How School Functions in the USA

In this post as I said, I will explain how my school - CHS (Chelmsford High School) works. It is much different than any other countries school's especialy macedonian school's and also it differs from other american schools too. When I'll get back in Macedonia I'll do my best to implement as many as features as I can that CHS has!

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The image above is how a schedule, in this case my schedule looks like. I will be explaining acording to my classes. The school is 4 houses based, which it is just a better organizing thing. That means teachers, classes, students are divided to 4 houses, so every student/teacher/class has own house where he turns in if he needs help or something. In every house there are guidance counculars which help the students for everything they need help, choosing subjects, making schedule, advices, joining clubs etc etc. Also every house has own dean - a person who is in charge for the discipline and he keeps track of all the students, if they were absent, tardy or something. So duo to the school handbook policy for ex if you dont bring homework for some subject he can lower your grade for that subject or he can send you to detention. He can expell you too. There is also nurse which is other thing that macedonian schools dont have. So if you need medical help you can always go to the nurse. For every field as maths, science, social studies, language arts, athletics etc there is a office with secretaries and directors. So if you need any particular help you go to the particular office. The other administration staff is pritty simmilar in rankings but different in how it works and how much it works to the macedonian one. 

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All of this things make this huge school with more than 1500 students,more than 500 employers (teachers or administration staff), more than 400 classrooms, 2 gyms, 2 caffeterias and more than 40 offices to run extremly awesome.

Daily there are 6 periods. The plus block always is at the 3rd period and the rest 5 periods are (other) classes.So the school starts at 07:19 and goes like this:

• Period 1:  07:19  -  8:16
• Period 2:  08:20  -  09:17
• Period 3 - PLUS block:  09:21  -  09:51
• Period 4 or LONG BLOCK:  09:55  -  11:44 
• Period 5:  11:48  -  12:47
• Period 6:  12:51  -  1:51

The time between classes is 4 minutes and it is usualy enough to go to the locker and change the classrooms.

There are 3 lunches and they always take part in Period 4 or the long block:

• Lunch 1:  09:55 - 10: 22  - Art, Bussines/Media, Gym, Music, Science classes
• Lunch 2:  10:40 - 11:07   - Child Ed, Health, Reading, SPED, Soc. Studies, Tech Ed, World Lang classes
• Lunch 3:  11:17 - 11:44   - English, Math classes

The lunch is 27 minute. What lunch would I have depends on what class I have for period 4 or for the long block. 

Every student takes 7 subjects per semester. Every subject has own block - letter: A, B, C , D, E, F, G and P. Every next day the school starts with different leter. Ex: Day 1's first period is A and then go the classes B , C , P , D , E. Then the next day in this case Day 2 starts with F and then go the classes G, P, A , B , C. Then the next day, Day 3 starts with D and E, P, F, G, A. Are classes have several types of difficulties but the main ones are: the most advanced and difficult is Honors then H2 then H3. So I am a 10th grader or Sophomore. In my schedule this are the classes that I've chosen and I'm taking:

• A block - [Full Year] Advanced Algebra Honors; Mrs. Gaffney, Leah; Room W340 (Whittier House and if its contains 300 in the number then the classroom is on 3rd floor)
• B block: 
• [Semester 1] Media Literacy for 21st Century H2; Mr. Murphy, James; Room E322 (Emerson house, 3rd floor)
• [Semester 2] Active Life 2 (or gym or P.E); Mrs. Sloan Michele; Gym B

• C block:
• [Semester 1] Appreciating the Arts; Mrs. Karangioze, Teresa; Room H256 (Hawthorne house it contains 200 in the number so its on 2nd floor).
• [Semester 2] Public Speaking; Mr. Bartos, Matthew; Room H243 (Hawthorne house, 2nd floor)

• D block - [Full Year] U.S. History 1 H2; Mr. Staveley, Jonathan; Room E314 (Emerson house, 3d floor)
• E block - [Full Year] English 10 H2; Mr. Shea, Michael; Room H238 (Hawthorne house, 2nd floor)
• F block - [Full Year] Arhitectural Drawing and Design; Mr. Greenfield, Douglas; Room H102 (Hawthorne house and it contains 100 in the number so it is on 1st floor)
• G block - [Full Year] Physics H; Mr. Wickham, Lucas - H103 (Hawthorne house, 1st floor) and
• P block - [Full Year] PLUS - Practice-Learn-Understanr-Study; Mrs. Gauther, Susan; Room E211 (Emerson house, 2nd floor).The P (Plus) block is much different than an usual class. It takes place for the whole year on the 3rd period. This block is for doing homework, socializing, announcing the school's daily bulletin or to sumarize it, its for Practice-Learn-Understanr-Study.

