The nice lady in the office handed me a bouquet of flowers the day after my violin performance at the school award ceremony. "Thank you, from all of us" she smiled. I walked away, feeling proud of myself.

Those flowers meant more to me than she could imagine. It meant that I had a dream and that I had achieved it. It meant that I had overcome my fears. It meant that I had made friends. They weren't just flowers to me, they were my prize for studying abroad in England, something that to this day I can't imagine how I had the strength to do but would not dare to think about how my life would be if I hadn't.