They say parents are overprotective with their children until they get married. Some
continue being that way even after they are already adults, thus not letting their children
make their own choices or learn from their own experiences. At least that was my case
when I was at school. “Why can’t I go out until late if my friends can?” This was one of
the million questions occupying my mind every single weekend when my friends went out
until late in the morning and my parents refused to let me go out until past midnight. It just
felt so unfair to me at that moment that I turned against my parents practically every
weekend, irritated by the fact they didn’t seem to comprehend a teenager’s life. However,
as I grew older everything started making sense, I understood that my parents were trying
to protect me from the many risks going out until dawn represent for a 16 year old girl,
specially without any responsible adults watching out. They explained that there would be
time for me to do all these things I was so eager to start doing, but that everything would
come in due time.
Years passed and my parents started being a little more flexible with me, but everything
changed in my senior year. My dad and I started discussing the possibility that I moved to
France for 6 months, by myself, after my high school graduation. He was certain that it
would be an enriching experience for me to learn how real life was, challenging myself to
live without all the advantages I had at home: not having someone do my laundry, going
grocery shopping and cleaning my room. He assured this would completely help me in my
formation as a person and would be determinant to my future. Despite of what he said, I
was completely horrified by the idea of being by myself in a different country where they
speak a different language and so far away from my family. Even though I reacted this
way, mainly because I was afraid to let go of the comfort of my home, I knew this was
going to be a life changing experience and it was what I needed to do to grow as a person.
Later on we discussed it as a family and the decision was made, I was going to France.
The 20th of June 2012 I left with my entire family to Europe but would be left by myself
