MOVING AWAY FROM HOME.

            Traveling is something people like to do. It is fun, it is exciting and it is something people generally enjoy. But, this is not always the case, especially when you know that wherever you are going, you are not going to be able to go back to what you call home.

             Moving from place to place has been part of my life since I was a child. Ever since I began high school, I have had to move twice. I spent my ninth grade and the first semester of my tenth grade in Uganda, Africa .I had my second semester of my tenth grade and first semester of my eleventh grade in Ottawa, Canada. Finally I am spending the rest of my junior  and senior year in what people call “ the land of opportunity,” U.S.A. Sure going to another country is fun, but only when you know that wherever you are going, you will be able to go back to the place you just got used to and now call home. Now traveling doesn’t seem so much fun, huh! The choice of whether I have wanted to move or not has always been up to my parents. Whether I like it or not I have had to follow what they tell me. The hardest part about moving for me has been joining new schools. High school is fun, but truthfully, teenagers can be very mean and decide to make your life miserable. Luckily enough, I so far I have had no trouble with anyone.

            I have to say, you would think that after joining two different other new schools I would be used to it .Well no! On my first day of school here, I was a nervous wreck. Every time I am nervous, my stomach does somersaults and I tend to go to the bathroom a lot. This is exactly what happened. The day before we began school, my brother and I went to meet the guidance counselor who was very nice to us. So as soon we got to school, she is the first person we went to. Unfortunately for her but fortunately for my brother and me we could not go to class right away because we had to do some paper work so we were stuck following her around.

            After the paperwork was done and all our schedules had been figured out, we had to go to the nurse’s office to confirm our eye checkups and to give her our physical test results. That was the easy part. At lunch time, our guidance counselor told us that we could go walk around the school, have lunch and meet her later on. That was like feeding us to the sharks. I felt that everywhere I went and every step I took I was being watched. My brother and I were not courageous enough to go to the cafeteria so instead we went to the library, sat together and talked. This is something we never do, especially in school. If it was not for the fact that we shared a last name, no one would know that we are related. But we stuck this one out and had lunch together in the library! When lunch was over, he escorted me to the class I had that afternoon.

            Up until this point, no one had spoken to me yet. The first and only class I had that day was pre-calculus. When I got into class, the teacher made an announcement telling everyone about the arrival of the ‘new kid.’ I should have seen that one coming. Every teacher does this whenever they have a new student amongst them. This was the worst part of my day. I had to introduce myself and funny enough, everyone was paying attention to me like I was a math number. Yet as I recall when I walked into the class, the teacher was struggling to gain the student’s attention. But however much I hated introducing myself, I held my head up and answered every question that was thrown at me like as if I had been amongst them for a while. It took me about five minutes to get settled down and once I was comfortable in my seat, my WW1 for not falling asleep began. It was a long war and as I sat there blank to what my teacher was teaching and feeling very sleepy, I started looking forward to seeing my brother again. I was worried about how he was doing and wondering if he was ok. If my brother found out about what I was saying right now, I would deny it .And he would deny being glad that I was there for him on our first day.

            The sound of the bell was like sweet music from heaven to me. I have never loved the sound of the bell as much as I loved it on that day. I quickly rose from my seat, went to my locker to meet my brother and we both conquered the jungle of the hallway until we were out. Freedom! Freedom at last!!!! We were free, our first day of school had ended and we quickly went to board the bus and head home. My brother and I went through that experience together and we will silently be grateful for one another’s company on that day for a very long time.

            Yes, I have hated moving. Yes, I am still angry that we had to move, but that will pass. However much I do not like moving from place to place, I will always make the best of it. I mean I can’t be miserable forever. And to top it all up, even if my brother does not know this, he is the reason I have been strong in all our moves and for that I will always be grateful to him.