Skip to main content

Dalat from the Eyes of the New Kid

By Anonymous
Justina Cryder
On the first day of this month, I walked through Dalat’s gate, not knowing what to expect but somehow still expecting the worst. And it's not that being the new kid is new to me; Dalat is the third high school I've been to in the past three years. Still, I didn't have the best attitude about flying across the world to come to a new school in a country that I'd never visited before.

Shortly after my arrival, however, the friendly faces and voices of Dalat proved to me that I had the completely wrong attitude. While sitting in the front office and waiting with my luggage, a woman busted open the door with a grin on her face. "Justina?!" she exclaimed. I nodded my head. "Hi, it's so nice to meet you! I'm Aunt Mary," she told me. "Can I hug you?" I nodded again and she opened her arms to me.

She led me to my dorm building where I was greeted with new faces and was told many names that I knew would be difficult to remember. Eventually, I went to get my schedule made, where again each administrator was kind and welcoming. The next day I came back for orientation, and I was welcomed by waving students and teachers who all seemed to know who I was.

In my first two days at Dalat, I already felt like I was family. I was struck by how willing everyone was to help me feel at home. During orientation, kids introduced themselves to me, and I realized how easy it is to make friends at a place with such genuinely kind people. After the first day of school, I was excited about my classes for the first time in years. My teachers seemed excited to teach, which made me excited to learn. Dalat made it more than easy to be the new student.

These first couple of weeks have been an amazing experience for me so far, and I can't wait to find out what the rest of the semester holds.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DINGBAT DALAT STUDENT SPENDS PRECIOUS TIME CONJURING UP SELF-REFERENTIAL SENIOR SCRIBBLE RATHER THAN GATHERING LEGITIMATE WORK

By Anonymous
Yusoof Monawvil PENANG, MA - As the deadline drew near and the stars aligned in the night sky above the majestic waters of the Strait of Malacca, one particular Dalat student—Yusoof Monawvil (12), despite a plethora of school events to select and report on—opted instead to spend a remarkably well-wasted 24 minutes staring at a blank Google Docs page, fruitlessly drawing up and shooting down brainstormed ideas.  In a moment of sheer and undeniable epiphany, Monawvil deemed it only fitting to self-referentially satirize his own ingrained incompetence and dingbattery. Commenting on the flash of insight, Monawvil quoted himself, saying: “It all just kinda made sense. I went on DISCourse to look at the little rubric thing Ms. Grad and Mr. Hieber posted, and I checked if I was following all of the guidelines... And I technically am/was; [N]ot like there’s any specific direktive [sic] prohibiting self-quoting.”  In a turn of events, Monawvil did come to find his self-quoting en...
6 comments
Read more

"Spikeball, Swimming, and Sickness: The Remnants of Senior Sneak" by Ee Rynn Ong

By
“Guys, I think we’re here,” said Jonathan Ooi (12) as he peeked out of the lorry to catch the first glimpse of our Senior Sneak location. This year’s Senior Sneak was held in Nomad Adventure, Gopeng, and the organizers planned many activities for the Class of 2026, ranging from traditional games like congkak and batu seremban to adrenaline-pumping ropes courses and whitewater rafting. These scheduled activities proved to be some of the best highlights of the trip, but top of that, the seniors were also given some daily free time to chat, explore, and relax. Josh Stevens (12) had come prepared for this with two spikeball nets, which immediately attracted attention from people eager to spend time in the outdoor sun. The next five days saw spikeball veterans and newcomers alike, spending their precious one and a half hours daily around the unassuming circular net, smashing the yellow ball in hopes of a victory.  Caleb Evans (12) was one of the newbies to spikeball, learning how the g...
Post a Comment
Read more

“I Miss Her” by Nikhil Pillay

By
While most people had a fun week for mid-semester break, whether it was spent with family, or with friends on impact trips, no one had a more emotionally confusing week than Judson Kenneth Robert Nosker (12).  In the light of recent events, Judson, despite all odds, had gotten in a relationship with one of his classmates, and as the break started, he had started to spend a lot of time with her. While with her, he started to experience a new level of joy and completeness that he had never felt before. In the words of Judson Nosker, “The first half of the break was good, but the rest of it was horrible.”  The reason for such a quote and the roller coaster of emotion was because half way through the break, disaster had struck. Judson’s girlfriend had gone on a trip with her family to Thailand, leaving Judson all alone. For the rest of the week, Judson was in a state of longing for her presence.  His friends have reported numerous occasions when Judson would be sitting with t...
Post a Comment
Read more