Wednesday, March 4, 2015

A Day in the Life of an American High School Student


I was inspired to write this post after talking to Ling (The Cosmetic Critic) about how high school differs in Canada than in the U.S. I promise my life is not like the movies you see. For starters, my school has an outside campus. Most American high schools in movies are all inside with long hallways filled with those massive bright red lockers. Sorry to break it to you, but my locker is about a third (or less) of that size. Well, I hope you enjoy reading about a typical school day for me (literally to the minute), and I had lots of fun writing this as I have an odd obsession with scheduling (yes, I'm quite weird.)

6 A.M. | Rise and shine! And no, I am not a morning person.
7 A.M. | I have AP Literature (basically English on steroids) for zero period. However, conversations about the Bachelor with my teacher every Tuesday makes it a bit better. (I am actually one of the minority who start at 7, since I prefer getting out earlier, but most high schools in the U.S. start at 8.)
8:01 A.M. | AP Calculus BC...I am not a fan of math at all, so this is quite a toughie to take in so early in the morning.
9:03 A.M. | This period is lovely as I get to be a T.A. (teacher's aid) for my grade level counselor, so I either run slips to to classrooms to call kids out to see her, scroll through Twitter, or do some last minute studying.
9:59 A.M. | Brunch but not the fancy type. Students chow down on anything from a chocolate chip cookie to cheese pizza and a hash brown.
10:14 A.M. | AP Psychology is my one of my favorite classes of the day as my teacher is super relaxed meaning we pretty much watch videos and eat snacks in her class. Psych itself is super interesting, and I find myself genuinely interested in the material.
11:16 A.M. | AP Micro Economics is quite a tough class, but the people in my class make lectures quite exciting.
12:16 P.M. | Lunch! The lunch at my school is not terrible, and for $2.75, it's quite a good deal. I love getting a spicy chicken wrap or a juicy, fresh-off-the-grill cheeseburger.
1:02 P.M. | My last "class" of the day is journalism (school newspaper.) Now that I'm an editor, I don't really have to do much in class, so I love chatting with my fellow editor friends and my adviser to end my school day.
2:00 P.M. | School's out. (During the fall, I have mock trial practice from 3 to 5:30, so I would still be a school at this time.)
2:30 P.M. | I like to relax for a bit when school is over, so I watch some Youtube videos and catch up on blog posts at this time. If it's Wednesday, you will find me taking/editing pictures and writing/publishing a post for my blog until about 5.
4:00 P.M. | Nap time!
5:00 P.M. | Homework begins, and I like to complete my homework in the order of my classes.
7:30 P.M. | Dinner
8:10 P.M. | Continue homework and study for tests if I have them the next day (this occasionally continues into the wee hours...midnight or later if I'm extremely overwhelmed with work)
9:30 P.M. | Shower
10:00 P.M. | I will proceed to either sit on the couch and watch my favorite TV shows if it's a Monday or Tuesday or snuggle into bed and watch Youtube videos/Korean dramas any other day of the week. This is my absolute favorite part of the day, and I think it's so important to have me time!
11:00 to 11:30 P.M. | I usually get carried away and have to force myself to power off my laptop at this time. Nighty night!

What is a normal school day like where you live?


-Emily
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19 comments

  1. we have a day that's very similar! and i'm in Australia

    http://manishaanwari2.blogspot.com.au/

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  2. Wow, do we even go to the same school? WHY DOES YOUR SCHEDULE SEEM SO MUCH MORE RELAXED THEN MINE DOES?!? Ugh, honestly. Nice post! ^_^

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  3. This post is really interesting! I wouldn't be able to wake up at 6, I wake up at 7 to leave me time and then school starts at 9 and finishes at 3:20! Unfortunately, these times are rubbish, as the lighting is so poor (because it is still sort of winter) when I get home it isn't worth it. I take all my photos at the weekends. My school is the same with the breaktime snacks. I don't usually get anything but all my friends get pinini's and hash browns etc! Great post x

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  4. Arg, lecture at 7am? What? I remember my bus came at 7.20 but school started at 8.50am so I waited at school for a while. I work at a school now haha and I get to finish at 2pm most days!!

    What does AP mean?

    xx Kat @ Katness

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  5. Aaah, such an interesting post! It's quite similar to high school here, at least my old school. We'd start at 8:05 and finish at 3:10 with a couple of breaks and such, though some schools only start at 9 - lucky bastards! But omygosh uni is so relaxed hahaaaa, I only go in on 3 days and often only for a few hours! Love life.

