Here is an example of an essay by an EC Malta student, Karina Garcia.
Whenever I close my eyes, his face appears in my mind. I still remember the moment when I arrived in that country, the night was warm and the wind was blowing hard. It was my first trip to a foreign country, A mixture of feelings were at war inside me: joy, fear, surprise, anxiety, sadness, happiness and above all freedom. An hour or so before one question had kept going round in my head: what is awaiting me in this place? What surprises are in store for me?
The next morning my course on Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) began. I entered the classroom. I can’t remember how many people were there, but there was a diverse group of nationalities. I chose my desk and sat down. While I was waiting for the start of the classes, I talked to a Colombian boy, who was very friendly, and I felt a little better, knowing that I wasn’t the only one who spoke Spanish.
Suddenly I looked at the door and for a few seconds, time stopped. Esteban, a fellow student, walked into the classroom. He was a handsome man, in his early thirties, but it wasn’t his physical appearance that caught my attention, it was his enigmatic eyes. To my surprise, his eyes and mine met for a brief moment, and immediately there was a spark so strong that if there had been a piece of paper between him and me, it would have burned in seconds.
The days passed, and one day, after school, he approached me. My heart was pounding fast and my breathing became slow. Then, when we were only a few centimetres away from each other he asked me if the course met my requirements. My mouth barely uttered a few unintelligible words. He grinned at me nervously and then it happened. He invited me to dinner that evening.
That night the wind was warm, the moon was shining high on a sea of stars, and the sound of the waves hypnotised my heart. It was a perfect evening and very quiet because we didn’t speak the same language but we felt we understood each other perfectly, even in the silence, the connection between us was perfect.
Sitting on a rock at the edge of the sea, once again, our eyes met and with unspoken words, then one kiss broke the seal, so naturally two souls became entwined. Truth can be stronger than fiction but this love was real.
Although now we look at different skies, I will always feel him on my skin and in my soul, because for a moment I glimpsed eternity.