I stayed with Azra's family in the UK for 10 days with Apolline and Rinja, two other girls.
Before leaving I felt very anxious because I had never traveled alone. The anxiety was heightened by the fact that two days before leaving I injured my foot so I had to use crutches. I was scared primarily because I wasn’t sure how to speak to my host family, what to talk about… I was afraid that I would be uncomfortable living in a space used by other people. What led me to leave, to not listen to my fears was the feeling of excitement that I felt underneath the anxiety. When I hurt my foot and was presented with the possibility of not going I realized that I really wanted to go, even if it would have been hard.
I ‘ve always had an irrational fear for new things and experiences and with SYLE especially because I would be alone. My mom was the one who pushed me to enter the application letter and to go through with the whole process.
She told me
“ Say yes,accept the opportunity, we can worry about everything else later”.
