This is the journey of my first day of the seventh grade, the beginning of my years in high school. I was excited, nervous, shy and a bunch of other things. I couldn’t wait for the day to begin. Who knew what amazing experiences I would have at this school? So I packed up my backpack, took first day of school pictures, and I was on my way to the bus stop. Unfortunately I got there as people were already starting to get on the bus and I was the last one on and searching for an empty seat. I ended up sitting next to a girl I didn’t know and she didn’t seem like she cared to change that. So I sat back and tried to enjoy the ride as I silently prayed my day would only get better.

We all got off the bus and went our separate ways and thinking we were supposed to report directly to our first period class, as we did in elementary school, I pulled out my schedule and started my search. What a mistake! When I got to my class and opened the door, the sight before me left me puzzled, it was packed full of students of all different grades. I slowly shut the door and checked my phone; we still had 10 minutes till school started. What was I supposed to do till then? I found an empty table and went through all my supplies and my schedule twice just trying to waste time. Never before have I felt so alone but I told myself it was just a bad beginning. After the bell rang I went back to my first period class and was relieved to see it was empty and slowly filling with students that looked to be in my grade. After that class was career wheel followed by math, both were good classes and went by without any issues. My day was starting to turn into the good day I had been imagining it would be.
Who knew how different high school lunch was from elementary lunch or many student could fit into one room, I certainly didn’t. I had to keep telling myself to calm down and just go with the flow of the upper classmen; they know what they’re doing. As I walked into the cafeteria, I realized there are three lunch lines. Are they all the same? Which one should I go in? I casually followed the flow of people into the middle line and waited for my meal. As I got closer to the front of the line I was starting to feel more relaxed, then came the question “what’s your student id number?”, I dumbly stood there and stared at her as though she were speaking Spanish. After a moment of silent I told her I didn’t know what that was, she got all frustrated and had to look me up by last name. If you think that’s embarrassing it gets worse, I was 10 cents short of the total. She told me just to go and that I better be prepared if I came through the line again. Needless to say, I have brought my lunch from that day on. I found a seat next to people I had come acquainted to that day and silently ate my lunch waiting for the bell to ring.
After lunch I went to science and then gym class, both seemed to be good classes. By the end of fifth period I realized a few people were in multiple of my classes and made it a point to talk to the tomorrow. Next was English, my favorite class still to this day, and that day I was excited to go since this was my favorite subject at the time. I got a little lost on the way there so I took out my map and tried to use it. With my nose in the map I began making my way to the class, big mistake. I ran straight into an upperclassman that had to be an entire foot taller than me, I quietly said excuse me as my face was turning scarlet red and walked away quickly from the snickering boy. I learned an important lesson that day, watch where you’re going. I loved my English teacher and was history teacher was alright but I was so relieved when the bell rang dismissing us for the day. As I was leaving my seventh period class, I began to panic thinking I might miss the bus due to the fact that I was on the other side of the school from where the buses were parked. I began to walk really fast and when I approached the buses I stopped dead in my tracks, I couldn’t remember what the number of the bus was that I was supposed to get on. I almost lost my composer and cried right then and there.

Luckily someone who also came from my elementary school was walking by and when I asked him what bus was ours, he kindly told me and even offered to walk with me to find the bus. I was so lucky that he had walked by because I don’t have any idea what I would’ve done if he hadn’t. I sat with him on the bus ride home and we talked a little about our first days and how different it was from our elementary school. When the bus finally stopped to let us off, I ran to my mother’s car happy that the school day was over. When I got home I reflected on my day and realized I had learned a lot from my day. I remember hoping school would get better than it was on that first day. Now, 4 years later, I can proudly say I have not run into any more people or forgotten my student i.d. I do still get nervous on the first day of school since I have no idea what the day will bring me or whether I will be able to remember my schedule or not, but I think that’s pretty common. I have come to find out that the 10 minutes before school can be used for socializing with friends and I no longer sit at an empty table going through my supplies and schedule trying to avoid looking lost. This is a day I will never forget, it was a rocky start to my high school experience but my days have only gotten better.