When I arrived I missed many things from my land such as the food, the smells, the language and the way of talking to each other. Fortunately, I found an association of people from my country and I became a member. I made new friends there but always having in mind that not all the relationships were useful and safe. We tried to meet regularly to talk and to eat together, which was a very good way to be connected with my origins.

The people from the residential care facility where I was staying proposed me a project for the period of time I would have spent there. While some of the things they proposed me were helpful, some others did not respond to my personal plans and my immediate needs. After a while I decided to be sincere and to tell them what I liked and disliked. I also told them about my own plans and what I would like to do and achieve. In this way I came closer with them because they listened to me, I started to gain more trust in them and we tried to find a solution that suited me better.

When I arrived, I immediately needed some money so I was looking for work opportunities. I realized that it wasn’t easy to find job offers. I soon met some people who offered me small jobs without telling me the details or explaining the working conditions. Even if sometimes they seemed good opportunities to earn money, I was not convinced I could trust them. In some occasions I asked my social worker his opinion and advices and this helped me at knowing how to differentiate between reliable and non-reliable proposals. In fact, I have friends who accepted proposals that resulted to be dangerous since they were exploited by other persons, who took advantage of their situation. Be careful about accepting work or economic proposals coming from people you do not know.

At the beginning I felt confused because I knew little about the culture surrounding me since I rarely visited other places than the residential care facility where I was living. Little by little I started relating with different people and with different places, which helped me at perceiving different faces of the new place. Like this I understood how things work in the new country and I became familiar with the new culture, customs and rules. Establishing these new and different relations was of particular importance for my protection in that moment of discoveries; this is why I paid attention in choosing appropriate relationships.