The document details the author's life story, beginning with being born in New Orleans but moving as a child with their parents to Asheville, North Carolina for its cooler climate. The author had difficulty adjusting to Asheville at first but eventually made new friends. They went to university in Virginia where they changed majors several times before graduating with degrees in Spanish and Economics. After an unsatisfying job, the author realized their passion was teaching language and eventually began teaching English abroad in Tunisia.

1. Creating Opportunity Worldwide
My life story:
I was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. I loved the city, the food and the culture. I made many friends
there and had a very happy life. My parents had lived there for many years and didn’t like the hot
climate, mosquitoes and roaches. So one day, my parents decided they wanted to move to a cooler
climate. They looked in the northeast and didn’t find anything. They finally decided to go back to
Atlanta to visit our extended family and so we took a shortcut through the mountains of North
Carolina. When we arrived in Asheville, we went to lunch at a small restaurant. The food was
fantastic, it was a nice day and the waiter told us that Asheville always had a perfect climate. He also
said that there were no roaches or mosquitoes. My parents decided that day to move to Asheville.
I didn’t like Asheville at first. The people weren’t as friendly, the food was rotten and the culture was
different. I had to adjust. I had left many friends behind in New Orleans and I found it difficult making
new friends. People talked differently in Asheville and they laughed at my southern accent. After
some time I finally started to enjoy my new life. I made new friends, but they were different from the
kinds of friends I had in New Orleans. I went to a difficult school and had to go on Saturdays. This
was unusual for an American school and I didn’t have much fun in high school. I had an opportunity to
go to University an hour away from Asheville, but I wanted to try something new. So I decided to go to
school in another state. I applied to a school in Virginia and was accepted. At first my parents didn’t
want me to go, but I told them I would learn a lot more in a new place.
When I arrived in Virginia I discovered that some of my friends from New Orleans were also studying
there. They had changed quite a bit. They were wild and not very studious. They said that they had
been that way since high school. Several of them never graduated from University because they
didn’t work hard enough. When I first arrived to University, I thought I wanted to be an accountant, so
I took a lot of classes in accounting and maths. I did very badly and decided to study economics. I
was bored after a year so I changed my major to Spanish. I loved learning another language and I
continued studying it. When I was about to graduate, I got nervous because I thought that I could only
be a teacher with a major in Spanish. So, I finished another major in Economics to make sure I had
more options. After I graduated, I worked in an office for a while and wasn’t happy. All of my friends
were unhappy too. I decided that the only thing that made me happy was learning language, so I
decided to teach. I took some courses to be more qualified as a teacher and decided to teach English
abroad. Eventually I made it to Tunisia and I’ve been happy ever since.
Contributed by <Teacher’s Name>
© The British Council, 2005
The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.