First Day of School... Belgian Style!

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

Out of all 13 (14 if you count when I moved in the middle of the year..) first days of school I have had, I have never been so nervous to start school as I was today. Going to a brand new school as a high schooler is hard enough, but when your comprehension of the local language is very minimal, stress levels can reach higher than ever before. Now, anybody that truly knows me knows that I HATE mornings. Like, I am the roll out of bed, throw some clothes on, run a brush through my hair and be ready in less than 30 minutes kind of person. And yet, on Thursday, even though I had stayed up on Wednesday a bit later than I should have, I woke up right on time at 6:45. Shows how anxious I was for the start of the day....

I'm pretty lucky, because Pascale goes to work at the same time that I go to school, and it's not too out of her way to drop me off in the mornings so I don't have to deal with public transportation and the fear of missing buses, as well as walking for forever just to catch it. The first thing I did when I got to school was go to the equivalent of the counselor's office here in Belgium. Unfortunately, my couselor doesn't speak any English and my French is not so good, so what we are actually able to communicate to each other is, well, not very much. I went in to get my schedule, and as if the crazy Belgian schedules were there are different classes in different rooms and in completely different times during the week, I also got an even crazier schedule! Instead of staying with my class (6C) and following my course (Art), I get to take French and English with the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th classes, and I never am with the same class so I found it kind of impossible to even make friends! But anyhow, I hope you all are ready to read cause I am about to give you a class by class recap...

1st/2nd Class: Well, I didn't go to my class right away, because I needed to get my schedule. But once i got it and the couselor added all of the the weird French and English classes I had, I was finally able to go to my very first Belgian class: a double period of PE! Now, as far as classes go, that is an easy one at least. But it was kinda awkward because before getting to school, I hadn't known that I would have PE and I didn't bring any clothes. So, I had to borrow a too big t-shirt, too short of shorts (but sadly, they weren't the worst in the class..), and ancient shoes because they were the only matching pair in the the little borrowing shoes box that weren't like a size 20. I was introduced in front of the class, and I'm also pretty sure the teacher told everyone to speak French to me because the only girl thay came up to me and said something immediately got semi-told off by her friends. But then, we got split into two different groups and the nice girl who's name was Constance went away... The only other word that someone really said to me that period, other than Ca va? Ca va?, was someone who asked if my birthstone (PINK something or other...) that my parents gave me right before I left was an engagement ring... Weird, but kinda funny. No wonder I am on exchange, people's views of America really are warped! For half the period, we did some wimpy little ladder work and for the other half we swtiched with the other group and did bikes and some weights. During gym, I realized how Belgian girls truly don't participate in sports because no one knew what to do in the ladders while I was speeding through it, and when we "lifted" weights the teacher went and put all of the machine on the lowest weight, which I am guessing is somewhere around 10 pounds like back at home.. But I wasn't going to complain, because I didn't really want to be all sweaty and gross for the rest of my first day anyways...

3rd Class: The 3rd class I had on Thursday was French. I knew that it was one with the younger kids, because it was on the first floor of the primary building (there are three buildings at my school...) and I knew that the younger kids always get stuck on the lower floors. I walked in being scared that the teacher wouldn't know what I was doing there and that she wouldn't be able to understand me, but she was actually really nice, could speak English (not that she really did at all...) and just told me to take the empty seat next to this little boy that literally looked like he was 7, even though it was the 3rd Year, and copy off of his notes as she lectured. So basically, I was like some dumb junior copying off an 8th grader. Really makes me feel so smart... But luckily, I was able to understand that they were talking about the differences between autobiographies, biographies, and journals (didn't hurt that the words for those things are practically the same in French, but hey I understood a bit!)

4th Class: For my fourth class, I had ANOTHER French class, but this time with 4th Year students (I think...). The teacher unfortunately wasn't as nice as my last class, and I almost left the classroom thinking that I was in the wrong place because it was a double period for these kids, and they were telling me that I was in the wrong place... Luckily, the teacher had been filled in and knew why I was there, and she showed up just as I was about to leave. For this class, the teacher wrote everything on the board so at least I didn't feel stupid trying to read a smallish boy's bad handwriting. Can't remember now what I learned, maybe I didn't really learn anything. But a funny part about that class was that at the beginning when the teacher was explaining who I was and why I was in their class, the kids all got really excited and this tiny little East Indian (I think that;s the write wording..) boy in front of me turned around and told me that he was Osama Bin Laden's son. Just another lovely way of discovering what the rest of the world thinks of America...

