Before I knew it, my alarm was going off, and I had to get up for my first day of school. It still bothered me to know that wearing a uniform was required, but I guess it made sense. If you’re all wearing the same thing, they can’t really judge you for what you wear, and they have to focus more on how you act or your personality. It helps diminish bullying a bit, I think. I was shocked to learn most of the world wears uniforms though, and the United States is one of those that doesn’t. Required, that is.
You see, the United States is like that with a lot of things. They don’t use the same measurement system or temperature compared to the rest of the world. I always thought it was weird to learn that other countries use Celsius until I learned that we were the odd ones that didn’t use it. We were one of five countries to use Fahrenheit. The rest use Celsius.
Anyways, I got dressed in the uniform that the school required and headed into the kitchen. I grabbed a bowl of Cheerios out of the cupboard, and sat at the island and ate them. They tasted better than normal. I wondered if they made them differently over here. I grabbed my backpack and decided to go outside for a few minutes. I saw people were already out and moving around. A few people were walking up and down the street, and I saw a couple of kids wearing a similar uniform as me. I figured they went to the same school as me. I ran down the steps and went up to this fairly tall fellow with brown hair.
“Excuse me, do you go to Elizabeth Academy?” I asked, trying to get his attention.
“Um, yes. Why do you ask?” he replied.
“Well, I don’t know how to get there. You see, I just moved here and my parents didn’t even tell me how to get to the school,” I said, trying not to look or sound like an idiot, but I felt that was becoming the case anyway.
“Oh, follow me then. My name is Jack, by the way. What’s yours?” Jack asked, smiling.
“Charlie. Charlie Ackermann. When did you guys start school?” I asked, walking with him down the street towards a hill.
“Funny you say that, we just started today. Where you from?”
“United States. I hated it there,” I rolled my eyes.
“Why?”
“People are treated differently there.”
When we got to the top of the hill, we went down a bunch of stairs, into a wooded area. At the end of the path, it opened, and I could see a big building which resembled a school. It said “Elizabeth Academy” on it. I thought it was further to the school, but I guess not. When I got closer to the school, I noticed that there was also little kids there. I guess Year 12’s weren’t the only year that attended. I kept following Jack, though, not knowing where to go. He walked up to this group of tall, buff men that were standing under a tree. I got scared because tall men scared me. I turned to go the other way, but Jack stopped me.
"Where are you going Charlie?”
“Uh I was just looking around-,” I said, scared.
“Let me introduce you to my friends,” he smiled.
“O- oh- okay,” I stuttered.
He walked me over to them, and said, “Hey fellas. This is Charlie. He just moved here from America.”
“Hi,” I said
“Hello. I’m Hunter. Welcome to Australia!” the tallest one said. He was pale, and had swampy green eyes.
“I’m Jake,” another said. He had black hair, dark skin, and light brown eyes, almost hazel.
“I’m Finley, Finley Dunstan” the shortest one said. He was around my height, and he had blue eyes. I loved blue eyes. It was my favorite color, too, so it only made me love them even more. He had short light blond hair, but the top of it was dyed black. He was skinny, but his arms were mostly muscle. I felt a connection almost immediately.
The five of us spent most of the time discussing the differences between America and Australia, and I learned a few things about how to approach people and what to say. They told me that koala bears weren’t as common as everyone from other parts of the world thought they were. It shocked me; I thought they ruled Australia. Not literally, of course, but I was always told that koalas were really common. It goes to show you though: whatever you think is true, most of the time, isn’t. Humans are a lot like that, too.
The day went fairly well, but my favorite period was definitely English. It was nice knowing that I had classes with some of the kids that I had met that morning. Jake was in my Graphic Design class. Finley was in my English class. That upset me though, because Finley seemed to be the most interesting. I didn’t understand it because he acted the same as the others: funny and always laughing, but something inside of me told me that he was more than that. I found myself wanting to talk to him more, so I made it my goal for that week to do that: talk to Finley.
