things i learn during my first week of school

(pictured: st. francios notre dame my new school)

school is a place of learning. a place to find life long friends and find yourself. its a place that prepares you to enter the "real world". in this first week of school i have learned a lot and almost none of it is academic. here's a list of some of the most important things i have learned so far.

1. nod & smile

this is by far the most important advice i can give any exchange student who is brave/stupid enough to go to a country where the do not speak your mother language. i cannot tell you how many times in just these past two days that i have had to tell myself "nod and smile". when all of your friends are laughing and you didn't even know they were making a joke just nod and smile. when your science teacher is explaining the theories of vision over time just nod and smile. when someone asks you a yes or no question nod and smile. when someone asks you an open ended question, nod and smile. as a matter of fact never stop nodding and smiling it's the best thing you can do for yourself.

2. don't forget your map

you will end up lost and you will stay lost because you do not have a map.

3. sleep during study halls

just do it. #nike

4. sleep during lunch

you can eat in your dreams.

5. don't take science

i honestly do not care if you're albert eistein. it's not worth it. i have had all of my academic classes and while all of them could be difficult to understand none compared to science (aka the devil's favorite class). it was literally insane how many words i didn't even want to understand. luckily it is B week so i don't have two continuous hours of science but look out for a post next tuesday because i will probably cry about it. science isn;t the best in english but it french it is the worst thing that has ever existed.

6. don't get lost

really. i would just like to reinforce this point. dont get lost because you will never be found. don't even think about getting lost. this morning none of my friends were in my study hall so naturally i imagined what would happen if i got lost. big mistake. i got suuuuper nervous and my heart starting pounding and i died. well actually i didn't die but i came close. luckily i spotted a girl in my class and tailed her like a CIA agent to history class.

7. eat all of the time

food = energy. energy = good. therefore by the transitive property food = good.

8. sleep does absolutely nothing for you

after my first day of school i had eight and a half hours of sleep that is more sleep than i got my entire sophomore year combined. however i woke up tuesday morning and heard the french my host family was speaking and it was like i had never slept a day in my life. now this is not to say you shouldn't sleep all the time (because you should) i'm just saying it will not do anything for you.

9. you have the attention span of a baby squirrel

usually i can focus in class. even during the last hour block during the day but it is like my brain knows that i can't understand anything and it just checks out.

10. it gets better

already in this first week a lot of change has happened for me. i have made a lot of new friends, learned some new worlds, and had a lot of fun. the beginning of the week was so hard but it has already become a little easier. doing something new (or old) can be really scary but do not worry because like a fine french wine (srry mom), things always get better with time. most of these points are in jest so do not take me too seriously lol.

see yall later

love,

anj