5th/6th Class: For the 5th Period, the couselor wrote down that I had a study period. come to find out, everyone else in my class and with the same track as me goes to art that period, so from now on I think that is what I am going to do because the 5th Period time is lunch for all of the younger kids. So I recognized absolutely no one, the little kids weren't really up for braving the old new girl, and so during this period I sadly just got my sandwich I had to order during the break between 2nd and 3rd period, found a bench, and ate by myself. I felt like I was part of some Disney Channel movie where the new girl starts out as a nerd and turns into a movie star, especially since I din't know that on the little sandwich bag the give you to write down your order, there are two little tickets and you are supposed to rip one off to prove that you paid for it. Luckily, one of the lunch ladies I had met before, and she spoke English, so she knew what had happened and they gave me my sandwich anyways!  Iwas dreading having another lunch period where I just sat by myself, expecially since I didn't have anything to eat anymore, so I kinda just walked between the buildings trying to look busy and inside secretly questioning why exactly it was that I wanted to come to a foreign country where I could barely speak the language after all... But luckily, there was this adorable girl a couple of years younger than me that recognized me from one of the French classes towards the beginning of the 6th period lunch, and so I talked to their little starstruck group of friends (yes, in English, but at that point i was so stressed I didn't really care...) and they asked me a bazillion questions. And I also figured out that everyone here automatically thinks Washington, D.C. and not Washington State. At first, I didn't understand why everyone was asking me if I had been to the White House and seen Obama and such. And after a while, I just kinda stopped trying to correct them because they really weren't getting the whole I-live-on-the-opposite-side-of-the-country thing.

7th Class: For my 7th class, there was a bit of a mix up. My cute little friends from lunch were trying to help me find my classroom, because I didn't know where to go, and they read the wrong thing. They read the regular person's schedule, and ignored the little write-in by the couselor. When I got to the classroom, someone told me I had the wrong room, that this class was 6B, and that right now 6C had chemistry. So then, I got walked to the chemistry classroom and by this time I was late to class... The guy who brought me to the class talked to the teacher and explained things, but she had no idea that I was going to be in her class. Since the rest of the teachers during the day had seemed to know, that was my first hint that something was a bit wrong. Also, I didn't remember the counselor saying that I would have chemistry (Trust me, I would have remembered after barely getting through chemistry IN ENGLISH!) On top of coming into the class late, there were these kids that switched seats and I got all confused on where they actually wanted me to go and finally someone just said, "Sit there. He speaks English!". So after causing quite the fuss, when I realized that I was supposed to be in math (the writing was in a weird place, and I had only just noticed it...), I just decided that for today I could stay put. But really, I didn't even try to understand it! I knew that I would be leaving the class for permanately after that day, and heck, I didn't like or really learn anything about chemistry in English, so why would I try in French???

8th Class: For this class, I was happy because I had art. But come to find out, I had art just crammed into my schedule and ended up having it with the 5th Years, instead of the 6th Years (which is what I am in...) And well, none of the 5th years spoke very good English, and neither did the teacher, and art terms are just not simply included in my limited French vocabulary, so that was an interesting period, to say the least. And I also realized that I am way out of my league... I mean, Athenee Royal Verdi is a school known for art, and these kids were GOOD. Ugh, I don't think I will be able to pass any class other than English!

9th Class: For the final class of the day, I got to breath a sigh of relief. I HAD ENGLISH! It was honestly like a little heaven after such a long day... That English class was with a different 4th year class. I guess they put me in the class in hopes that I could reverse the lessons and learn more French from it, but honestly I really just had fun being entertained by everyone's English. I know, they speak WAAAAAAAAAAAAY better English than I speak French, but it was still kinda funny. And on top of that, the teacher was super nice. She didn't understand at all why the heck I would be in an English class that low when I already spoke English, and she sympathized with my crazy schedule and claimed that even though almost every class the teachers have to move around, that my schedule was equal to or even mroe crazy than theirs. She also used me as part of the lesson, having me explain myself and why exactly I was in Belgium. She claimed that for the students, it was way better than listening to some boring tapes and taking notes on that. They also got the chance to ask me some questions, and I was suprised when people asked me why would I want ot come to Belgium, when I could go to somewhere beautiful like France. I think that Belgium is an absolutely beautiful country, and I am so glad that I got placed here. But then again, I guess I have thought to myself why would anybody ever want to come to the US, and yet everybody here is in love with it. I tried explaining all that to the class, but I am still not sure if they completely understood...

After school got out at 15 minutes past 4, I was so ready to go home. It was a long hard day, but what else can you expect when you move ot a different country for an entire year where you hardly understand (but are quickly learning!) the language???