So as I said at day 1 for first period I will have block A so that day I will have Algebra, Media Lit, Plus block, App the Arts, History and English. The next day or day 2 for first period I will have block F so that day I will have: Arhitecture, Physics, Plus block, Algebra, Med Lit, App the Arts.
After all the classes the school ends at 01:51. As I mentioned in the previous post, there are a LOT of activites after 01:51 which are under school's direstiction. Clubs, sports, library, career center etc etc... The school has also own transportation - the yellow busses :D . If I start talking about the equipment that has I would not be able to stop, so I will just say it has every needed and not needed equipment. I would also like to say that there is an online system for the school called Aspen which is simmilar to our еДневник but all the teacher and students use it! It has all the grades and scores, the homework, the schedule, it has everything! The students get an school email (studentID@cpslions.com) which we use. We get a computer student user with password. With that info we can access our documents, programs, pictures and everything needed for school through every computer that the school has becouse all of them are in one network. The students also recieve a School Planner, which contains all the important dates/information, all the school days with dayes which have empty spaces where you can write the assigments/homework you get so you wont forget to do it! Heres one page of my planner :) :

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First day(s) at school

The first days at a new school are the most adventourus and fun days... Meeting new people, getting to know the school enviorment, searching for your classes etc etc...  The next paragraphs describe an usual american school day which in my case it was totaly unusual.

So at 04.09.2013 I woke up at 06:10. I got ready for school, I put my lunch for school that I prepaired the previous day. Then I ate breakfast. As every teenager I ate serial :). I filled my bowl with cocoa crunchies and ate. Everyone eats something that could be prepared very fast in the morning becouse there isn't time. So eating breakfast before school was the first different thing. Then I went out and I kicked a glass full with water. This is a traditional Macedonian thing. Before the first day at school we kick a glass with water so the school will go easy and successful as the water from the kicked glass. After that I went to the bus stop and from the corner of the street a yellow bus showed. It was same as on the movies ! A yellow school bus came and picked me up. I got in and sit. All students in the bus were excited for the first day but also sleepy.. After like 5 minutes we arrived at the school.

When I got out of the bus I saw a huge crowd of students going to the school doors. All higschool students from whole Chelmsford go to one highschool which has a enermous amount of subjects that you could take. So this was other thing that was different for me. In Macedonia you dont choose what subject you take, and you take 14-15 subjects. But here every student chooses what he would like to study ofcourse if he meets all the requirments for that class. As soon as I got in the high school, the fun started ! :D I got my schedule and school-plan from my pocked and started searching for my class. This highschool has more than 400 classrooms, more than 10 offices, two jim's, two huge cafeterias, and loots of other rooms as auditoriums and career centers in one building! Its enermous. So finding my first class it was a quite big challenge.

After walking through the halls that were looking same as they looked on the movies, loong halls with lockers on their side I found my first class. When I got in the classroom I was amaized. That classroom was so organized, clean and it looked same as on the movies. After the end of every class every students goes to his next class. Here in USA every teachers teaches own subject(s) and they have own classroom that belongs to them and they can decorate it as they wish. The classrooms were full of equipment! I bet that Chelmsford High School has more equipment than whole Gostivar (maybe Skopje too) has! The teachers were soo friendly, relaxed and funny. They act as friends! :) So depending on the fourth class you can have lunch one, two or three. I had lunch one. I entered lunch room 1 and again I was amaized, it was again so clean, organized and it totaly looked as on the movies. I sit next to one group of students. They were so friendly and as soon as sit they realized that im new and started asking me questions. We got to know eachother. Students were walking from one to other to third part of the lunch room to talk with their friends. Almost everyone got their lunch bags out of their backpacks and started eating. The other ones bought hot lunch from the cafeteria. The lunch in the cafeteria here is delicious. Students mostly do a schedule, 3 days of the week bring their own lunch and the last 2 days they buy hot lunch but depends. So as the lunch ended everyone headed to their next classes. This was another thing that totaly differs from Macedonia. In Macedonia no one brings lunch from home and students dont eat in the cafeteria. The students in Macedonia buy a sandwich or something from the fast food stores in the neirby or some just buy a small snack like chips or so.. After the end of the classes more than half of the students have something to do. They either are in some club so they do some activities or they are doing some sport. But all of this happens in the school! And there are huge amount of clubs and sports... International, Key, Math, Science, Paws, History, Geography, Volonteer etc etc etc clubs, Football, basketball, tennis ,field hockey, cross-country, volleyball, handball etc etc sports... There is huge choise of after school activities and again all of them are "under" the school's jurisdiction. That time I was doing cross-country so after school I went to the locker-rooms, changed and went to the practise. And then I went back home by car. Becouse I was doing cross-country, I stayed late and I missed the bus and even the late bus so I had to be picked up. There were other students that were in my nearby and were doing cross-country so we "formed" a car-pool. The first X weeks one parent picks up the students, the second X weeks the parent of the other student picks up etc etc.

