How To Overcome Fear of The First Day of School

School used to be scary. 

Now it's scared of me.

Since I can't remember the very first day I  attended school, which was nursery school, the scariest experience I've ever had was probably the first day I attended Primary school. Back then in nursery and kindergarten, there were no such thing as fierce teachers, detention, exams, homework or assignments. Everyday was stress-free and the only thing I had to worry about was whether I'll fall down at the playground or whether my mum is gonna pick me up today.

During the end of December when I was six years old, I became really nervous about attending Primary school. I'm not sure when children from other countries start school, but in Singapore, schooling is compulsory for 7 years old. Well, my mum told me that the teachers in school were really, really fierce. We will be given homework and we'll have exams. She told me  that we will have no afternoon naps, no bathing time...worst of all...WE HAD TO QUEUE UP FOR OUR OWN FOOD!!! Woah, woah, woah...slow down mum...if school's gonna be like that, I'm not going then. Oh well, I'm used to it now.

Whether or not you're entering primary school, high school, college, university, you'll be scared during the first day of school.
You'll be afraid:

• of meeting new people
• that you'll not fit in or make any friends
• of not being able to catch up during lessons
• of the new teachers

Everything and everyone will be stranger to you...don't need to worry, most people adapt pretty well in their new school environment. When I first entered junior high, there was orientation and I made quite a number of friends then. However, when my one week of orientation was over, we were separated into our new homeroom classes. None of the friends I made during orientation were in my class so I had to make new friends ALL OVER AGAIN! =='  Okay, making friends is a really tiring thing for me because I'm the approaching kind. Sometimes the people I try to be friendly towards don't really return back the friendliness, in the end, I end up being friends with NO ONE... The difference between primary/elementary and secondary/middle school, is that the students in primary schools don't have friends from the start so they NEED to make new friends while students in secondary schools might have friends who are from their primary schools attending the same secondary school as them. If you don't have friends from your previous school attending the same as you are right now...good luck mate.  Another difference between primary and secondary schools, appearance. If you're not good looking, you can still make lot's of friends in primary school, but once you enter middle school, you're gonna be judged on how you dress and things you own. 

So here's how I survive the first day of school:

1. I look out for people who are ALONE. (Some people might look like they're alone...but noo...they're friends are just not around him/her. Look out for people who look really sad and lonely and wait to see if anybody is gonna talk to him/her. Loners are always the easiest to befriend because they need friends too and most won't reject you.)
2. I go up and say hi and then introduce myself. (At this moment, if the person introduces themselves and if you two click off...then move on to step 3, if not continue with step 1.)
3. I ask them about their feelings and opinions about first day of school. (Try to find out more about that person, like which school they attended previously, where they live, why they came to this school.)
4. Bring this friend you've just made along with you to make other new friends. (Repeat step 1-3)
5. Congratulations! You've just formed a clique! (or not...)
6. Make sure those friends are going to be in the same homeroom class as you. (If not, it's okay to be friends with people who are not in your class...this'll help make you more popular, hmmmm, I should write about popularity next time...oh well)
7. Enjoy the rest of the school year with your friends. :DDD