Going to a new school is hard, I should know. I’ve been to many different schools in two different continents. No two schools are the same or even have similar rules. I’m new to Dobie and this school district, in general, this year and so far it’s been pretty difficult. I’ve lived in multiple houses in England (mainly in North Yorkshire) and gone through preschool, primary and high school all in the UK already. I’ve only gone to one school in the states before when I was five till I was nearly eight and then we went back to England. My dad has a job to do with the government which is why we move around a lot. I was actually born in Maryland but around three months after I was born, we moved to England. I love everything about England, especially the weather, and as much as I wish I could be there instead, I realize that that can’t happen so I’m trying to be as happy as I can be here.

I came from a school in England where you have to wear a uniform- most of the girls wear skirts but some like me chose to wear trousers instead. Most of the girls looked the same even without the uniforms because the vast majority had long hair and followed popular fashion trends so they all dressed alike; I obviously do not have long hair and I enjoy dressing ‘alternative’ so I didn’t really fit in with many people. Here, obviously, most schools do not have uniforms but do have a dress code. Most rules about dress codes seem fairly pointless because they’re all to do with being distracting, but in my eyes, it’s more distracting to make a big deal about having ripped jeans than just sitting at school wearing them. Also, a lot of the dress code is aimed towards girls which makes it seem like a boys education is of more value than a girl being comfortable. I think that the dress code should be more relaxed and in my opinion, students have every right to complain about the rules regarding clothing.

From my experience, schools in the US are much larger than in the UK. I lived in the countryside in England and the high school I went to was around twenty minutes away. It had a total of five different grades and yet there was only an average of six hundred students. The bigger the school, the more confusing it is to remember where everything is. At my school in England, I knew everyone’s names and I knew all the teachers too. However, I know relatively nobody here but I can tell that the teachers are nicer than at my last school. At Dobie the teachers will gladly help you out with the problems you’re having in and out of school, that wouldn’t happen at my previous school.

In general, I miss England but so far Dobie has proved to be a good school and hopefully will continue to be.