September 1st, 2020 was when I first entered high school. I was supposed to be traveling for 13 hours to the U.S. and meeting my new friends in the school dorm room, but COVID-19 made everything completely different. Instead of seeing the gorgeous views on our campus, I was stuck in my bedroom all day, either staring into or talking to my laptop screen. 

High school was new to me, a high school in another country, and Zooming for school even more so. It was especially not easy with the time difference of 12 hours; it would have been a luxury to see some sunlight. However, I kept reminding myself of Heraclitus’s claim that “the only constant in life is change”. We should always be ready for changes, take it as the beauty of life, I told myself.

I then started my life with swapped daytimes and nighttimes. I ate breakfast when my parents were having dinner and ate dinner while they were having breakfast. In the first few weeks, I doubted that I could make it through the whole school year with my weird sleeping schedule and almost no in-person social contact. However, fortunate as I was, I made a lot of close friends in my new school even though we hadn’t met each other in person. We texted or FaceTimed almost every break time in between classes which was a helpful stress-reliever. It turned out that I got used to this new learning model within less than a month. I started eating my lunch while zooming with my friends so it was like we were around the same cafeteria table; we also went on Zoom while doing homework so that it looked like we were in a massive study hall where we could help each other with homework assignments or class notes we didn’t understand. 

Now that 2/3 of my first year of high school has already passed, I not only manage all the quizzes, deadlines and after-school activities well, I even find myself enjoying it even if I’m on the other side of the globe, far away from almost everyone else. Thanks to the inclusive and family-like environment of my school and all the friendly and welcoming students there, we can be well-connected despite the physical distance.