I'm in the school library right now because I have a free period and would like to say hello to the minute number of you who still follow this modest blog! San Jose is beautiful and I've settled in just fine. I haven't been posting lately because internet is not set up in my home yet and there is absolutely no reception at where I live for like 2 miles, and none of my neighbors do either.
Before I give you guys an update of what I've been doing here, I must thank those that made plans with me on the weekend of my departure. I am really glad that I met up with you guys and said a farewell, albeit a temporary one. I'll visit whenever I'm on break from violin studies, which won't be often but I'll still try. :\ I also paid a visit to my elementary school and Foothills, which were absolutely wonderful as I met up with my favorite former teachers. My visit to Emperor was the most emotional- I literally cried the whole time lol. It's just that I had so many memories accumulated from 7 years as an Emperor Eagle, because it was my 2nd home. Some of my teachers retired/moved away but amazingly, very little changed since I was there. My 2nd and 6th grade teacher were astonished to see me, and what's nice is that they recognized me the moment they saw me- even from a distance. Ahhh, nostalllgiiiaa
Anyhow, my new home is a cozy little house near the mountains and it feels as if I'm living in the countryside, with a creek a couple hundred feet away and lots of horse stables up the road. To give you an idea of what it's like here, my first impression went something like this in my head: "Whao, all these trees and horses. and a lake! A horse stable next to a lake! ...and omg do I hear running water?! Is this a creek? and DUCKS?! A ****ing CREEK WITH ****ing MALLARDS ASDFKADSFJDS" (...and no I don't curse out loud, only in my head.) But yeah it's quite picturesque here; saying that this is my dream home would be stretching it, but it's really quite ideal for me. The only thing is that it's friggin cold and the wind practically whips you(r hair back and forth).
Anyways, the community is very quiet, with the exception of the occasional roaring car. All the neighbors seem pretty close-knit because we're located in a small pocket in the hills, and the people I've met so far are genial and kind.
School is also pleasant. I'm partly home-schooled now, which means that I'm taking 3 classes daily at school (not including Chinese on Sat) and 4 courses at home. It's all very flexible and I can devote more time to music whilst keeping most of my previous classes (and more!) and the same time. My first period is Choir, which I'm having an enormously difficult time in because I sing like a peacock. No, actually, I can't sing at all LOL. But hopefully I'll catch up in time for the concert next month. x_x Then I have Alg 2, which is basically a repeat because reg. stats isn't offered here and the AP Stats teacher showed me frightful proof that I'd be landing in deep waters if I took AP Stats. (Pre Calc is a pre req.) Oh well, I wasn't well versed in logarithms and trig thanks to Nairi in freshman year anyways so I might as well review for the SAT. English seems all right. I came right when the class was finishing Macbeth so I'm basically chilling in there for now. I didn't want to take Spanish or French so I'll be attending Chinese school on Sat. mornings, which means I'll only have 3 classes daily for Mon-Fri. Yay.
As for the homeschooling portion, my violin work will count as a class, and so will dance, World Geography, and art. I really love this Home Studies program because the way you earn credit for violin and dance depends on how many hours you spend each week on them- both in lessons and practice at home. The grad requirements here exceed AHS's; you need 3 years Math & Science and lots of history for some reason. Thus, I'll be teaching myself World Geography o_o which shouldn't be much of a problem since a lot of it reviews Modern World History from last year. I'll also be taking art class at home, which simply constitutes of 2 projects and 1 writeup a month that correlate with the lessons in the book. Easy peasy.
I guess you're all more interested in the students here than the dry academics.. My first impression is that the kids here are all pretty amicable, including the staff. Everyone seems to be more chill and unbusybeelike. The demographics probably play a part; 42% are white and 40% are Asian. I think it's also due to the smaller class sizes, thus resulting in less competition.(?) It's half the size of Arcadia, which has both downfalls and benefits. The pros are that the classrooms are bigger and closer, and I don't have to practically sprint to get to math on time. My school loves Apple as well, which makes sense because we're in the Silicon Valley. Food is cheaper and the computers don't block fb or twitter! However, it lacks the razmataz of Arcadia HS. Dances are mainly held on campus and a lame PA system replaces APN, although the school newspaper is refreshingly professional and is on a much higher level than the Powwow. Basically, everything is executed on a smaller scale and with less glamour. A less variety of classes are offered as well- there is only one orch. and one drama class and 2 choirs, etc.
Overall, I like it here so far and am looking forward to integrating myself in this community. The only things missing are my friends, relatives, and mentors from socal. >: It's quite lonely here.
tl;dr: everything went better than expected.
