Back to school is never an easy time. Between returning back to your old sleep schedule or having to find an interesting fact about yourself for an “ice breaker”. However, what if it was made a little harder by moving and what if that moving was to a different country? Amanjot Jhotra knows all about these three things. Amanjotis a Freshman this year at Holmes who is majoring in Dental hygiene with hopes to further her career as a dental hygienist. She grew up in Calgary, Canada for 17 years of her life, before her family decided to make the big move. She says, “My dad came here in 2022 and started a business and we visited back and forth and then we decided to move in 2023.” Right as the weather was changing and school was ending she had to say goodbye to her friends, school, and the life that she knew.
She says, “The thing I miss the most is definitely my friends, also things are just fairly different, some of the jokes I could tell in Calgary people don’t get here and some of the jokes that you guys tell I don’t get.” In Canada she got used to the snowy weather and not getting out of school even when there was a snow blizzard, Something that we are not used to in the South, and getting out of school in June rather than in May. She says, “The hardest things I had to get used to were definitely the culture differences in America. You guys do a lot of things differently.” she said. If adjusting to American culture wasn’t hard enough, adjusting to American school made it more complicated. She says, “School is more stressful than it was in Canada, there is more of an emphasis on standardized testing, state mandatory tests, and extracurriculars. In Canada we didn’t really have that extra stress, but I am adjusting.” Moving and going to college are two big steps that take a lot of adapting, however Amanjot found a few things to make it easier.
She says, “Adjusting to America has been hard, especially with all the people I had in Canada, but my new friends and family helped me adjust, it lets me know that I’m not alone in this.” Although, finding and exploring new ideas, people, and places helped, “keeping up” with home helped too. She says, “My friends and I still talk all the time, I miss them and instead of being there I get recaps, but life doesn’t just stop.”
Amanjot has a new life, but she kept her same positive attitude and insight. She says, “If I had to give any advice to anyone that was moving or just starting a new chapter in their life it would definitely be to get out of your bubble and make new friends. I promise you that not everyone is out to get you. Most of the people around you are going through the same thing. Just know that you are not alone.”
Whether you’re moving or starting a new school in a new country, know that you are not alone and there are others like you. People like Amanjot show us that it is ok to miss the old and not want change, but embracing your new society and learning to “get out of your bubble” help.
