The first week of high school, as freshmen, is a highly anticipated event in any student’s life. Movies and television prepare us for a first week filled with anxiety. We worry about whether the popular group will accept us or reject us, whether the seniors will choose to terrorize us or, leave us be. As I reached the first day of high school I worried, that I wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure or the workload that came with the freshman title. However, by the end of my first day, I came to the conclusion that the first week of high school, is not that big of a deal; and that the stereotypes I had been fed my whole life were not accurate.

First period, I arrived late and had to ask a security guard to let me in the gym where my class had already assembled. If you had told me that would be my first memory in high school any other time, I would have died of embarrassment, but in reality, it was no big deal. I got in the gym and sat with the first friend I saw. No one mentioned my apparent disregard for punctuality. The rest of the day went well, I struggled to find my classes, but not as much as I had expected to. I did have a few mishaps such as going to English a period early and forgetting my locker combination, but all in all my first day was a success. My classes were interesting and engaging. I wasn’t bored, even on the second and third day as I had expected to be. The teachers were funny and personable, and they all treated the students with respect.

One thing that surprised me the first day was that the boys were not all deep-voiced, muscle-clad, giants, and the girls hadn’t started dressing as if they were going to New York fashion week. Kids who were scrawny in middle school were still scrawny in high school. I learned that Cheryl Blossom and Clay Jensen are played by twenty-year-olds and not an accurate representation of teenagers.

Now that I’ve made it through my first week of high school, I’m not worried about my second. My expectations were not accurate; my first week went better than I ever thought it would. I look forward to more positive experiences at my new high school. Freshman year will be a good one, I can tell.