High school is much more fun than I thought it would be. For the past two years, I had been worrying and shedding tears over the fear that it would not welcome me with open arms, and I can safely say that all of the days I spent imagining horrible scenarios were time wasted over nothing. Thankfully, high school was a much easier transition than than the one from elementary school to middle school. What surprises me the most is the fact that I spend seven hours a day in the same building as hundreds of people who have their own high school stories, like the time they started driving, the first prom and homecoming they went to, and the many friends and enemies created as a result of changing as a person.

In all honesty, I don’t know who I’ll be in four years. Right now, I have unrealistically high expectations normal to any freshman that hasn’t understood the pressure of being an upperclassman. I share a Yearbook class with some juniors and seniors that are bombarded with stacks of papers and lists of assignments online. It is incomprehensible the amount of time they invest in work and the amount of time they’ve given up from the rest of their lives for it. The next years of my life mark a new chapter that will be full of tears, stress, memories, and accomplishments.

Overall, I have to thank high school the most for introducing me to lots of new friends and helping me strengthen my relationships with old ones. If I hadn’t taken a certain class, I wouldn’t have met an amazing person who told me about her experience with the Odyssey. In other words, I have her to thank for helping me reach this far, but I would never have met her if I hadn’t taken that class with her. School is tough enough on its own with the amount of pressure and work, but I believe that the key to succeeding in academics is to have a large friend group to help you on days when you are feeling down and keep you up on your feet when you feel better.

The past few weeks have been tiring for me, both physically and mentally, because I don't think I really grasped the concept of how much work I was receiving until it hit me that finals are coming extremely soon. Personally, I find it amazing that so many people out there experience this same feeling of exhaustion, no matter where they are from, who they are, or what they do. School may tear us apart with the workload and constant stress, but somehow, it brings us students together and lets us bond over last-minute studying and questions at 11 in the night.

This article is a small message to myself for the one day that I accidentally stumble upon this piece and imagine once again how it felt to be a little fish in a big pond.