That One Big Step

📍Croton-on-Hudson, New York

After graduation, I made a bold decision to escape to a faraway land and live by myself. When an American family I had barely known online invited me to live with them, I said yes without hesitation. With two bags, USD 200, and a one-way ticket, I boarded my first flight to the United States. I had no idea then that this decision would mark the beginning of a completely different life.

I’ll never forget the day I arrived. Their house was massive and quietly tucked inside a dense forest in Upstate New York. I didn’t realize I would be living in the middle of the woods. For someone who grew up in a compact city filled with light, the darkness at night took time to get used to. The silence was unfamiliar, and so was everything else — the space, the stillness, and even the way English was spoken.

Although I was there to teach Chinese to their children, I was learning too. I had to adjust to a different rhythm of life. I had to learn how to live with strangers, how to understand American culture, and how to find my place in a world that didn’t work the same way as mine.

You won’t believe this. It was here that I drove alone for the first time. And ironically, I discovered I could drive left-hand better than I ever managed right-hand back home. I also slowly grew used to American individualism and started to understand how people here thought and spoke.

This house became more than just a home. It gave me the space to grow, the courage to explore, and the push I needed to start traveling solo. As I explored more of America, I began to fall in love with living there. I visited different states, joined cultural exchange programs, and made friends from all over the world. Those experiences, conversations, and quiet moments helped me grow in ways I hadn’t expected.

Everything I became started here.