In the summer of last year, I moved from Sunnyvale, California (which is close to San Francisco) to Ann Arbor, Michigan. This was a big change for me considering the fact that I had only lived in one place my whole life. For about five years things for me were the exact same. I would wake up, put on my uniform, go to the same school to see the same people I’ve known since preschool. But in fifth grade, things got more difficult. Even if I didn’t move to Michigan I would still have to go to a new school. Finding out was just salt to the wound. 

When I first found out, my parents said it was just a possibility. But when my mom started looking for houses, I knew that it was concrete. Nothing seemed real until we came here for the first time. My first thought when we were driving from the airport was “Are you sure we’re not in California?” because honestly, Michigan is California but cold. The first thing that struck me was the freeway and inner roads. In California, the roads are lined with trees. This was something I expected to be different(I was wrong). And the weather in the summer was almost the same!

After living here for over seven months I’ve noticed some differences. For example, people here are much more open. In California, I would smile at people and they would be COMPLETELY SURPRISED and would smile back. Here, the tables turned completely. The smiler has become the smiley!

Another thing is the traffic: for my mom, if she wanted to get to a meeting on time, she would have to set an alarm for forty-five minutes in advance to leave the house to beat the traffic. Here, she can leave ten minutes in advance and be EARLY. 

The thing that was the hardest difference was coming to school. Until I moved to Michigan, I had only been to one school. The school was so small, that you could run from one end to the other in less than thirty seconds. In my first few days here, I came home so tired that I couldn’t even move! The thing that was better was the fact that I’m getting much less homework. At my old school, we would get around five to ten sheets of homework a night. This was a lot of stress considering that I was only ten. Now I don’t get as stressed out about school work.

Prices are the biggest difference. Let’s take gas as an example. A gallon where I lived would be about $3.50. Here, it is only $2.30. 

Also, education is a lot different here. There is a lot more hands-on stuff than in the school I went to. At my old school, they taught most things a grade ahead and for fifth grade, two years. The only thing I personally liked more from California was the way they had us learn one book as a whole class.

Since I only lived in California, this was a big change for me. Even though it was hard, I’m glad it happened because now I am more immune to change than I was before.