As many of you may know, I have lived abroad for 5-6 years. The most amazing 5-6 years of my life, and I miss it like crazy. Of course it had it negative aspects as well. Moving around so much meant making many friends but also losing them again. You always knew that you would never see some of them ever again.
I dedicate this blog post to all the friends I made and lost during these years. You're always on my mind.
It all started about 10 years ago. I was 13 years old and in my first year of secondary school, having the time of my life until my dad told me that we were moving to Milan, Italy. I did not want to go! I had all my friends in Holland (and the fact that I was a stubborn teenager had nothing to do with it of course... haha). I announced that I was gonna live with my grandma but I had no choice.
We first went to see what Milan was like, visited the International schools and made the decision that we wanted to attend the American School of Milan (ASM). We looked at several different houses but we fell in love with a pink house in Basiglio, a small village near Milano Tre (the area in which every international person lived I think). Some time after my 13th birthday we moved to Italy. It was summer so it was like a big holiday and I was actually enjoying myself. Family came to visit because they were still able to come by car. Nice weather, good food, everything was great until that first day of school... I was freaked out! I spoke no English, had no clue what was going on, and I think I even cried when my parents left. It turned out okay though. I was placed with this group of girls who showed me around and made sure I did not get lost. Many of these girls ended up being very good friends. They made fun of the fact that I was so nice and quiet when I didn't speak English yet. When I felt more comfortable speaking English they sometimes wished I would just shut up. Apparently I was like the Energizer Bunny... hehe
After 2 years my dad announced once again that we were moving. This time it was a mixed feeling. We were moving to Kenya which sounded very exciting but on the other hand I was very sad to be leaving Milan. We went to visit Kenya first before deciding on anything. My parents found it very important that my brother, sister, and I picked our own school because they wanted to make sure we were happy. There was only one international school in Nairobi though so the decision was easily made. We attended the International School of Kenya (ISK).
Kenya is a beautiful country. Very green and a lot of variety. We lived rather high up in Nairobi and at times we thought it was cold. We also went to Mombasa a lot, which is a city at the coast of Kenya. Beautiful white beaches and nice resorts. Due to my fathers contacts with hotels, we always had the nicest rooms with private swimming pools, so yes, we were kinda spoiled...
The safaris were amazing as well. I'm a big animal lover and I so want to go back and sleep in a tent in the middle of the savanna or something. Be one with nature hahaha. We only lived in Kenya for one year. Other than the amazing trips, safaris, beaches, and nature, I did not really enjoy living there. We had a HUGE house with a HUGE garden. We had 2 guest wings and the first week I got lost in my own house! I loved my dog Pepsi (a black Labrador Retriever) but we had to leave her in Kenya. It would have been way to stressful to take her with us. She has a good life now :)
So after only 1 year we packed up and left again (we barely even unpacked our stuff, that's how quickly it all went). We stayed in the same continent and moved from East Africa to West Africa.
Accra, Ghana... one of my favourite places in the world! I had such a good time here mainly because I graduated from High School I think. Ghana used to be an English colony and it therefore has a lot of English influences. Their school systems are quite similar so we were able to choose between the Ghana International School (British system) or Lincoln Community School (American system). Since our two other international schools were American, we figured that LCS would be the best option, so that is where we ended up going. It was a good choice.
Ghana is not as beautiful as Kenya. I think the locals ate all the wild life or something because the only animals I saw were goats. The beaches were not quite the same either. VERY strong currents so the ocean was quite dangerous but fun as well with the high waves. We spent many hours at the beach, having BBQ's and playing football, and drinking wine. One of my best friends in Ghana was Italian. They had their own plot at the beach where we would go almost every weekend, eat lasagna, drink wine or sangria, and just do absolutely nothing. I miss those days and there are so many good memories that I don't even know where to start!
We had two dogs in Ghana. Our first dog was Skip, a very scared Alsatian. He was cute though but the idiot walked away. The guard saw him leave and did not get him back, so the guard was fired. After I graduated and went back to Holland, my parents got a new dog. A blonde Labrador Retriever named Tess. Soon after they got her, they found out that they were moving back to Holland. We gave Tess to a nice Dutch family with another puppy.
I think the best part of Ghana was just hanging out with friends, doing random things like buying oranges and eating them in the car, or swimming in my mini swimming pool in the middle of the night, running around in circles (with a beer in our hand) to create a whirlpool. If only I could turn back the hands of time...
