and aviation. To be honest, Year 7 was a game-changer for me.

In 7th grade, I lost myself by being lazy with my studies and talking about unrealistic things, which some people thought were fake. As a result, I lost some friendships and made new ones, which is normal because we tend to gravitate towards people similar to us. I found new best friends who were aloof but had similar interests. We bonded over playing gomoku after many battles. It was even easier because my tablemate was also my classmate from primary school. I was a mischievous boy and did embarrassing things, which makes me feel shy when my friends bring it up when we hang out. I was lazy with most of my homework, except for math and English, which were my favorite subjects. However, there were other boys with the same issues, so we started copying other people's work and finding ways to help each other during tests and exams.

During my time in secondary school, I had to attend extra classes after school to ensure that I had a solid understanding of the subjects and to achieve good grades on tests. These classes typically lasted between 1.5 to 2 hours and took place 2 to 4 times a week, depending on the subjects being covered. Since I was particularly worried about math, physics, and English, I went to three different places for extra study. In my hometown, most students either studied at teachers' homes or at study centers where they could choose the subjects they wanted to focus on. This made my schedule quite busy during that period.

We went to school from Monday to Saturday and sometimes, my extra lessons were on Sunday so I didn’t have time hanging out with my friends. Moreover, my parents were very strict in this problem so I didn’t have many friends. Sometimes, I got bad marks so my father shouted and hit me heavily, which damage my mental health. As a result, I became a different person and my first summercamp in Australia urged me to change myself.

In 2018, I went to Australia and spent 4 weeks there. I stayed mostly in Adelaide and spent 3 days in Sydney as a tourist. In Adelaide, I stayed with a friendly Croatian grandmother who was very kind and helpful. She treated me like her grandson and made me feel comfortable, especially since I was dealing with my mental illness. Despite my mischievousness, she was understanding and I learned a lot from her. Eventually, our time together came to an end and we flew to Sydney. In Sydney, I visited popular landmarks like the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Royal Botanical Garden, Bondi Beach, and Blue Mountain. I said goodbye to my new friends who were flying back to Hanoi on the same day. On my flight back to Ho Chi Minh City, I met two older students who were very nice. We had meaningful conversations since it was my first time flying alone, especially on a long-haul flight. They told me about their lives in Sydney and gave me some advice, which made me become more reserved and less talkative. I had a memorable summer but it reminded me that year 8 was coming. I had a lot of emotions and experiences in year 8.

First, I met a new person at my table, whom I had never spoken to before. At first, we didn't get along, but something changed and we started supporting each other. During this time, I didn't have a good relationship with my parents because I was going through adolescence. We had a lot of arguments and my school performance suffered. So, I started hiding my emotions and playing games more often. The worst part of 8th grade was getting a low grade in chemistry, which made my father angry and we didn't speak for over a month. My conflicts with my mom and younger sister got worse, revealing my true emotions and personality. I had a short temper and easily got upset when things didn't go well. As a result, I began to feel depressed and started seeing everything in a negative light, except for some of my friends.

Things got even worse when I had to change my seat in class, which pushed my minds over my limit. At this stage, I became a overthinker and started to imagine plenty of things with my large knowledge about the world and sports. I lost a person to share my stories and feelings because I didn’t go well with my new tablemate. Although it lasted for a semester and I felt uncomfortable, I was still happy that I could keep myself like the way that I want and mantained good friendship with my peers. Studying was better and I could develop my knowledge in commercial aviation.

Another summer came and another unexpected experiences happened. During examination period, my father asked me to go to Australia again for a summer camp but I refused. Then one day, he told me that I must go and I was unhappy about that decision. Although I felt a little bit disappointed, I thought that it was not a bad idea so later, I prepared myself for that trip with fun and thrill. During last week of school, some of my friends knew it and my homeroom teacher, who I really respect and he is one of my favorite teacher gave me some advices, which made me happier with my decisions. For me, I think it would be helpful to create positive thinking and overcome depression while my best friends were jealous and made some jokes.

A few days before I left for Melbourne, I had a feeling that my trip would be unforgettable. I had been dreaming about it for a while. One reason I trust my instincts is because two days before I left, I had a sudden thought that I would find a girlfriend in Melbourne while I was at school. It surprised me, but my gut feeling remained the same. When I arrived in Melbourne for a 5-week summer camp, I accidentally fell in love with a girl in my group and we started dating. At that time, I was still quite childish, so the relationship didn't last long. Overall, my time in Melbourne was great and left a lasting impression. I made new friends and even had a girlfriend during the camp, which was unbelievable to me. But after I left Australia, I couldn't maintain a long-distance relationship and we eventually broke up. It's a sad story, but it was a turning point for me. It made me change and become a different person in my final year of secondary school.

Year 9 was important because we needed a good GPA to apply for high school. Some people needed good knowledge in a specific subject to pass the entrance exam for the gifted high school. During that time, I was part of a physics club for top students in my school. However, my life changed when my parents wanted me to study in Melbourne with my cousin, who had been there before my second summer camp to Australia. This experience made me reconsider my interest in physics. I also started improving my English by studying the IELTS curriculum, while most of my friends focused on advanced English for the entrance exam at the local gifted high school. I was supposed to take that exam for the physics class and being on the school's physics team would have been advantageous. After I applied for a visa, nobody knew that I was going to study abroad. As a result, I started focusing on other things instead of physics.

Interestingly, I had a bad experience with my homeroom teacher. Even though I was able to sit with my favorite classmate again, it didn't motivate me in my last year of school after the teacher started targeting me. I used to get angry easily, so I argued with my homeroom teacher in front of the whole class because her rule was unfair. There was no school rule against bringing food to class. Because of this, she singled me and some other students out by giving us bad grades and creating more difficulties. As a result, I lost interest in physics and started to struggle.

Before the city's top secondary school student competition, where students focused on their preferred subjects to qualify for larger competitions, I didn't study and instead copied my classmates' work in the school's selection test. On the day of the competition, many people expected me to do well, but the test questions were easier than anticipated since it was a city-level exam. While my classmates concentrated on the test, I daydreamed about my future and only completed a few parts of the test before being disqualified when the results came out. This is why I did nothing, and to convince some people, I confided in my close friends about this secret.

Then I had a trip to Europe with my family for the Lunar New Year holiday. We thought it was our final time together so it was memorable. We visited Frankfurt, Trier, Luxembourg, Rennes, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Koln, which are quite a lot in 6 days so we couldn’t explore the whole cities or other aspects of that city. However, things changed a lot due to COVID-19 pandemic. I supposed to be in Australia in July 2020 but the pandemic changed everything so I had to study remotely, which was boring and inconvenient.

Time flied and I had waited for Australia’s news with a thrilling heart because I really wanted to escape from my family and my country’s education system. Then a year later in late November, we received the news that the border was going to be reopened, it was time to get ready for a new journey after nearly 2 years of delay.

In January 2022, I left home and arrived at Melbourne with Singapore Airlines. Then a new chapter of life began.

That’s a short story of my life before coming to Australia for further study. It’s a little bit boring because I just focused on my secondary school’s life. I hope you enjoyed reading it. What’s your story? Share them in the comment section