“Don’t be nervous, baby,” Mom said to me as she adjusted the collar on my pink uniform jacket for the tenth time. “You’re going to be just fine.”

“No I’m not,” I whined like a three-year-old. “I’m going to school with a bunch of people who can’t even speak English. How am I supposed to make friends?”

Mom just smiled at me like it was the simplest situation in the world. “I told you, a lot of them speak English, and there are a few English teachers there. And besides, you’ll pick up the language. If you want to really be able to get around in this place, you have no choice but to learn it. Believe me.”

“I guess so. But it’s already hard for me to make friends so I know it’s going to be hard to make friends with these foreigners.”

Mom laughed. “First of all, we’re in their country now so we’re the foreigners. Second of all, there are a few Americans at the school so I’m sure they will be glad to have another student from the US there. Third of all, your sisters are here, too, so you’re not totally alone.”

“That’s true,” I muttered.

“Ok then,” she concluded, kissing me softly on the forehead. “Go on and have a wonderful first day of school.”

Forcing a smile, I my heels, stopped in the foyer to slip into my shoes, and left our apartment. I clutched my orange and black shoulder bag tightly as I slowly made my way to the elevator. When it reached my floor, I walked in, pressed “L,” and leaned against the wall.

Despite my mother’s encouraging words, I was still apprehensive about starting my junior year at Star Museum Performing Arts School. I know she meant well, but nothing she said could change the way I felt. I was still having trouble adjusting to living in an entirely different country with an entirely different culture, and now I was going to have to adapt to school life here.

Two months earlier my mother and I moved to SMTown, a large and wealthy area inside Seoul, South Korea. My mother decided to move here so she could help her best friend, a Korean lady named Lee Seung Ah, run her bakery. She had been here a few times before and really liked it, gushing over how beautiful and lively it was. When Seung Ah dropped the proposition of Mom helping her run Autumn Sun, she was all for it and immediately started planning the move. She said it would be a great change for us and it would give us both an opportunity to experience something new. Plus, moving to Korea would allow her to be closer to my sisters Tiffany and Latrice who would be studying abroad there.

When Mom told me about the move, I was less than thrilled. I was happy with my life in Atlanta. I had a few good friends, I loved my school which I was very active in, and I loved the city itself because there was plenty to do and I stayed busy when I wasn’t in school. I wasn’t ready to be thrown into a totally new and unfamiliar place, a place where I’d have to learn a whole new language and change my lifestyle. My friends were jealous of me, especially Heather, who was all into Korean pop culture.  I would have gladly given up my place to her, but of course I couldn’t, so I just had to it up. The only good thing about going there was that I would be enrolled in a performing arts school. I’ve always wanted to attend one because the performing arts were my passion, and it would be an excellent opportunity to use my singing talent and try other things that interested me. I was already doing this at my old school but now I would be completely surrounded by people just like me, and the arts would be everywhere I went. This made me feel a little better, but it still didn’t calm the butterflies that were going crazy in my stomach.

As I exited my apartment building, I took my phone out of my shoulder bag and shoved the ear buds in my ear, immediately turning on the music. I needed something loud with a lot of bass to accompany me on my five-minute walk to school. The music took my mind off of everything but it was short-lived. Before I knew it, I was entering the gates of Star Museum.

“Well, this is it,” I mumbled, tugging on the pink uniform blazer that I hated with a passion. I mean, the uniform was cute, but why did it have to be pink? It was much too girly for my liking. Orange would have been better. Just saying.

Removing the ear buds, I slowly walked up the long walkway and into the huge- and I mean HUGE- three-story, brick building. The school looked like something out of a movie, with its long hallways, spacious classrooms and offices, enormous cafeteria, and perfectly manicured yards. My old school could probably fit in the building twice! When Mom and I toured the school the week before, I think my mouth stayed open the whole entire time. I couldn’t believe I would be attending such a place.

There were students scattered about the yard and students mingling in the hallways. I really felt out of place because all of them looked different from me. There were some Asians at my previous school, but it wasn’t anything like this. I tried not to stare as I made my way to my homeroom, but I couldn’t help but glance here and there every few seconds. I could feel a lot of eyes on me, too. I’m sure most of them felt the way I did, not used to seeing someone who didn’t look like them in their territory. Mom told me there were some American students there, but so far I didn’t see any.

When I reached my homeroom class on the second floor, I chose a desk closest to the back. I wanted to sit in the very last row, but all the seats were already taken over by boys, who of course made it a point to stop what they were doing and stare me down as I searched for a spot. Trying to ignore them, I sat down at desk on the third row on the far right side of the classroom and pulled out my orange binder. I took out the class schedule and looked over it as if I was seeing it for the first time. I was satisfied with my schedule, except for the math class that I would have to take. Math was not my best subject and I was certain I’d have to seek out a tutor before the semester was out.

After thoroughly looking over my schedule, I put it back in my binder and took out my phone. I scrolled through my contacts list in search of someone to talk to. Back at home it was almost seven o’clock in the evening so I knew all of my friends would be at home. I decided to text my friend Melissa, who responded right away.

