From Egypt to Australia

In 2020, the coronavirus started spreading everywhere. Airports began shutting down, and I had a ticket to Australia for the following week. The worry and uncertainty my friends and I felt were overwhelming. "Is she going to make it?" they wondered. "We’ll be waiting, just in case they send you back or cancel your flight."!

That week, a storm hit Alexandria and Cairo, grounding travel and preventing me from seeing many friends and family few days right before my flight, the storm made everything more chaotic. On the day of my flight, I was running through the airport, anxiously watching the big flight screens filled with cancellations. Miraculously, my flight to Australia was the only one that hadn’t been canceled!

It was never easy leaving my beloved country, the best in my eyes, the warmth, the loving welcoming people incomparable to any other culture. Not gonna talk about the history because I think you all know about that one.

Here I am after four years of living in Australia, the feel of homesick didn’t get any better. However, I have learned a lot maybe I have changed to being a better version of myself. Four years of studying, culture shock, struggling and navigating how things works here. I can say that now I finally able to reflect.It felt like I was trapped in a big bubble, and only now have I stepped out of it to truly see what I was going through.