I started my American high school life last Monday.
The first few days at school are really bad. Well, maybe not that bad, but I felt so left out and helpless. My school is a overpopulated school. There are around 3,000 students and we all go to school at about the same time. There is no morning session or afternoon session like Malaysia. We do have 2 lunch session, but the cafeteria is still very crowded in both session. Some people go to choir room, some people just sit at the stairs, some people just sit around the school compound. You know what? Nobody knows I'm an exchange student until I clarify so. When I said I'm new, they thought I'm an American moved from another state to Vegas. When I told them I'm from Malaysia, they thought I moved from Malaysia to Vegas. But, still, nobody cares about exchange student LOL. This place is just so diverse that we have people all around the world moving here. I've met some students who migrated from Taiwan and Italy to America. It sounds really cool to me because I have no idea how hard it takes to settle down in a brand new country.
I really prefer our education system in Malaysia which we stay in the same class from the beginning of the semester until the end of the semester. We can have stronger bond with the entire class and we feel belonged. In American high school, it is really common that students from different grades stay in the same class. It is really hard to tell if somebody is a senior or a freshman. I'm a senior in school now, but people often ask me if I'm a sophomore or a freshman. I often ask people if they are seniors, but it turns out that they are juniors or even freshman. Furthermore, I join the school in the middle of the semester, I find it hard to blend in with the others since they already have their group of friends. I can count how many times I talked for the whole day at school. Anyway, I am still trying hard to take the initiative to talk to people and make new friends, even I know they will just see me as a hi-bye friend.(It really makes me day if somebody make the first move to say hi to me.)
However, there are some benefits from American education system too. There are a lot of elective courses that are very interesting such as make-up design, theater studies, video production and mixed glee club. I'm picking up mythology and folklore, ceramics, psychology and dance. I really enjoy those classes (especially when I have somebody to talk to in the class lol). The classes are more to generating ideas instead of memorizing facts. Students here are never afraid of voicing out their opinions. This is a value which I find pretty impressing.
Oh by the way, I've went to two basketball games in my school. I love the cheer-leading, I love the band, I love the dance crew, I love the students cheering for our school team. The Palo spirit is very strong. The student council organized a spirit week too: wear pajamas on Monday, green out on Tuesday, black out on Wednesday, school T-shirts on Thursday and lastly white out or neon on Friday for the blackout assembly. They are having a 'beauty pageant' show tomorrow night which is called Mr. Panther. It's really interesting and their performance (I saw their practice coincidentally) is absolutely entertaining.
By far, the best part of my stay is that I have an awesome host family. I feel homed and comfortable being around them. I am totally grateful and thankful for having them in my exchange journey.
That's all for now, gotta off to bed soon. Goodnight world.
The first few days at school are really bad. Well, maybe not that bad, but I felt so left out and helpless. My school is a overpopulated school. There are around 3,000 students and we all go to school at about the same time. There is no morning session or afternoon session like Malaysia. We do have 2 lunch session, but the cafeteria is still very crowded in both session. Some people go to choir room, some people just sit at the stairs, some people just sit around the school compound. You know what? Nobody knows I'm an exchange student until I clarify so. When I said I'm new, they thought I'm an American moved from another state to Vegas. When I told them I'm from Malaysia, they thought I moved from Malaysia to Vegas. But, still, nobody cares about exchange student LOL. This place is just so diverse that we have people all around the world moving here. I've met some students who migrated from Taiwan and Italy to America. It sounds really cool to me because I have no idea how hard it takes to settle down in a brand new country.
I really prefer our education system in Malaysia which we stay in the same class from the beginning of the semester until the end of the semester. We can have stronger bond with the entire class and we feel belonged. In American high school, it is really common that students from different grades stay in the same class. It is really hard to tell if somebody is a senior or a freshman. I'm a senior in school now, but people often ask me if I'm a sophomore or a freshman. I often ask people if they are seniors, but it turns out that they are juniors or even freshman. Furthermore, I join the school in the middle of the semester, I find it hard to blend in with the others since they already have their group of friends. I can count how many times I talked for the whole day at school. Anyway, I am still trying hard to take the initiative to talk to people and make new friends, even I know they will just see me as a hi-bye friend.(It really makes me day if somebody make the first move to say hi to me.)
However, there are some benefits from American education system too. There are a lot of elective courses that are very interesting such as make-up design, theater studies, video production and mixed glee club. I'm picking up mythology and folklore, ceramics, psychology and dance. I really enjoy those classes (especially when I have somebody to talk to in the class lol). The classes are more to generating ideas instead of memorizing facts. Students here are never afraid of voicing out their opinions. This is a value which I find pretty impressing.
Oh by the way, I've went to two basketball games in my school. I love the cheer-leading, I love the band, I love the dance crew, I love the students cheering for our school team. The Palo spirit is very strong. The student council organized a spirit week too: wear pajamas on Monday, green out on Tuesday, black out on Wednesday, school T-shirts on Thursday and lastly white out or neon on Friday for the blackout assembly. They are having a 'beauty pageant' show tomorrow night which is called Mr. Panther. It's really interesting and their performance (I saw their practice coincidentally) is absolutely entertaining.
By far, the best part of my stay is that I have an awesome host family. I feel homed and comfortable being around them. I am totally grateful and thankful for having them in my exchange journey.
That's all for now, gotta off to bed soon. Goodnight world.