I tell this story so often you would think I were a broken record.
I have been the “new student” so often that it’s not even a big deal anymore, so I’m just going to cut to the chase. My father is in the Navy so I move a lot. I lived in Florida for eleven years, then went to school in Washington state for my freshman year, and now live in  Maryland finishing my high school career. Washington was actually  one of the places I have lived that I liked. I was born there, the people seem similar to my personality, and its cold and slightly gloomy. However, I love Maryland as well because D.C is close. When I first got here, a two-day drive through snowy mountains from Washington, I registered to attend Great Mills High School.
Coming from Great Mills makes North Point look pretty darn great. I practically begged my parents to move up here while they were debating whether moving up here would be beneficial or not. In addition to that, during my last days attending Great Mills, I only heard good things about North Point like, “wow that’s a great school.”  Also everyone, even my guidance counselor, thought that I would have to apply to go here. Not register, which is what I did, apply. This was one of the pieces of gossip that bothered me for the most part. I was really intimidated for awhile. I thought this was some advanced school where everyone has straight A’s and would not be allowed to attend without a 4.0 GPA. A fellow classmate of mine even voiced that North Point was her dream school like it was holy or something. My first week was okay. I liked all of my teachers and my classmates were great. From what I’ve experienced, everyone seems focused on their future and serious about accomplishing goals.
Speaking of teachers, I would like to say that I love my AP lit teacher. She is the best, because she teaches her class very well. Our class started out with literally four students and at the time she made it work. It was comfortable having the few classmates and her being very diligent but also relaxed. She is open minded and often welcomes conversations that involve everyone in the commentary. For example, we would talk about social issues in relation to summer reading. I like that she does this because she makes our learning environment more mature and welcoming.  However, honestly I prefer the class as it is now with more classmates because we have more minds to hear and learn from.
The one thing that bothered me the most was my locker. I never used it because I never used a locker throughout high school. You can imagine my agitation when I heard that backpacks could not be carried from class to class. I literally tried to open it over four thousand times. Eventually I took extreme measures and had to call two  building service workers to help me open it. To make it worse they spent almost the entire NEST helping me figure out how to use a lock. Something I  noticed in this school is that people assume you’ve spent your entire high school career here. I spent a lot of time confused by everything and repeating, “um I’m new so I don’t”, to all of my teachers which is awkward.
As a new student I have a couple tips on how to survive being new since I have been new numerous of times. Firstly, and most importantly, you need to relax and realize you are most likely not the only new person and even if you are it’s not that noticeable. You also have to be yourself; don’t try to take on other people’s interest with the intention to fit in. It not only starts disingenuous relationships, but you actually don’t have any friends. The persona you created does. Also work on being open and interacting with others when given a chance or even looking for things you have in common with them to start a conversation about. You can tell by someone’s body language if they are interested in being your friend or not. Also being open minded to other ideas and new things in general will open the door for meeting new people. A fellow senior, Amani Jackson says that, “being in a new environment would be strange,” when asked what she would be concerned about when starting college next year. From my experience of moving around a lot I would have to say that it takes only little time to adapt to a new area, especially once you find common ground with society and social norms.  Being open minded can also introduce a lot more education about other cultures and ideas that you should be informed about. Lastly, you honestly shouldn’t pressure yourself to make friends. Learning to be on your own is actually very productive and it’s okay to not have friends for a period of time in your life. People will naturally gravitate to you; don’t force it.
I think of myself as strange because I’m not really keen on having friends or making effort to make them. When you move around a lot  you make no effort anymore to try, and if you’re like me, you kind of can’t anyway. During all the years I have spent in high school I have come in contact with six friendly acquaintances; two at my last school, which I only met  in class and four here, who I  also only meet with during class. So no friends but, I’m actually pretty comfortable that way. I like isolation most of the time; I got used to it. I think college is the place for me to make friends. Overall I like it here, my peers seem to actually care about their futures and I find the atmosphere relaxing here as well.