Starting up new

Learning To Be Native

ENTRY 1

Last year, my parents thought it would be a good idea to move countries. They told me it wasn't for their benefit and was done for me to have a nice childhood in an accepting area. Yet, this white lie wasn't enough to fool me- my mother and father decided to move countries for their business. They own a printing company that prints stickers, shirts, trousers- anything you can think of. Growing up, and being born, in Germany meant they skyrocketed. When I connected the dots, I thought we'd move to America or maybe Canada. Somewhere different and not very near. Yet, I was wrong. Here I am, sitting on a seat on a flight to England. I'm not complaining though! England is an amazing country and probably one of the most accepting. Yet I was hoping for a more, how do I put it...Larger place?

After a few hours, the plane had landed and every passenger was asked to gather their things and wait for the call to leave the plane. I picked up my bag and flung it onto my back. My mother sat next to me on this flight while my dad was a bit further forward. We had sat in first class due to my parent's importance and famous faces. My first initial thought of England was going to be a nice sunny day ( as it is the middle of summer ). I took off my headphones and took a deep breath. Being in the back, we had to wait for most of the people to get off before we were allowed to go- and once it was finally our time to leave, I started to hear patter on the roof of the plane. I shrugged it off as it could just be an extra engine installed that I had no idea about until now. As we walked through the isle, I heard the patter from the roof become louder and more vivid. "Why is there a loud patter on the roof?" I tugged onto one of the plane workers' coat softly.

"Oh, it's raining outside. Quite common here in Britain," she turned around and smiled at me and lightly took my hand off her coat. It's raining in the summer?!  That was my first thought. I immediately told my parents and pulled on my coat. As we reached the door, the lady was right. Outside was a huge parade of rain that covered the window of the door. I ran through the pavement road as quickly as I could to reach the safety of the airport. The wind rushed into my face and almost knocked my glasses off. I finally reached the inside of the airport and gasped for air- I had never ran so much in my life. I rubbed my glasses clean as they were covered in raindrops that hindered my vision severely. My parents weren't far behind as they both came running in their formal outfits.

"I now see why British people don't enjoy the summer-" I spoke to myself. Suddenly, a large megaphone noise was rung throughout the airport. Everyone, please make way for the school that is here for business purposes. They are all wearing bright yellow jackets and are in a pack. I repeat, please make way for them. A school here for business learning? I thought. Thats amazing! I never got that type of lesson back in my old school. I soon found myself running off to explore the airport without my parents near me. I was enamoured by the fancy televisions and sofas that covered the front area. I sat in some of them and ran to see the reception area. I was so intrigued that I didn't pay attention to people. So as I pushed past people, karma came to bite me and I ran into someone. "Ow! I am so sorry!" I fell to the ground and rubbed my neck. I brushed myself off as I hopped to my feet. "Are you hurt? I wasn't looking where I was going! I am so-" I was cut off by this deep voice. It came from the person I bumped into.

"I'm fine, no need to worry," his voice was raspy but calming. He had fluffy brown hair and dark skin. He was taller than me as he stood up. I found myself speechless and staring at him. As I snapped back to reality, I realised he was wearing a bright yellow jacket.

"You're from the school trip? You look like you could be in college!" I blurted out. And that was just insensitive...My brain whorled with regret for what I just said. I wanted to say I'm sorry a million times, but I refrained from doing so as I thought he would get annoyed.

"Thanks...I get that a lot don't worry," his voice calmed my nerves down and I smiled. I looked around and realised that I had ran off from my parents again. I sighed deeply and tried to build conversation as I waited to be found and scolded by my parents.

"So, what school do you go to?"

"Halifax High School Of Learning- why?"

"That's very convenient- since I'm transferring there this month," I sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck. I now made a horrible impression on probably one of the most popular guys in school...Great start. I saw his lips move, but he was called over by the school and couldn't finish his sentence. I stared in disbelief at what I just did and stood where I was for a good minute or so before going to look for my parents.

I soon found my parents frantically looking for me at the front port. I ran over to them and tugged their shoulder. My mother looked at me and hugged me tight. "Eram atât de îngrijorati pentru tine! De ce ai fugit?!"

"Sunt bine mamă. Tocmai m-am lăsat dus de cap şi am dat peste unul dintre studenţi," I tried to reassure my mother that I was alright, but she wouldn't listen and gave me a firm talk of why I shouldn't run off. While we walked around the airport looking for our luggage, I taught my parents some English so they could communicate with the workers. I wasn't the best myself as I spoke Romanian, but I had English-talking friends who helped me online. Even though I knew it wasn't the best, I eavesdropped on people talking to get a better understanding of how to be "natively English". I found out they said a lot of words that were mushed into one word when they were rushed and said most of the pronunciation of words that we use. I vaguely learnt some new words from listening and tried them under my breath. I finished my eavesdropping when we left the airport to wait for our taxi. I taught my mother some basic phrases so she could call a taxi in the first place. We also had to change our region at the airport to England instead of Germany ( which I forgot to do )- this was so that we didn't contact anyone that works in Germany while we were here. I caught up on all the basic English phrases by the taxi arrived and could have a nice conversation with the driver. I think I achieved what it was to be a "native English person", which to me, is quite important.