Up until today I never felt even a hint of worry for my first school day here in Canada. I don't know why, but I simply don't feel nervous before doing something new (e.g. I didn't feel nervous for coming here). I really didn't know what to expect and I had no idea what this school would provide me or what was expected from me as a student. I was of course avoiding some things I knew weren't good. I didn't want to come too late or too early to any class. I tried to not be lonely for a longer period of time (which was really easy since I was constantly being introduced to new people by the people I already knew).
My first class, Physics, started at 9 am. So I left the house at 8:30 to bike to school (which only takes maybe 10 minutes). The school was just packed with people catching up with each other after the summer break and I had to fight myself towards the reception. There I asked for my schedule and about the locker (which I didn't yet have) and I was sent to the cafeteria. There I met Ella (I've met her a few times before) who was helpful and showed me to my classroom. It was room 115 and everyone was already there so Ella introduced me to the teacher and then she went to her class. The Physics class I choose is grade 12, and I'm in grade 11 so I think I'm about a year behind. But I'll be fine, I'm sure.
The three biggest differences between the Canadian school and the Swedish would probably be the classes, the schedule and lunch. In Sweden you are a part of a class of about 20-30 students and you have (usually) all your classes with the same people. In Canada you as an individual get to choose your own classes (and even the level and grade of the classes) and then you go to the classes, with different people in them all.
In Sweden the schedule is different from day to day, repeating every week. The classes and breaks can be different lengths and you can start and finish at different times every day. In Canada (or at least in my school) all the classes start at 9 am, all the classes are 75 minutes and there is a break of 10 minutes between every class. You have two classes in the morning and two in the afternoon. Your lunch break is 60 minutes and sports are either before or after school. The schedule is the same for every day, so you've got the same four subjects every day for a semester. For the second semester you choose four new subjects. In my school the third and fourth period classes are switched every other days, but that is apparently not very common in Canada.
In Canada you have to either bring your own lunch or buy it in the cafeteria. In the cafeteria it seems like they only sell junk food like pizza and fries. Anyways, this means I'll be making lunch to bring to school every day. That fells so bizarre! Something else you also need to bring is your own school supplies. So yesterday I went and chose some notebooks and pens and stuff. Today after school I had a list from all of my classes with even more things I had to buy! Like a scientific calculator! Whaaaaaaaat!?
For second period I had Chemistry, grade 11 this time. Pheew. It was during this lesson I realized what was going to be the most difficult in school. The hardest part of going to a school where they don't speak Swedish will be learning all the terms which are used within each of the subjects. Even if I know something in math, I might not realize it in the beginning because they have a completely different word for everything. But I'll be fine, this will just be fun.
After Chemistry I had lunch and during this hour I was introduced to a lot of people, I think I now can recognize maybe a fifth of the 11/12th graders at my school. My school is by the way called Saugeen District Secondary School, or SDSS and there is about 600 student there.
My third class was Math and the teacher was the first one to be close to pronouncing Börjeson correctly! Apparently ö is hard to pronounce. Math was fun, but we got homework. On the first day. To be finished for the second day. And I've also got Chemistry homework. ööööööööööööööööööö.
My last class was musical theatre! Yes, I'm in theatre. The persons least likely to enjoy something like that. The only reason I choose it was because all the people I got to know before school told me it was really fun and that they were doing it. So I went there, with 77 other student and is was SO FUN! I really enjoyed it. This year we are doing Grease, so at least I know some of the songs already. And no, I'm not auditioning to be Sandy. I told them I can be a bush or a stone or something in the background.
Homework on the first day?!
