Indescribable Happiness

It is undeniable that everyone has something they enjoy doing during their free time or daily life to make them happy or to release stress. Some people like to spend time with their family, and some people like to do activities such as hiking, playing instruments and day dreaming. Going to school from Monday to Friday was my favorite thing to do, and my parents never had to tell me to study hard or do my homework like many other students. I enjoyed going to school when I was young, but after my family immigrated to the United States, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I used to. When I was in my senior year, I moved from Rockford to Chicago, so there were tons of things such as service-learning hours and required subjects for me catch up with other senior students. Due to the stress that I got from my high school years, I lost all my confidence and I miss being my old student self.   

My school life in Myanmar was very simple and people did not use much technology. The schools could not provide computers, and students did not have computer programs or classes. As technology develops, it makes life easier, but for those who are not familiar with technology, it could be a burden for them. When I first came to the United States, I had to learn some computer skills to be able to use student email, the student portal and do online homework. As the United States is one of the most developed countries in the world, teachers don’t accept handwritten assignments and nearly all the schoolwork must be turned in online. I even cried on the first two weeks of my senior year because I was not able to meet and talk to my counselor. Most high schools in the United States do not use personal email to communicate with teachers because it against the school rules, and instead, students use school email. At that time, I was a new student in Amundsen, and I did not have a school email to access to Google Classroom to do my homework and could not email either my counselor or teachers until I met my counselor in the third week, and she created school email account for me.  

Moreover, teachers in my country don’t grade the students on the A-F scale. They give the students a number that indicates how they compare to the total number of all students. One time, I had placed seventh out of forty-four students, but it was so hard to get first place because nearly all the students were very hard working and competitive. Back in my country, I used to volunteer whenever the teacher asked a question, and I was always confident. Usually teachers did not give students extra time to finish their homework, and there were no late assignments. Homework and assignments are not added to the final grade so if students did not finish their homework, they were either hit by stick or had to kneel and hands up for ten minutes. Students only had four grades in a year and the final grade is the most important because it tells and shows whether students are failing or passing the class. Here in the United States, every assignment is graded, and it helps increase the percentage of the grade. I have never worried about my grades and homework before but now those give me headache. 

Besides, when I was studying in Myanmar, I was a cheerful person, friendly and loved to help others so a lot of people liked me. One of my teachers in Myanmar told me that your smile makes people happy because I always smiled. When I started my high school years in the United States, I rarely smiled. In fact, I became less confident because of the language. Sometimes when a question was being asked in class and although I knew the answer, it was hard for me to volunteer and answer it. In addition, I was friends with every classmate in my room back in my country because I didn’t have to go to another class for the next class and there were only six subjects a day. It turned out that I haven’t make a lot of friends here because I had to move every period, and it was hard to be friend with every student because they were different grades and mostly, they wanted to be independent. I felt so lonely, especially when I didn’t have the same class with my sister and when I had to do assignment with partners because I knew no one. I miss my teachers, classmates and how I used to be happy whenever I was in my school. However, but now, I do not feel like I am Micky anymore because I don’t talk much, I am more quiet and mostly independent. 

It has been almost two years since I moved to Chicago, and I miss how my school life was in Myanmar. Senior year was my most stressful year, and I felt like I had to restart everything because I knew no one. The school system was completely different and there were a lot of things to cover in order to graduate high school. My father always encourages me and says that life is like a mountain because after climbing up one mountain, one should expect that the next mountains will get higher and higher. The happiness that I had in Myanmar was indescribable but as I get older, I believe and realize that the happiness is within me. I now understand that I should be happy wherever I am while I am still alive and always be ready for the next mountain that would come to me.