STUDYING abroad can be very fun indeed especially if you start young and especially if you’re the child of a diplomat. If your dad is working in the Foreign Ministry of Spain with possible ambassadorship positions, then you’re in for the spin of your life. When you have enjoyed your childhood in Spain up to your kindergarten years with cousins and friends in Madrid speaking only the Spanish language plus a few tours here and there to Palma del Mallorca during summer vacations, it will be a very immense adjustment period for you once you’ll take your first grade in Japan when your father will be assigned there as the Spanish ambassador to Tokyo.

Tokyo has numerous public and private schools but diplomats’ children are automatically enrolled in international schools. Yet again, these international schools are schooled with students who are also children of diplomats from other countries so you’ll be surprised to see students from other countries as well who don’t speak the same language as you are. You will be classmates with the children of the ambassador of Portugal to Japan along with the child of the ambassador from Nigeria.

This is actually my life story. Japan came as a culture shock for me not only because people here don’t have the same complexion as I do but also because we don’t speak the same language and write the same alphabet. But eventually, I have learned to speak Niponggo and I have interacted with my Japanese classmates in my six years of studying here. My Japanese classmates who are female are wearing short skirts which I find weird and seductive but that’s the norm there.

After Japan, I took up my high school in the Philippines where my father was assigned next. Somehow, I have slowly adopted myself with the language of the countries I have visited and so I was starting to learn Tagalog during my high school years. What I cannot endure yet though is the weather in these countries. I came from a place in Spain, Costa del Sol, which has a moderate and temperate weather all year long because we are in the Mediterranean. Even winters here are not that cold wit the lowest temperature at only -3 degrees Celsius.

But when I experienced winter in Japan for the first time, I was really shivering. My mom dressed me up in layers and layers of clothing. Then I went to Manila during my high school years, it seemed to be too hot for me to handle. Humidity was at an all-time high and the urban streets were clogged with polluted air. But eventually, I endured the four years of high school with no problems at all because I have come to visit tourist attractions here such as Boracay.

I then took up my college here in Quebec majoring in fine arts. It’s another culture shock for me as people here are speaking French. I have to endure again another four years of being here because my dad was assigned here as the Spanish consul in Quebec for the next four years or so. But it’s okay. I am learning.