My First Day of School

School. I had been suppressing the thought of it since I arrived in Chile. Attending a new school, with new classmates, in a new country, immersed in a new language, was so unbelievably terrifying that I could not physically bring myself to face this reality. Despite my efforts pretend it wasn't coming, the first day finally arrived. My alarm thundered at 6:00am, and I reluctantly dressed and prepared myself for the day.

My host parents drove me to my new school, "Instituto Maritimo." I live about twenty minutes away by car, but nearly forty when I take my normal form of transportation: the micro. We parked along the sidewalk outside Maritimo, and I could hear my heart beat pounding in my ears. The moment had finally come, and I was not ready!

The building looked welcoming enough from the outside. The walls were splashed with different colors and covered in images. Behind its doors was a small lobby, decorated with the school's newspaper, a fish tank, and a cozy sofa, overlooking a courtyard. To my right, a small office with many eager faces behind glass doors awaited my arrival. I entered and was greeted by a kiss on the cheek from each of the school's staff. They smiled and told me I would be in "segundo G." This meant I would be among sophomores, in classroom "G." They lead me upstairs and down a wide hallway, until we reached the dreaded "G." At this point the only thing I could hear was my heart beat. The hairs on my arms stood up straight as the goosebumps formed. I had never been so nervous in my entire life.

The kind women from the office knocked softly on the door, and seconds later a teacher appeared and welcomed us inside. They propped me up in front of the class and introduced me to my new peers. As I stood there, frozen, two dozen curious eyes looked back at me. "This is Sawyer Randall. She is seventeen years old and is from Wisconsin in the United States. She does not speak a lot of Spanish. Please welcome her and do not let her eat alone. Thank you," they explained to the class in Spanish. They pointed to a desk and I sat down. I could finally breathe.

The teacher handed me a packet of Physics problems, and I got to work. It didn't take more than five minutes for my classmates to surround my desk and bombard me with questions. They were all so interested to learn about where I come from and why I decided to be an exchange student. I've met exchange students in the U.S., where American students often ignore the foreigners and show very little interest in them, so I was extremely surprised (and delighted) by the welcoming nature of my new classmates. Ever since this moment, I've realized that all my fears and preconceived notions of school in a foreign country were completely misplaced, because school in Chile is amazing.