There are about four hundred freshmen joining the student body this year, and for almost a month, I’ve been experiencing the life of one of these high school novices. And so far, my first Kalani High School adventures have been, well, different.

     The first thing I noticed was the crowds, even when the campus is pretty big. Sometimes, it really feels like I’m a small fish in a big pond.

     Then, I quickly learned how warm it can get with only a few fans cooling each room, and the crowding doesn’t help.

     The breaks are also a lot shorter than I was accustomed to, making the actual instruction time longer. School does end at 1:57, which is a plus. In the classroom, the instruction is more fast paced, and the need to pay attention is higher.

     When I first entered middle school, I never once looked beyond eighth grade. And honestly, if you asked me then what I thought high school was like, I would have never thought it would be like this. Yet, now what feels like just months later, I’m transitioning once again, now onto high school. And in a couple years, I’ll probably look back at this and see how naive I was.

     Sadly, it’s already starting to feel like a fast track to adulthood, but I’m just going to enjoy the ride.