By Nusrat, grade 11
Sometimes we do not realise how deeply we belong to a place until we are about to leave it. “Home” can feel ordinary when we live inside it every day, until a room becomes more than a room, a familiar meal becomes a memory, and even saying goodbye to family feels heavier than expected.
Leaving my home country, Bangladesh, made me understand how much of myself was tied to the places and people I knew there. Living at UWC Thailand as an international student is teaching me that home is not only something we leave behind; it is also something we can begin to build again, in a new environment and with new people.
Leaving Bangladesh
The morning of my departure felt strangely slow and painfully fast at the same time. Before leaving home, I shared one last meal with my parents because I wanted the three of us sitting face to face at the table, sharing food that tasted unmistakably like home.
Closing and locking my suitcase made everything suddenly feel real, and walking out of my home was harder than I expected. I kept looking back, trying to memorise the space that had always felt so familiar. At the airport, I hugged my family and said goodbye. They were crying, but I tried to leave with a smile because I did not want my departure to be remembered only through sadness.
That was when I began to understand that leaving home does not always mean losing it. Sometimes it means realising how much of it you carry with you.
My First Weeks at UWC Thailand
My journey at UWC Thailand began on 13 August and, surprisingly, settling in never felt as difficult as I had imagined. From the beginning, the community welcomed me with such warmth that I felt an almost invisible reassurance that I would be safe, seen, heard and understood here.
My first few weeks were filled with small but memorable moments: karaoke night, kabaddi night, Senior Sunrise, trips to Central Mall and the Friday night market with friends, overnight camping, and simple conversations that began with nothing more than a warm “Hi, how are you?” or “What’s your name?”
At the same time, I was slowly learning the campus, adjusting to a completely new environment and becoming familiar with a life that was once unknown and just a dream. Little by little, day by day, this campus and this community are becoming more familiar. I have started building that familiarity, and this is only the beginning.
What I’m Still Learning About Belonging
At first, I thought “belonging” meant being completely familiar with a place: knowing the people, understanding the routines and feeling certain that I fit in. Coming here has slowly changed that idea for me.
I have realised that belonging grows quietly through conversations, shared experiences and the courage to keep showing up. It is not about knowing everyone or becoming the most noticeable person in the room. Sometimes it is simply knowing that there are people who will listen when you speak and notice when you are there.
What “Home” Means to Me Now
Before leaving Bangladesh, I had always thought of home as something familiar: my family and my friends. I still consider all of those things home, and I always will. But now I am beginning to understand that home can exist in more than one form.
Bangladesh is, and will always be, the home that shaped me, while UWC Thailand is slowly becoming a home that is shaping me into a more independent, confident and open-minded person, helping me understand myself and others better. Maybe having two homes does not mean belonging less to either of them. Perhaps it means carrying a little more of the world within myself.
My UWC Thailand Reflection
UWC Thailand is slowly becoming much more than a school where I came to complete the IB Diploma. It has become a place where I am being challenged academically, socially and personally, and where I am learning to step outside my comfort zone.
Living with people from different parts of the world constantly reminds me that there is never only one way to understand something. I am learning to listen more, to ask rather than assume, and to allow myself to change without losing the parts of me that matter.
I have only just started my journey here, so I cannot yet say how UWC Thailand will shape me over the next two years. But I know that I will not leave exactly as the person who arrived.
When I left Bangladesh, I thought I was leaving home behind to find another one. Now I think I was wrong. Home is not something we replace when we move; it is something we carry, reshape and sometimes discover again in unexpected and unfamiliar places.
A part of me will always belong to my room, my people and the city I looked back at before leaving Bangladesh. Another part of me is slowly being created and written here, among the people and experiences around me.
Perhaps finding home far from “home” is not about choosing where I belong. It is about realising that, as I grow, my definition of home can grow with me too.