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.
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