Last night in Athens, Greece, we met up with my dad’s friend from college and his family. They had 3 children, Ally who was six, Reece who was nine, and Kaitlyn who was 11. We had a very nice dinner with them. Then completely out of nowhere, somebody said that it would be cool if Jayden and I went to school with them the next day. We agreed and to school we went.

La nuit dernière à Athènes, nous avons rencontré un ami d’université de mon père  Jeff et sa famille. Ils ont 3 enfants, Ally a 6 ans, Reece qui a 9 ans et Kaitlyn qui a 11 ans. Nous passions un bon moment avec eux quand soudain je ne sais pas trop comment c’est arrivé mais quelqu’un a dit “Mélia pourrait aller à l’école avec nous demain!”. Après quelques textos à la directrice, c’était tout arrangeait !

THE NEXT DAY, we woke up early and got ready for our first and last day of school in Athens. I was extremely nervous, I thought “what should I wear, is it cool enough? What should I put in my backpack, what should I pack for lunch?” I was tormented by these questions all the way through the subway station and on the walk to the school. When I got there, my anxiety doubled. It was bigger than I had anticipated. I knew it was an American school, but I thought that it would be more like my old private school, Bement, but no, this was exactly like an American middle and high school. I had never been in a public middle school before so this was all new to me. But I found Kaitlyn and we walked inside the campus.

Le jour suivant, nous nous sommes réveillés assez tôt, et nous nous sommes préparés pour notre premier et dernier jour d’école à Athènes. J’étais super nerveuse, je me demandais si ce que j’allais mettre serait assez cool? Qu’est ce qu’il fallait que je mette dans mon sac à dos? Qu’est ce qu’il fallait que j’amène pour le déjeuner? Je n’ai pas arrêté de penser à tout cela pendant le trajet dans le métro. Quand je suis arrivée à l’école mon anxiété devait toucher le ciel!!! L’école était immense, bien plus grande que Bement, car il y a aussi le Lycée.Heureusement, j’ai vite trouvé Kaitlyn, et elle est restée avec moi sur le campus.

Our first period was P.E. We did sprints and warm ups before playing dodge ball. I found out that I was particularly bad at it but it was fun anyways. After P.E., we went to language arts class. Since Kaitlyn was in 6th grade, this was all review for me but I still payed close attention. We all wrote small stories about prompts we read then talked about descriptive writing. After that class we had lunch. Since the cafeteria was full, I, Kaitlyn, and some of her friends ate outside. The cold wind blew around us and we shivered as we ate, but then we all played a game of tag to warm ourselves up. I liked her friends, they were kind and easy to be around, but they reminded me of my friends that I left behind in Massachusetts. That day was a special day where the students could sign up for clubs that they wanted to be in. There was an art club literature club, a Scrabble club etc. That part I didn’t find too interesting because it didn’t really concern me. It was about 70 minutes before we took off to art class. They were working on self-portraits so I just drew random things. A threesome of 7th grade girls were sitting across from us. One asked if I was new, and I told her the same thing I told so many people. They were all really interested and we were soon conversing about different things. After a half hour, they all wanted me to stay at their school! I think I made a few new friends that day. When the bell rang, Kaitlyn and I went to the 5th and final period, MATH. When the teacher asked me to introduce myself to the class and tell them where I came from, I found the opportunity to tell them about our trip. Straight away they were asking me questions and telling me I was really lucky. The teacher though got impatient and told them that the questions would have to wait. They were working on decimals and fractions so it wasn’t new material for me. I was a bit rusty, since it had been a year since I studied them. The teacher called me up to answer a fraction problem and I solved it with ease. Though I got stuck on most difficult addition of all, 19+4. My brain seemed to shut down at that moment and I could not come up with the right answer. Finally, I got that right but not before I made a fool of myself. Their teacher gave us all worksheets and the first part was easy, but I couldn’t remember how to convert decimals to fractions and visa versa. But before I could finish the last problem, the school bell rang, marking the end of my school day. I met my parents, Ally, Reece, and their mom and we said our good byes. This was my day at school in Greece, and I liked it.

I am very thankful for Kaitlyn to have been with me all day and I had a great time.

Le premier cours était gym, on a fait des sprints puis on a joué à dodge ball. J’ai découvert que je n’étais pas bonne à ce jeu! Mais c’était quand même sympa. Le cours suivant était anglais, j’ai un an de plus que Kaitlyn donc pour moi c’était un peu comme des révisions. On a écrit un petite histoire et on a discuté en classe de nos écrits. Puis on est allé manger comme la cantine était pleine on a mangé notre lunch dehors. On était un petit groupe avec les amies de Kaitlyn,  il y avait un petit vent glacial et on s’est un peu gelées. Ce jour là les élèves devaient choisir des clubs d’activité comme les échecs, littérature, scrabble …Ca ne me concernait pas vraiment. Après ils avaient une classe d’art, ils travaillaient sur des portraits, j’ai fait des dessins de mon côté. Pendant cette classe des filles de 5eme étaient assises en face de moi, elles m’ont demandé si j’étais nouvelle alors j’ai expliqué mon histoire. Elles avaient plein de questions, puis on a parlé d’autres choses, après 30 minutes elles voulaient que je reste à l’école! Je pense que je me suis faite de nouvelles amies. Puis on est allé en math, la prof m’a demandé de me présenter à la classe. Et de nouveau les élèves se sont mis à me poser pleins de questions, la prof a vite arrêté la conversation sinon personne n’aurait travaillé. On fait des exercises sur les fractions, je suis passée au tableau pour résoudre un problème, j’étais un peu nerveuse du coup j’ai fait quelques erreurs. Puis la cloche a sonné la fin de la journée, on est sorti. J’ai retrouvé mon frère et la maman de Kaitlyn, puis mes parents sont arrivés. On s’est dit au revoir. J’ai passé une très bonne journée et Kaitlyn a été super, elle ne m’a jamais laissé toute seule.