    Tasha // shiwashiful.

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  6. High school was so long ago for me! Since my school was so huge (5-6000+ students) classes ran around 7am to 5pm but freshmen and sophmores generally had 7-8 hours in classes and juniors and seniors had 2-7 (literally) hours depending on what grade they were in and how many classes they wanted to take. Schools are weird. I don't think I could ever do 7am classes anymore - even 8am classes are a struggle nowadays.

    becky ♡ star violet

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  7. I love posts like this! Thanks for sharing, it's so interesting to see how different it is for you there. School starts at 7:25 a.m. for me, which is a weird time. And I usually get home at 3 or 4 p.m.!


    hannie | chapters like this

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  8. Woah your school day is so much different from mine! I can't believe you start school so early, we start at 8.30 in the UK, but then again you do finish earlier as well!

    Yet Another Makeup Blog.

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  9. UGH EW GET UR ACADEMICS OUT OF MY FACE (loljks)
    Oh man, highschool was.....5 years ago for me now! BUT YOU DELIBERATELY CHOSE 7AM CLASS??? WHAT??? At least you've got your priorities sorted and have a nap time. TV time was my favourite time back in highschool too, as that's when I'd crack out the Youtube videos and kdrama episodes. At one point, every weekend I'd marathon a kdrama within 3 days.

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  10. HOW DO YOU SURVIVE GETTING UP SO EARLY??? I'm still in disbelief :P
    You already know how school is for me ;) So many AP classes omg :O

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  11. Omg this is so cool. KINDA INSPIRES ME TO WRITE ONE ABOUT AUSTRALIA heh. What does 'AP' mean?? I always thought it meant Advanced classes or something, SO ARE YOU A GENIUS OR SOMETHING? I'm like you, I'd rather start early and end early! Wow I start homework at like 8pm and scramble to finish lol.

    Sheri | Behind The Frames

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  12. So interesting! In Belgium, high school is usually from 8am until 4pm :D
    So weird how high school is different in each country...

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  13. Sooo different from what we've got here in the Netherlands. I can't imagine being at school at 7 am already, ew. That is about when I wake up XD Well, if it makes you feel any better, our lockers are 1/5th of the size of those huge full-length lockers in the movies. I have one in the middle, at least not at the very bottom, lol. Though, it's literally on the other side of the school -_- which is why I'm usually late, haha... Your classes also sound so interesting, I wish we had stuff like psychology (we do have sociology, but the teacher sucks). Journalism also sounds so fun! We have a small school newspaper at school run by a few students (but our school is quite small) but I believe it's ceased to exist since no one applied this year. So sad. You inspired me, do you mind if I take the idea and do a similar post? ^_^

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  14. So glad you found it interesting! I don't know why but I'm SO interested to find out what "everyday life" is like for people around the world :) I think that's part of the reason why I would love to go into international business. I actually chose to start at 7 (I know, I'm so weird) because I like getting out early :) However, the majority of us Americans start at 8 and end at 3, so really not so different from you guys! I'm pretty grateful for the California weather (aka summer the entire year) which means great lighting most of the time. If only my school made paninis for snack! Trust me, the food here is anything but gourmet, haha

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  15. Wow, your school was huge! I thought my school of around 3000 was already massive, but I'm guessing we're just normal then, haha. The difference in the length of a school day at your school is so interesting! There is some slight variation here, but only by a couple hours at most. I know I will probably have to take some 8 am classes in college, but at least in my mind, no more 7 am classes :)

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  16. Honestly, it's self inflicted pain, haha! I could start at 8 but choose not to so I can get out early hehe :) Though most of us Americans start at 8 and end at 3, so I'm just one of the weirdos who like getting home earlier (and taking a nap of course.) I will say though that going to school when it's still dark is torture!

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  17. Vanessa, I know you want to come back and join the academic crew...those early, early starts ;) Wow your high school life sounds just like mine! Blogging, Youtube videos, and Kdramas pretty much sum up my free time now :) Breaks = kdramas marathons

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  18. Daylight savings has even caused it to be dark outside when I wake up.....the tears. I pretty much sleep in the car for the 15 minute drive to school, haha. Thank you for sparking this lovely idea, Ling! I think it's odd that I'm a senior and I chose to take the most AP's out of any of my four years. This is surely not the senior life -_-

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