Having made the transition into your new life in a new country far away from your family and friends, it is time to enjoy your new found freedom. With no one to tell you what to do every minute of the day and no new script to follow, how do you make this new life work? Once you figure out how to use the public transport, where to get your groceries and eat familiar cuisine, you are faced with the scary prospect of meeting new people.

It is quiet an achievement for a tribal girl from a distant colonial outpost to make new friends in a new country where no one has heard of Borneo except for the mystical ‘wild man from Borneo’ or the Orang Utan. Well that was what I thought when my classmates…

I was sold the dream that if you worked hard and got good enough grades you can buy into a great new life overseas in a western country of your choice. At the age of 17, I left for Australia to realise that dream, completely unprepared for what was to come. It was the first time I left home taking a blind leap into the great unknown, terrified and excited as well. When it is your first time overseas, nothing prepares…