10. Swim team

[Fall 2015]

My goal was, in fact, to join the volleyball team at Davis High School. Unfortunately, signing up for sport teams is a thing you need to take care of a few weeks before the season starts, the sooner the better. I did not know that, and when I went to talk to volleyball coach on the first day of school, it turned out to be too late already.

So in order to do any sport, the only other choice I had was girls' swim team. I had a funny yet unpleasant experience at the very beginning - because of not understanding the everyday language too well yet, I confused the swim practice time set for 6 pm with 6 am. As a result I was forced to wake up my host dad early in the morning to drive me to the practice and there we were, both half-asleep, finding the way to Franklin Pool in Yakima when it was still dark outside. I was confused, yet relieved, to find absolutely nobody there. At least we could return home and have one more hour of sleep...

Anyways, I have to very honestly admit that being in a swim team was definitely not one of my favorite experiences. I found it exhausting to have an hour-and-a-half long practice every day of the week, and I would look at the clock every couple minutes to see how much time do we have left. During these practices, with my swim goggles on, I would sometimes allow myself to cry, and that was simply because I've already started to miss home really badly. Also, the everyday routine was demoting, and I still struggled with finding friends at Davis and outside it.

9. First struggles and recovery

[September 2015]

I'm again bored in physics classroom. My classmates all around me are busy doing the exercise set on their own or in groups, while I'm already done with long ago. I'm not sure if the teacher would approve the fact that I worked on the whole thing at home. The directions were clear: we work on it in class, and do only a couple exercises a day.

I'm spending the class time fingering the huge physics textbook and worrying about my exchange. I have no reasons to worry, of course, but I'm feeling slightly depressed with the routine, with every day looking the same, with most of the classes being no challenge for me whatsoever, and with the inability to make friends in such a big school. All that plus an increasing longing for home causes my eyes to come warm and fill with tears, but I don't to allow myself to cry here at school.

8. First days in American high school

[August 26, 2015]
What you can find annoying in this post is that I'll be doing numerous comparisons between "what it's like in Poland" and "what it's like in America". Well, I can't fully describe my first impression on American school without comparisons, for they are what I base my observations on. I hope you'll forgive me that and that you'll like the story :)

***

My first day in school starts with English. I walk into the classroom and take a seat close to the door. First thing that hits me is that kids do not talk to one another. No one does at all, even though we are all Seniors, so, except for me, perhaps no one is new to the school. Then I remember that, unlike in Poland, there's no fixed groups of students that have all lessons together. Here, students have individual schedules, what means that they find themselves in different group of people in every class.