Exchange student from Czech Republic in Texas: After the three weeks of school

The first week of school - My first day started at 5:45am. (I am not a morning person and every day I have to wake up at 5:45 am grrrr). I got up, took a shower, prepared my backpack, and had breakfast. Then I went to the bus stop. The school bus leaves at 6:38 and there is only this bus which can take you to school. If you oversleep it is bigger problem than in Czech because you don’t have any other connection to school except a car. I was so excited about my first ride by the typical yellow American school bus! But to be honest it is nothing special. The space between seats is really narrow and the bus is full of students and what else the bus is going to school! Traffic the first day was appalling. It was the first day so many parents took their kids to school. My bus finally arrived at Cypress Ranch High School at 7:05. I had the feeling that I was in other universe. My school in Czech has 500 students but there are 3200 students at Cy-Ranch. Counting staff and students, my new school is 8 times bigger and that’s crazy. To be honest I was really scared! There were 3 reasons: 1) the school is 8 times bigger. 2) I had absolutely no idea how to navigate my new U.S. school system. There were freshmen too and like me they had questions about how things at school worked. But they had an advantage because they already passed elementary and middle school in the American system. For me, this process was a mystery. 3) I was also scared because everything was in English! :D I walked in the school and my first mission was to find my schedule somewhere near the auditorium. This mission ended with achievement. My first class was Physics L (L level means the lower level of class). I had no idea where to find my class, but fortunately the first day there were a lot of staff there to help students with directions. I found my class and took a seat. Mrs. Fenhaus introduced herself and then she talked about rules and the policies in her class like tardies, grades,… (about rules and grades I’m writing in the next part of this article). After this class I had Teen Leadership (I have TLS only for the first semester because the second semester I’m going to have a Economics K). This class is was at the other end of the school from my Physics class. So I got directions and I walked and walked and walked. Breaks here are 6 minutes long and I need 4 minutes of fast paced walking to get to a portable building. The portables are outside of the building because our huge school is too small. At the beginning of second period is we say the pledge to the US and Texas flags and then we hear announcements from the school office (like who played any game, if there is any important event in school, etc.). But Mrs. Buchner reviewed the same rules as Mrs. Fenhaus. When the bell rang I needed to move to US History K (K level means the hardest level) and again I needed to walk to this class at the opposite part of the building. Mrs. Dersch had the same speech about rules and class requirements. After US lesson I went to my Pre-calculus K class. Mrs. Hogan again talked about the same stuff. From Math I went to the English III K with Mr. Rhodes. I think he is the best teacher I have. He is a friendly, energetic person. I feel really comfortable in his class. After this lesson I had finally lunch. I brought lunch from home and I met with another exchange student Paloma and it was good because I wasn’t alone. :D For lunch I had 30 minutes and then I went to Human Geography AP (AP level means harder level than K because it is college level and after successfully completing an AP exam you have some credits to a college) Mrs. Smart talked again about rules and things like that. Finally after 6th period I went to my 7th period which was soccer. The first day Coach Garcia talked about what he expected from us. My school day ended and I had 10 minutes to catch my school bus back to the home. I couldn’t believe how many school buses there were (probably 40-60). I found my bus and rode home with the crowd.

Day 2: The second day, I was still confused but things were better. I think that there wasn’t anything special which about I must talk now. Perhaps that I changed Physics L to Physics K because L level is really low. And in soccer we must impress our coach to stay in the varsity soccer class.

