It was my first visit to Canada. That year I had dropped from school because of my swimming activities. Actually, I was away from my school participating at National Level at a very critical time in the school. My studies were affected and I was not really prepared for the eleventh-grade board examination. School had considered my contribution to sports at National Level and helped me to arrange my examination following y...

It was my birthday and I was all alone. I was standing just a few feet away from the lake, water gently lapping at my toes as I clenched and unclenched my toes, absorbing the feeling of the mud against my skin. A warm breeze blew. I stood on a small plain of mud, hidden from the outside world by a dense crescent of trees. My sixteenth year was quite challenging and demanding. I had just gone through the second severe spel...

I was just eighteen then, still at school. I had taken a drop that year. So I was visiting my aunt in Canada. Since it was my first trip to North America, I also wanted to visit the USA and some countries in South America. After visiting the USA, Jamaica and Mexico, when I arrived back in Canada, it was the first week of February. I still had a few months before school and some money remaining. I informed my aunt that I w...