The second day was simmilar to the first. Just I did a test for getting to the best math class, Advanced Algebra Honors. Without knowing and practising I went and took that test for getting in the best math class which contained the best students in math in the school and I got in!! I did other schedule changes too. About the schedule and how the school functions I would write other more detailed post. And as days were passing I got to know the school, the teachers and the students better and better.

The school here is so much different than the school in Macedonia. It has more equipment, there is a different style of teaching/studying, the classes are longer and more organized, it is more strict, it has lockers :D, it has all kind of subjects etc. I was so busy with school and activities and everything so I didn't had time to blog. I just want to say: as everything else, after spending more and more time doing that you get used to it and it seems to you as a normal thing even though it is so much different to the thing you are used. It is same with me now, after 2-3 weeks living in a amaizing, fun and different place in the world - USA.

Life in the USA ; 4 parties in my first 3 days

In this post I will be talking about how the life in the USA is so much different than the Macedonian one and also about my first 6 days in the USA.

So at 30.08.2013 I arrived at my host family house. People that are so friendly and helpful that just after around 2 days spending here I started feeling as a home. We talked through skype so I already knew them and it was much easier, I already knew what kind a things they like and hows their way of life. So the first day was really great. About the first true (not skype) moment with my host family I will not talk becouse everyone needs to experience it in order to see how its like. I would just like to say that is amaizing! And as soon as I got to my room, which I really like, I unpacked and fall asleep. I was soo tired! So I woke up and spent some time with my host family, they gave me tour of the house, we talked about the school - especially for the schedule, we talked about the Chelmsford community and lots of other stuff. And all this conversations made my next days so much easier, until I get used to this way of life. Becouse of the airplane and the excitement I didnt ate lunch. The lunch in USA is something like a snack, It's not as in Macedonia - a huge meal. The Americans eat it just to get through the day until the dinner comes. The dinner in USA is the big delicious meal that gathers whole family together. So my first dinner with my host family was just as I described a typical american dinner - huge delicious meal. We sit down together and we ate lazagne - a wide flat type of pasta shape. During the dinner all american families talk about their day and about familiar topics.

 After our dinner we went to Sully's home made ice cream. I got a huuge ice cream that happens in the USA is just a ordinary one (normal sized ice cream). After it we went back to our home and watched a movie as a family. At around the middle of the movie I went to my room to go to sleep. I was still so tired. Everyone in the USA is so kind, respectfull and pleasant. The people here are just more relaxed than the people in my home country. And to the most people I spoke while I was in DC, their most important american value was the honesty, their most important american goverment value is the democracy and most of the people said that their moto is: "Live every second of your life!".
The second day (31.08.2013) in the USA I wasnt tired at all. I had a great sleep. That day we ate breakfast and lunch together so I experienced all the american meal types, what time do they take part, what they are like etc. Me and my host dad went to shopping (grocery and clothes). I was suprised by the prices. You see a overpriced item (for me becouse in Macedonia globaly it was cheaper) but right next to it you see some very nice branded items on sale and with discounts, they are sooooo cheap. An item that costed like $ 50 with all the discounts and sales you can get it like for $5. So I really like the shopping in the USA. All you need is to be a careful shopper and you will geat a great products for great money = great deal! That day I also met my host brother and my neighbours, a very friendly and nice family. Their son introduced me to the basics things that I should know about teenagers in the USA, their way of clothing etc etc. He also invited me to a bunch of parties. I knew him before I even got in the USA. We talked on facebook and he already told his friends about me so they were pretty excited about getting to know me. So at the same day I went to a party and experienced the "USA basement life-parties". A group of friends gathered to a friends house-basement and just talk about their problems and exciting things that happened to them. That was the first time I got exposed to american teenager life. Before I came here I though that the night life would be pretty boring but I was wrong! Even that that party was like with 10 people I had a great time! They were so friendly and interested in me and in the Macedonian style of life. And then we went out made fire and melted some marshmallows. Most of the people that were there were cross country runners and it got me thinking to try it out. That party was an real opener in my american life. I met so much friendly people and I got to know how the teenager life functions overhere.

