Ever since age two, grade 8 student Maggie Z. has been moving all over the globe.
As a new student at AISB this year, she shares her past experience in Rome, Italy, and how her recent move has brought her closer with family, as well as sharing some advice she learned for herself along the way.
What follows is Maggie’s story, in her own words:
I love my family so much, and I think that over this past move, we’ve gotten a lot closer. Mostly because in Rome, we all had friends and we did things with them on the weekends; but here it’s been a little bit of an adjustment, and we’re still figuring out what to do on weekends, how to make plans, and stuff like that. And also through moving we’ve definitely shared experiences, we’ve definitely just gotten closer. I’ll talk with my parents more and I talk with my sister all the time, especially because she’s getting older and more mature so we can talk more now. And of course I talk with my older brother [The Bite‘s writer and editor, Emerson Z.], but I always have.
As a city, I loved Rome, because it was, you know, Rome. But I also knew it longer and I knew how to get around, and where to meet my friends, and all the hot places to go. Of course, at my school I knew all the traditions and the games. It just felt more like home, but I think over the course of the next three years I’ll get used to AISB as well.
One thing that I have learned from moving and making new friends is that if somebody feels in their heart that they don’t like you, just don’t try to be friends with them, because they don’t like you. Just move on. Don’t try to win them back. They’ve set in their minds that they don’t like you so you’re not going to ever make them like you. You can still be nice in the halls and stuff. But just be friendly and not friends.I wish people knew that I’m just trying to be friendly. I’m not trying to slight anyone, I’m just trying to make friends.