Personal Narrative Essay: My First Day Of High School

The alarm woke me up at about 7:00 o’clock in the morning. I remember it like it was yesterday, staring at my phone feeling scared and excited to begin a new chapter in my life. I was starting my first day of highschool, but instead of being at the school I had planned on going to since I was 11, I was starting high school on the complete opposite side of the world. Netanya, Israel was where I was going to spend the next year of my life. I still couldn’t believe I wasn’t starting high school with all of my old friends, it’s all we had talked about since middle school.

So many thoughts were racing through my mind but my dad and I were already running late, so the only thing I could think about was what shoes I was going to wear. I put on my favorite pair of Nikes and then we were out the door. We got to my school and just by looking at my surroundings I already knew things weren’t how

Some boys were sitting on a bench and they were smoking cigarettes. I didn’t understand this because in America it’s prohibited to smoke on school grounds, especially when a young high schooler is doing it. I was amazed at how laid back everything seemed. Nobody was hurrying to get to class and it looked more like a social gathering rather than kids going to school. The weather was warm like always, so everyone was outside. I remember walking past people and feeling too scared to even look them in the eyes. At the time I could only speak a bit of hebrew, so the thought of someone trying to ask me something was a nightmare I didn’t want to experience. I continued looking around and I noticed there was a stand where you could buy pastries. I got extremely excited because I have never had something like that at my schools before, and the pastries in Israel were beyond amazing. I looked at the time and I had 10 minutes to find the office before my first class actually