A new home, new people, a new school...

So, I don't really know where to start... One week has gone by since I arrived. I have been really busy with school and it has been exhausting to adapt to a whole new country, even a new continent, without knowing anyone. That's why I haven't posted any news for some time even though a lot has been going on.

So I came here Friday, and I got to meet Denise for the first time. She's really sweet but unfortunately she broke her ankle 6 weeks ago and has some difficulties walking, so I haven't been much around in Savannah yet. But for what I have seen until now, it is really pretty, the buildings are all quite old and look amazing. It's also really warm, around 30 degrees, at least. For the past days it has been raining and thundering a lot though. 

I started school on Monday, and it is just as different from the school system that I am used to, as it probably can get. I take the bus every morning at 6:30 which is kinda insane for someone like me, who loves sleeping.. I also have to wear a school uniform. It's actually not that bad at all, I can choose between a white or black shirt, black or kaki pants, a skirt, or a black or kaki dress. Apparently they take it quite seriously, which I found out yesterday, when I got sent to the uniform closet to put on another shirt because mine didn't have a collar... They also handed me out a list with all the uniform rules, because if I get sent there a second time, I get detention. Oupps..

The first day of school

   

When I came there the first day, they just handed me out my schedule and sent me to my first class, I didn't get to choose my classes myself which I wasn't very happy about. But after changing my schedule a couple of times, it now looks like this:

A-days: 1. U.S. History                      B-days: 1. French III 

             2. American Literature                       2. Geometry 

             3. Music History                               3. Piano

             4. Art I                                             4. Physics               

It switches from A-day to B-day every day, so this week A-days were on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and next week they'll be on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every class last one and a half hour, so the classes are reaaaally long, but surprisingly time passes quite quickly. The school is pretty big, and i mostly walk around, being lost, between more or less every class. There are about 800 people in my school, but it is so big because of the big theatre stage, the dance studios etc. Their cafeteria isn't that big, which means that there is A lunch, B lunch and C lunch. It depends on what class you have in 3rd period and what teacher, and then some people eat before 3rd period, from 11-11:30, some actually eat in the middle of 3rd period, so that they take a break in the middle of their class from 11:30-12 amd the rest eat from 12-12:30. I have A lunch every day, so it's pretty simple for me. I have't spent any lunch break on my own yet, so I'm taking that as a good sign haha. 

The classes themselves aren't that hard actually. French III is the 2nd hardest French class, and it is way too easy for me. I didn't want to switch to French IV, because I didn't want to change my schedule again. Then I would be in different classes, but I already got to know the people in all of my classes better, and I didn't want to start at the beginning again. Besides, I figured it'd be good with at least one really easy class so that I can focus on the others.

Hmm so these are my notes from French class.. For those of you who live
 in Luxembourg, you know what I mean :p 

I will never ever complain about having a lot of homework at home anymore though, because it is nothing compared to this! Every day, without any exception, I do homework for a couple of hours, it is something that every teacher thinks is important here, and they don't care that we have homework or tests for other classes too, like they do back home. Apart from that we have a quiz or test at the end of almost every week in every class, so that the teacher can see if we're paying attention, which honestly just sucks.
I'm a piano major, so during my piano classes we actually just practice the pieces that we'll play for the semester examn by ourselves. At the end of a lesson I heard some of them play and I was speachless...They play so well, it's insane, I feel pretty talentless next to them haha.
So a normal day for me practically looks like this: I get up in the morning, go to school from 7:45 to 3 o'clock, I'm home again at a quarter past 4 because the bus ride is pretty long, and then I do homework until late in the evening.

Everything was really hard in the beginning. Even though I think I have spoken to more people during the last week than in the past couple of years, and all of them were just so nice to me, I still didn't really know them yet. I just felt really alone and in the wrong place, and I missed everyone at home a lot. But after Wednesday it all got better. I started to get to know some of the people in my classes better and except for all the learning parts, it is now kind of fun.
Everyone's really curious about hearing how it is back in Denmark and Luxembourg. One day for example, I sat next to a guy in a copmpletely packed school bus (yes, the yellow ones) and he just started talking to me, asking if I was a freshman, since he had never seen me before, which you would never ever do in Luxembourg. Another guy in my piano class turned around and looked at me, while the teacher was introducing me and said: "Welcome to Savannah Arts! Wow you have pretty eyes by the way" haha. The girls are all really nice and ask me if I want to sit with them during lunch. Many people in the hallways say "Hi Sara, how's it going today?" but I gotta be honest with you, I don't remember their names or where I have seen them before.. which brings me in some pretty embarassing situations sometimes :p So as you can see, I have no problems with meeting new people, which is nice.

There are a couple of girls that I'm already becoming better friends with. Lots of them suggested to show me downtown Savannah, and the cafés and shops where they normally hang out. Today, I'm going to the mall with one of them, her name's Mia and she's great. 

The speaking-English-part is actually going really well, I'm already used to it now. Now, after the first couple of hard days, I'm really looking forward to staying here. Talk to you soon,

Sara xx