I walked up to the old brick building, the flag blew aggressively in the wind above. Nerves coursing through my body, I said goodbye to my mom, and entered through the big metal doors.” My first thought was that the school was so big compared to my last one. There were new faces, new hallways, very long hallways, and a ton of classrooms. My old school was very tall, but very small. There weren't many classrooms back home. I was only 9 years old and I had no idea how much this move would change me.

    Moving from Massachusetts was unexpected. The only real reason we had moved was because my aunt visited for a bit and decided she wanted to move her family there. My mom felt bad, she didn't want me to be left alone far away from my cousins, so she followed her to New Jersey and we ended up living very close to one another. It was really odd for me, I guess I didn't realize it at the time but I would soon get very distant from my friends back home. It didn't bother me much at the time, the only part i was nervous for was the first day of school, but i ended up making lots of friends. 

    My old elementary school only went up to 4th grade, but my new school went all the way to eighth grade. So it was way bigger than expected. And for some reason I thought they had a huge pool. The building felt huge compared to what I was used to, and I remember it felt completely different. Even the cafeteria was humongous, and we had a whole snack station, something I wasn't used to. At my old school there was nowhere to buy David’s cookies, or soda, or literally anything other than regular school lunch. 

Back in Massachusetts, I was loud and outgoing around the people I had grown up with and knew ever since kindergarten, but here it seemed like everyone already knew each other. And that was exactly the case. Everyone was entering a new school as well. Of course I didn't know that but since this middle school started from fourth, that means everyone last year was in memorial school, a building that went from kindergarten to 3rd grade. So, I guess everyone was getting used to it as well.

    Throughout my years, I started to change, in my first year I made tons of friends which made me overly confident for 5th grade. But then covid hit, that's a whole other story though. I began talking to more people, making connections, and becoming more comfortable in my new environment. Somewhere along the way, I met Zineb. The best person alive. She eventually became my best friend and we clicked fast, like super fast. What started as meeting someone knew turned into a friendship that had lasted through middle school, all the way into senior year.