Graduation was one of the most dreaded days. Although we had a countdown to graduation in our senior lounge, it was an extremely bittersweet moment for all of us. We were obviously happy to be done with school, happy to be on summer vacation, yet sad to know that we are done with the school that had become our family, and leaving the city that we were all in love with.
On graduation day, I stood there with my 55 classmates and realized that this was it; this was the last time we would all be together. We were a small class; 55 people does not compare to the big high school experience most people have. One may think it would be simple to organize a reunion for 56 people when it's possible to do it for hundreds. But being from an international school, we all knew that this would never happen. Everyone was from everywhere; our whole school, from Pre-K to grade 12 was compromised of only 800 students of 60 nationalities. Not only were we devastated by the fact that we would not meet each other again but we realized how lucky we had been to be educated in such a multicultural environment, and it quickly hit us that we may never be in a room again where so many countries are being represented.
Standing on that stage that day, I knew and had to accept that this was the last time we would ever be together because as soon as the ceremony ended people were jetting off to different parts of the world. Luckily enough, 34 of us managed to make it to our senior trip where we spent a wonderful week in Greece. This too was bittersweet. We were spending a week together, speaking to people that we had not really gotten the chance to speak to before, going on exciting adventures together and getting to know ourselves and each other, only to know that at the end of this trip it was all over. At the end of the trip everyone would break off and head back home, wherever that may be, but not only for the summer this time. We were not returning to the same school again in the fall, some did not know when they would ever return back to Prague.
The education and the opportunities we got studying at an international school were like no other. We had the opportunity to travel to different countries for a week at the start of every school year. Every sports tournament, debate competition, Model UN conference and so on, from middle to high school was hosted in a different international schools around central and Eastern Europe. These opportunities are pretty unique as in one year you could visit upward of three countries with different clubs/organizations.
We also gained such distinctive knowledge from both our classmates and teachers that makes us so culturally aware of the world around us. Almost every student in the school was bilingual, speaking English and his or her mother tongue as well as at least one foreign language that we had to take at school. Our lunchtime conversations often included heated arguments over different world issues, not to say that we did not have our normal teenage gossip sessions. But the conversations we had, and the perspectives that were shown were truly worldly, which allowed everyone to adopt a little bit of everyone’s culture into their own.
I can honestly say that going to an international school was the best thing that ever happened to me.
Also, we have friends everywhere – don’t underestimate an international school kid’s network.
