She is used to having everything served on a silver platter and in being surrounded by bodyguards everywhere she goes. And yet KC Concepcion has managed to live alone, far away from home.

The four-year BA in International Corporate Communications with minor in Theater Arts course she completed at the American University of Paris is not only a tool for her future but also served as an avenue for her to discover and learn things outside the classroom. She has explored and tried things on her own — be they schoolwork or household chores.

Sharon Cuneta’s 22-year-old daughter wears a badge of independence these days. It has made her to survive in a place where everybody seems only to mind his own business. But it doesn’t mean friends are nowhere to be found. KC got along well with a Kuwaiti, half-German, half-Hungarian and some Filipinos there. They make every minute of her stay in France memorable.

Her first train trip was in London where she traveled with the whole class as one of the course requirements. Through traveling, KC’s homesickness is being eased. She gets to know more of other countries’ cultures totally different from the Americans which most Filipinos are familiar with.

The best thing about KC is that her Filipino values are still intact. The young lady is not totally influenced by French ways. She doesn’t believe in the cliché that when you’re in Rome you should do what the Romans do. She had a culture shock the first time she saw Parisians on their bikes wearing chiffon clothes. She got hurt when some Filipinos seem to have forgotten the national language.

By Bot Glorioso of Phil. Star