The second week of school –The second week started with great news. I made the cut to stay in the varsity soccer class. I went to the counselor’s office to get my new schedule the change for my new physics class from L level to the K level class. I found my new physics class with Mrs. Staples (She is a great teacher) without any difficulty. The second week in all of the second period classes, we practiced school rules and drills. Every day we had one drill and some explanation of school rules. The first drill was a fire drill. It’s impressive that this school with 3500 people is able evacuate faster than my school in Czech with 550 people. The noise of fire alarm is really loud! Drill next day was really creepy for me. It was preparing for a shooter or dangerous intruder in the school. In this case the doors are locked automatically, you have to turn off all lights, cover windows, be quiet, move the farthest from windows and doors and hope and wait for signal “all clear”. But that was really scary because if it is necessary you must fight. It was only a drill but everyone was very quiet. I think that everyone thought about what they would do if this situation really happened. Another drill was about chemicals and stuff like that. I really didn’t understand the purpose of this drill… :D The last one was preparing for a hurricane. So exotic for me! It’s called “duck and cover” and you have to go to the building near to stable walls and areas without windows (so commons and gym) and cover yourself. Some school rules seem crazy for me. For example, the school office pays a lot of attention to dress code but these rules affect more girls than boys. When you are going to school by car and you have three tardies in 6 weeks in the 1st period you must ride the school bus (bad luck). Other cool information - all parking spaces in the parking lot are sold! Students that drive to school must have an assigned parking spot. This is the craziest rule for me. If we a teacher takes away your phone your parents must go to school and pay $15 dollars to get your cell-phone back. I we had this rule in our Czech school that school would be really rich and parents really poor as we always have access to our phones.

In soccer we started, in Coach Garcia words “two weeks of fun”. It was NOT fun!!!! Especially for me! I usually have no problem with running and fitness but running in 45°C is nothing for me. Running in the Texas heat and humidity (98 degrees) cause me to overheat. After a few practices it got better. I also got my first grade in school in math - 100% yeaaaaah.

The third week of the school - It has been the best week at the school. This week finished with Homecoming (about this event in the next article – but simply, this is a huge social event and what’s more it is a great event!). The whole week was both fun and funny. Every day there were different dress themes. The first day was America Day so people wore everything with US symbols. Then was Twins Day, where friends dressed up to look like each other. Then was Western Day. It was so cool. (Before I return home, I need to buy cowboy boots, a big belt, and a cowboy hat!) On Thursday was princes/superhero day. It was hilarious when I met so many people in the commons dressed as Superman, Batman, or a princess. The last day was School Spirit Day. Because this was day before homecoming many people wore a weird big plastic “flowers” called mums. It looked ok on girls but on boys it looked little bit weird (gay) (sorry guys I’m from Europe). :D On Wednesday we had a huge school parade. Every group (sports, band,…) had a car with a decorated trailer and we rode around school and then we were introduction on the football field. There were a lot of parents and it was cool! On Friday, we had a pep rally. (Smaller parade only in our school). Because we have “small” gym there were two sessions during 7th period. The pep rally was to create school spirit before the homecoming football game on the Friday and homecoming on the Saturday (more about this in the next article). We ended two weeks of fun and I decided that I would change US history to European History in the second semester if that will be possible.

Words at the end – I’m writing this blog not only to document my experiences, but also for people who want become an exchange student. Be prepared! This is NOT a vacation or holiday for you. The school work is hard. Not because there are harder classes (I actually think that this is easier than in Czech) but simply because you must learn everything in English. You will spend more time on homework and on reading than native speakers. There is a different school system. I’m only able to compare this with Czech education system. I think that Czech high school (especially Gymnasium) is

more like a college. At home I need only pen, paper, laptop and that’s all. In class you must be quiet and pass the year with good grades. When you are really interested in something you must do more things than other students. You must take great notes in school. At home you study for end of course exams. In the U.S. you have more work at home. Sometimes I think that I’m wasting time in school because all work I’m doing at home. I have more reading and I have to make notes at home. I really don’t get that. And what is the most bizarre for me is that I’m using color pencils again!! :D after 4-5 years maybe I feel like at the elementary school again. (sometimes)… :D On the other hand school with native Americans is great for improving your English. I never expected before that I would be able to write in English the way I’m writing in school now. Also, I never expected that I would give a speech in front of my class of Americans students and they would understand me! After this you have nice feeling that you are improving in English. There are daily, assessment, and major grades. They have another values and then system counted average and that is your final grade. So 100-90% is A, 90-80=B, 80-75=C, 75-70=D, -70=F. The last (I think nice) think what I want say is that teachers usually wait for everyone in front of or in class and they ask how are you or something like that. :)