I’m from Syracuse, New York, where I lived for 14 years before coming to Redding, California, the other side of the world. In the summer of 2001, my family moved to Syracuse from Wisconsin; in the summer of 2016, my family and I moved to Redding. Coming from New York and entering the world of California, everything I saw was like seeing Canada, except this Canada was 250 degrees Fahrenheit and dry heatwaves were coming off of the ground. The distance was only the other side of the country, yet the air and cultures were so far away. “It’s an east coast thing,” said the boy who sat in front of me as CNN Student News, now called CNN 10, played in the background talking about Panera Bread. Unfortunately, he was wrong. There is a Panera Bread in Chico, California, less than an hour and a half away from Redding, an hour if you drive at the infamous California speed. But it’s true, Panera Bread is popular in the East Coast. In New York, we run on…show more content… “Just because you are on the honors track doesn’t mean that you are smart; you are just always called smart,” said my spunky red-head sophomore math teacher Mrs.Goldenson. Coming from Syracuse City School District in New York, we didn’t have the best reputation for urban education. Arriving in Redding, California, I knew that whatever school I go to will have a different, more challenging environment. I opted not to take AP European History in fear that I wasn’t prepared for the rigorous work schedule. Deciding I wanted to experiment after a few days of the “average” class, I asked my counselor to sit in the AP European History class for one day. When I walked in, the whole atmosphere was different; as nerdy as some kids were and as arrogant as other kids were acting, I liked it. School has always been the majority of my life as I’ve been in it for almost twelve years and learning is the core; thus I learned to take many opportunities and persevered through
