Okay, I was initially planning to narrate everything that happened in school, but I can't figure out which parts are interesting and which parts aren't. So instead, here's something neatly segregated and descriptive (aka dry and yawn-inducing, serious stuff ahead, read at your own discretion).

Infrastructure/facilities.

As far as the school building is concerned, I don't have many complaints. Well, duh, they could have proper roads around the school and it could be a lot cleaner, but at least it's big and has a proper ground and an indoor stadium and a swimming pool (major plus side except I don't know if they let anyone except the students on the swimming team use it), which is a lot more than I can say for the other schools here. They only use blackboards here though, which is a major pain in the ass. I can't stand hearing the friction of the chalk on the board, it's awful and it makes me tense. Plus the tables and chairs are heavy and uncomfortable.


Lessons.

I expected a lot more from India, considering people are like "the education system in India is really good" blah blah blah. And until I came here, I only knew about the CBSE system, which is far ahead of Singapore's education system (they cover Sec 2 science in P6, it's compulsory to learn 3 languages, etc). So I figured the matriculation system (which is considered lower than CBSE) should at least be on par with Singapore's. It's not.

The math syllabus here is lagging behind by at least one or two years, and after a few lessons, I figured out why. They don't use normal calculators, let alone graphing ones. For solving logarithmic equations, they've a logarithm table. And everything else is done by working, even the factorial function. They don't use formula sheets either, they've to memorize everything. I don't really know what to make of it. It's not a bad thing for me because I already know everything they're learning. But it's not a good thing because I feel like all this is so redundant, and I'm just wasting my time away.

Economics here is less like economics and more like history. It's the study of the indian economy, to be exact. And I think Economics, Commerce and Accountancy all have one thing in common here--you've to memorize and spit out what you learn. You guys won't believe this, but the questions that come out in the exams are all given in the books. And the teachers will mark the important ones for you, and they'll tell you where to find the answers. And all you've to do is go home and memorize them. But there's a condition for that, too. You can't write them in your own words. You've to memorize them word for word.

I know a lot of people will think "hey, that's easy" but...it's not just about the level of difficulty, for me. If you know me, you'll know that I'm very...easygoing. I hate being restricted. Studying in this system is suffocating me.

Tamil is, of course, a lot harder here, but that's fair enough, isn't it, and I think the lessons are pretty okay. English, though, is a whole other story. I don't really care about how good the other teachers are at speaking/writing English because I know English isn't their forte, but I do have certain expectations when it comes to the English teacher herself. I mean, yeah, she pronounces "magi" like "maggie", "singed" like "sing-ed", and "clause" like "class", but I'm not particular about that, either.

The part that irks me the most is that the stuff that she writes on the board and teaches the students is grammatically wrong. I don't mean to sound pretentious, but c'mon, I can't even expect the stuff in the textbooks to be grammatically correct? I don't say anything in class because I don't want to be rude, but I feel awful just sitting there and watching the teacher slowly murder the English language. Next to Math, English is my favourite subject. So I can't stand it. But I've to grit my teeth and just sit there.


Attire.

Okay, the uniform is a chudithar. With a vest, not a shawl. At first I was like "wtf, why a vest?!", but after wearing normal chudithars to school for the first three days (because I didn't have my uniform yet and they said wearing jeans and a tee is inappropriate wtaf), I realized how impractical wearing a shawl to school is (it flies all the time, it gets stuck in places, it keeps sliding down). How the uniform actually looks isn't something I want to describe. It's ugly D: Let's just end it there.

And then there's hair. All girls are supposed to tie two plaits (indian plaits, mind you, I can't even tie the french or american kind) with ribbons (!!!!). Which, okay, I can handle, because it's part of the rules, except practically all the teachers asked me to use oil on my hair so it'll look neater. Wtf? That's like asking me to use a different shampoo or something. It's really none of their business, and it gets on my nerves when they do that.

Honestly, the reason I get so worked up about it doesn't really have anything to do about hair in the first place. It's just. I don't like people telling me what to do. And one thing I was clear about when I came here is that I'm not going to change. Not for anyone but myself. So they can eat shit. I mean, I'll see how it goes, but if they keep pestering me about this issue, I think I might just go and chop my hair off. You can't braid short hair right? :D Yes, I'm rebellious like that. No girl here above the age of 12 has short hair though, it's like, socially unacceptable.

Culture shock much. Which brings me to my next point.


Culture.

There are so many things that I'm never going to get used to, let alone understand. Like the fact that you can't go to the washroom during lessons or drink water without asking the teacher for permission or just walk into your own classroom when there's no lesson going on without asking the teacher if you can come in. And whenever the teacher talks to you, you're supposed to stand up. But okay, India's all about respect, I get it.

What I don't get is the fact that girls sit on one side and boys sit on the other. For everything, really. They stand separately during assemblies, sit separately during lessons, walk separately to other classrooms, eat separately. And they don't say anything to each other except stuff like "pass me the file". I am dead serious. It's not that I care about this because I want to flirt with boys and I want a boyfriend and all that, I could care less.

But when it comes to friendship, I feel more comfortable around boys. SK said that for a guy, I'm "best-friend material" hahah. I find it easier to bicker with boys and tease them, which is something I wouldn't do with girls unless I'm really close to them. Plus I'm usually in a lighter mood when I'm with my guy friends, because we don't talk about serious stuff, and if we do, it's still different from talking to girls about it, because boys perceive things/react to them differently than girls do.

It's like with girls, in the initial stages of friendship, I always have to be reserved and soft and careful with what I say, because even though I'm a girl myself, I find girls so complex and confusing and I never know what might set them off, so I feel like I've to tiptoe around everything. Actually, for a girl, I think I'm comparatively easy to figure out and talk to.

So I guess that brings me to the final point...


People.

Three days of school, and so far I've only mingled with the girls in my class. There's eight of them excluding me, to be exact. They're nice enough, and friendly, and teach me how I should act and speak according to this culture so I don't offend anyone, but. I can't really connect with anyone. It's okay though, I was already prepared for this. It's just, they're all so pure and innocent that they're beyond being affected by my knack for corrupting people. And, duh, obviously I'm not pure and innocent, so I wouldn't know how to talk to them. Not to mention their interests and mine are...worlds apart.

Another thing is that people here are really competitive. When a teacher asks for volunteers or the answer, half the people actually raise their hands. And then when they say the correct answer out, they've this smug look on their face. I feel like slapping them. Okay, sorry, I know there's nothing wrong with being like that. It's just, I'm a last-bencher. You know, the kind that sits at the back of the class and rolls their eyes at people who raise their hand so high it almost touches the ceiling (now you guys know how I feel about Hermione). Maybe that's why I don't score well, who knows.

fin.



OKAY IF YOU ACTUALLY READ EVERY SINGLE WORD AND MADE IT UNTIL HERE, I MUST SALUTE YOU. I know it's boring but people keep asking me "how's school" and I don't really know what to say even though I actually have a lot to, so I figured I'd just direct everyone here and get it done with, because I'm lazy like that.

Pooh told me that given my current situation, I'm like Emma Roberts in Wild Child lmao. And she told me to break as many rules as possible. But it's no fun breaking so many rules if I don't even realize I'm breaking them.