What Moving from my Canadian Country High School to a European International School Was Like

My hometown has always been quite conservative. This farmer lived near the Tim Hortons in Manotick and this sign became the talk of the town when it was put up.

Picture this: you’re in a bland cow field with a bland burger joint that has bars in the windows. Across the big country road is another field but instead of cows in the field there’s a bunch of teenagers in and around a dusty, 2 floor high school surrounded by old, dusty portable classrooms because the school is overcrowded. You can’t drive. In fact the only place for you to go is the dusty, old high school. You pass by the student smoking section to get inside. As you go inside 3 bullies surround you and remind you about how worthless you and your life are. All your friends took French Immersion and got put in separate classes. Nobody is there to protect you from the bullies. You go home. You go home and watch tv for hours which is a great escape before getting into a fight with your mother about watching too much tv. Dad comes home at around 6 or 7 pm. He breaks up the fight to give you what seems like heartbreaking news. Little did you know that this opportunity would only change your life for the better.

Manotick, 2021

“We are going to move to Europe. You’re going to an international school in Brussels. But you will have to go by yourself because my job will cover the cost of high school but won’t pay for your sister’s university”.

Now picture this: you’re in front of a European forest. There’s a driveway going into the forest up a hill and next to the driveway going up the hill is a black metal staircase going up the hill to the left side of the driveway. You climb the stairs into the lush, green forest. When you reach the top there’s a parking lot with security in front of a posh, European vintage style white manor. You thought this was the school but it’s only the administration office for the school. To the left is a primary and elementary school. You keep going down the trail to the right of the posh, white building. There’s a series of multi story buildings beside a track and field and tennis court. All surrounded by the lush green forest. These series of multi-story buildings. In the beginning there are no bullies, no dust. Nor are there cows or barred burger joints. This is the beginning and rest of your high school experience.

This was me as an old lady in the school play in Grade 12. I had a love/hate relationship with my high school theatre teacher. Thank you to whoever took the photo. I think you were one of the parents.

Everything felt amazing at first. And it generally was. Other students were generally open and friendly. The toughest year though had to be the first year though because in grade 10 I had no friends. I had acquantences and the clique I was trying to fit in with clearly did not want me there and I was desperately and needily clinging to them trying to fit in. Socially I was struggling. Academically I was struggling too and I remember my grade 10 English teacher with good intentions set me aside one day and asked me how she could cater her teaching for me because the report I submitted was really bad and she said it could’ve also been the standards of my old school.

In grade 11 I was able to make some friends and I had an amazing science teacher. She had created an amazing class called, “Science and Society” which was as the name implied about science and society. She made science both fun and practical and her classes pushed us to think critically. Some of the things we learned then I still try to do now like vermicomposting. I am so grateful for the resources this school gave me. The academic standards were really high and when I got my first report card it was all Cs and Ds (I think my math teacher took pity on me and gave me a D instead of an F). My last report card in grade 12 was all As and Bs. I also won the “Most Improved Student Award” upon graduation.

I will likely post more articles about this as I cannot write everything that had happened there in 3 years in one article. I can say though that throughout the pain and the happiness it gave me the ability to grow as a human and I accumulated skills that I’d never be able to have otherwise.