The third day (01.09.2013) was a very cool day. Two parties in one day! As usual I ate breakfast, lunch and then we headed to my host family dad's sister. On the way there we picked my host family dad's mom. When I got there again I was so suprised and I asked my self in my head how do they manage to gather a huge family in one day at a party. In Macedonia that would be so difficult and maybe impossible even though Macedonia is such a small country. Whole Erhartic family was at this party! Even people from Texas came! I had so much fun. They were so interested in me, asking question about my life and Macedonia. Its a great feeling when someone is interested in you and wants to know more about you. All of them offered to get me somewhere and show me a different part of USA. So duo that next week im going on boat fishing at the ocean! I also tried lots of new meals and appetizers such as shrimps and lots other things. I had so great time! Then after this party my host mom got me back to home and I went to another awesome party.
This 3d party was a pool party. One of the people I met at my first party organized this and it was very great!!! It had a cool fire and torches around it. Then I realized that maybe this kind a party wouldn't be able to be organized in Macedonia becouse of the "mentality" of the people back there. At this party there were over 30 people. We were swimming in the pool - having fun, melted marshmallows again which taste great etc etc. I met lots of new people! It just suprised me how when I just got there a boy that I just met him yesterday introduced me to the other people: "hey this is my friend Bojan and exchange student". Here its so much easier to make friends. Maybe this friends are not best friends - bros but they count! And as soon as he introduced me the other people were going: "woooow, thats cool, you will be my best friend", and another said "no, he is my best friend" etc etc. Also this party had a basketball hub and when they saw that I can play basketball very well and that I can dunk they were so amaized and their opinion about me went to a higher "cool" level! Again and again people here are so friendly and awesome! I had suuuuuuch great time! I hope that this guy will organize this kind a party again becouse he did it so great!

The fourth day (02.09.2013) was pretty amaizing too. I did my usual part of day plus I did some wood working! I worked at the yard's fence. I found it very interesting becouse even in Macedonia when I had time I kept myself busy working even on electricity or repairing stuff or wood working. And one of top american values is the thriftiness and the punctuality! And then it came the time for my 4th party for 3 days. This was a birthday party that was held in a garrage. It had loud music and loooots of dancing. Even though Macedonian parts are held on the dancing part, this party was so different. The Americans dance at lot of different way and their dancing parties have 2 parts: dancing "podium" and a chilling "podium" with all the drinks, appetizers, snacks and chairs where you could just sit and talk! Even though I knew that americans are all about comfort and they wear like shorts and t-shirts for almost everything I said: "lets show americans how we show up on parties". I got sharp and went there. I was the only one with clothes like that ofcourse, but I got feeling that they liked it and it was comfortable too! I also show'd them some Macedonian music and they were amaized and were saying that this music is so cool. It was such a nice party where I met even more people!
So in period of 4 days I had so much great time that I even got removed the doubts about if it was good idea to come in the USA. After only 4 days in Chelmsford I was 10000% sure that I did the right thing! I would also like to add here that people dont walk overhere! To get somewhere you need a ride! Even to a shop or something. Thats maybe one of the strangest things but there are not sidewalks everywhere and its unsecure to walk so thats why americans dont walk.

I could sit here and write and write about my life in USA but I am so tired that I can fall asleep on this keyboard. I would just like to give one advice, If you meet the requirments for the YES scolarship or any other scolarship that can take you abroad, APPLY! Im sure that you will spend awesome time and you will experience so much stuff that I think (im sure) when I'll get back in Macedonia I will be a new person, an adult person.