When I first spoke to my father about going overseas to study, he looked at me with disbelieved. The facial expression was expected. Though my father is an unpredictable man, I knew I had to be ready with all the facts, just in case. To him, justification must be presented and whatever actions I made, comes with responsibility. To my surprised, my father agreed to my plans to go to Melbourne. Simply, because I managed to convinced him that I could do better with my potential life Down Under. I gave him my word that I will find solutions to pull up my socks when it comes to education. He knew that the quality of education here was not up to my expectation, as he quote me. Nevertheless, he gave the benefit of the doubt and the opportunity to defend my actions of such drastic decisions. It felt like giving a presentation to the Queen of England. Being the only daughter, I would think he was not sure I would be able to take care of myself in a foreign land. However, he saw the drive and determination I had and finally made a bargain with me. He told me frankly, that if my grades maintained or improved over the next semester, he will find ways and means to get me there. Convincing Papa, was like selling referigerators to eskimo! But eventually I did it. It was hard! Papa may look approachable but when it comes to life decisions, he can be so hard to be pleased. Before I knew it, I was on my way to Melbourne. I managed to keep my balance scorecard with good key performance indicators in my studies. Thanks to my parents.But it was hard work. I basically eat, sleep and doing everything else with the burning desire to meet or exceed my father’s expectations. And yes I achieved it ! It was Melbourne that I found myself. Things were hard for me. Back home, everything was there for me. I would say I was born with a silver spoon. Nevetheless, I had a spoon in my mouth everyday of my life, which I feel so fortunate especially the hardship I faced it Melbourne, so I thought at that time. Being in a foreign land, I had to do everything myself. I had to adjust myself with the environment without my mama nagging and telling me what to do. She was not by my side.However, her voice echoed in my mind and honestly, it felt soathing to my ears too. I truly missed her. Eventually, I knew I had to grow up fast. So, small changes lead to big ones. I had to makse sure that I looked for a home, bills paid and made sure the budget from Papa was enough. From time to time, I had to give a whole report to him on my expenses with justifications. It was a good practice, though. On top of that I had to make sure my grades were always up. I had to be independent to survive and began to realise yes, the world is a jungle out there .At that time, I thought it was the hardest thing to do in life and went through it all the same. But I was wong. Looking back, it was just the beginning. The beginning of my so-called hardship gave me some awareness of others who lived worst-off than I ever did. I saw a homeless man, picking up left overs from the big dumbster and hid himself under the bridge for shelter.It was really cold-zero degrees in tempreature. I looked at my body and realised I had a thick warm coat covering me, while that man was just wearing a dirty looking t-shirt with no shoes, freezing away by the unpleasant cold whether of Melbourne. I really felt so sorry for him but feared to go near and passed him my bread which I bought from 7-eleven, for safety reasons. He could mean harm to me especially I was walking alone in the middle of the night . At that moment in time, I realised how lucky I was. I temporarily had insufficient funds for a week and yet I was complaining. My monthly allowance came late as the local bank had some problems with my telegraphic transfer.While walking my mind kept thinking of that old man, who has nothing to enjoy except for the left over food which he was munching away. I thought to myself how grateful I was to have a comfortable home feeling the warmth from the heater. It was an eye opener for me. I begin to realised that I must always be thankful to HIM, while others may just hope and dream to be in my shoes. I reflected it on my life and reminded myself why I had come to Melbourne – to get the education I needed and to make my parents proud. Other than my supportive boyfriend, that was the one, that pulled myself together and survived.Upon graduation, I returned home, sadly. Not because I did not want to come home to KL but because I discovered myself in Mebourne