I worked in a hotel for 5 years and I always dreamt about going abroad where I could use English. When I got very tired and sick of my life in Korea, I decided to come to Australia with working holiday visa when I was 30 years old, just about to turn 31. I got my visa very quickly and started preparing to come to Australia, which took me 1 year.

I heard about Cairns from my friend. She recommended it to me because I can speak Japanese well so I thought that would benefit me to get a job. And I accepted her suggestion.

Before coming to Cairns, I learned for a month how to make espresso coffee, latte art and how to improve barista skills because I wanted to get a job in a café. It was a good experience for me. I liked to drink coffee but I wasn’t interested in making it.

I arrived in Cairns in February. Before I arrived, many bad things had happened to me such as my father had fallen down on the road and had been operated on the day before my departure. I had also dropped my suitcase on my foot so I got bruises. I was so depressed at the beginning. I tried to think that all the bad things happened so that good things could happen in my Cairns life.

After a few days, I started to look for my language school. I searched on the internet before coming to Cairns but I couldn’t decide. And when I visited CCEB, I decided to study there straightaway. The location is good, the building is new and clean and the staff are caring. The Korean staff member, Jihye, was very kind and helped me to enrol, which was the first good thing in Cairns.

I also needed to find accommodation. I had an inspection of a share house before joining CCEB, and I was very disappointed. My future room was dirty and dark. So I needed help from CCEB again. Nyna helped me and showed me an awesome share house so I decided to move in there, which was the second good thing that happened to me in Cairns.

In my CCEB class, I met great teachers, made friends and I learnt many vocabulary items every week. I really enjoyed studying English. And now I know how to study English so I can study it on my own. All these things helped me to feel at home in Cairns.

This is my last week at CCEB. I’m satisfied with CCEB and thank you everyone for helping me to adapt in Cairns.

Ellie, Intermediate