I purposely lost myself in my phone as more and more students filed into the room and found a seat. The noise level steadily rose and I could sense many pairs of eyes bearing down on me, but I ignored both. At some point or another, the teacher walked in and demanded everyone’s attention. I quickly shoved my phone into my bag and looked up for the first time since I sat down. As the teacher introduced himself as Mr. So and, I assumed, talked about the school and its rules and all of the usual first-day-of-school information that no one ever paid attention to, I took a moment to survey the classroom. The room itself was quite different from the ones at my old school. Besides being noticeably larger, the classrooms here had chalkboards, whereas at my old school we used “white” or dry erase boards. The lockers here were actually more like cubby holes with lockable doors as opposed to the lockers that I was used to that lined the hallways. On the left wall, glass covered most of the wall, which was also different. Everything else was pretty much the same, though- the teacher’s and the students’ desks, the laminated posters on the wall, the bulletin boards.

Next, my eyes quickly scanned over the students. None of them looked American, and I wondered if any of them could even speak English. I felt so out of place and awkward sitting there among all of them. I had to admit, though, they were some very attractive people. Most of them had their hair dyed and they accessorized with their uniforms. I didn’t even think that was allowed, but I guess since it was a performing arts school it was acceptable.

Finally, I looked at the teacher. He, too, was attractive, and I figured he was in his late twenties or early thirties. He was tall and slim with short, medium brown hair. His cheekbones were high, his eyes were gentle and somewhat small, and his voice was deep and engaging. He was wearing a navy blue blazer, a white and navy blue dress shirt, khaki pants that were rolled up at the ankles and brown penny loafers. Mr. So struck me as the type who unintentionally made females fall head over heels for him. He seemed so calm and laid back. I bet a lot of the students, girls and guys, developed a crush on him.

I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I almost missed the moment when Mr. So suddenly switched to speaking English. He was speaking English! It wasn’t 100% perfect but I understood everything he was saying. The students seemed to understand too because they were paying just as much attention to him as they were when he was speaking Korean. It sounded like he was repeating everything he said before for those who couldn’t understand Korean, or more specifically, for me.

“Ok, now that that’s out of the way, why don’t we all introduce ourselves while I pass out your paperwork and student handbooks?” Mr. So said, picking up a stack of booklets. “Let’s start at the young man to my right and go down each row.”

A slim boy with blond hair and soft facial features stood up and cleared his throat. “Hello, everyone, my name is Kevin Woo,” he greeted in a soft voice. “A lot of you know me because I came here last year. Um, I’m from California, I love to sing, I have an older sister, I play guitar and piano, and… that’s about it.”

The class clapped and some of them said hello as he gave a little bow and took his seat. Next up was a small boy with spiked, black hair and puffy cheeks. “Hi, guys, I’m Henry. This is my first year here and I’m really excited. I moved here from Canada four months ago. I love music. Like Kevin, I play piano and guitar and I can also play violin and drums. I love to dance, and I write music. I have a brother and a sister who are also here, though not in this school. Uh, I speak Korean, Chinese, and English obviously, and Amber is my best friend. That’s all.”

When he said “Amber,” he pointed to the person sitting next to him, who gave a little wave. Amber was a girl but she was wearing a boy’s uniform. I didn’t pay much attention to her at first, but when he said her name and pointed her out, I was surprised. She had a pretty face- clear, smooth skin, nice dark eyes, and a friendly smile. She also looked awesome in her uniform. The top two buttons of her untucked white dress shirt were open, revealing a gold cross necklace. There were numerous pins of various shapes and sizes attached to the lapels and pockets of her pink jacket. Her jet black hair stopped just inches from her shoulders and was styled in a swoop. I didn’t want to jump the gun and automatically assume that she was a lesbian- she could have very well just been a tomboy. Whatever the case was, though, if she was a dude I would have somehow had to make her mine.

Before I knew it, it was my turn to introduce myself. Taking a deep breath, I slowly rose to my feet while dozens of eyes shifted in my direction. This sort of thing usually didn’t make me nervous at all, but given the circumstances. I was a wreck. I wiped my moistening hands on my short, pleated skirt and tried to gather my thoughts together. “Uh, hi, uh, my name is Julia,” I began. God, I needed to get it together. I sounded like I had a speech problem. “I’m from Georgia, the state, not the country.”

I don’t know where that last line came from but I did earn a few giggles, which I wasn’t sure how to feel about.

“I moved here about three weeks ago,” I continued. “My mom helps run the Autumn Sun bakery. I have two sisters who go to university here. This is my first time ever coming to Korea and I hope I like it here. It’s also my first time attending a performing arts school, which I’ve always wanted to do, and I hope to improve my singing talent as well as try my hand at other things like hip hop dancing. I love sweets, the color orange, and I don’t watch much TV. That’s it.”

I quickly bowed, silently thanking the universe that I remembered to do so, and sat down. The rest of the students introduced themselves and then Mr. So told us about himself. It was a relief to know that most of the class at least spoke English. There were a handful of students who spoke Korean, and I learned that some of them were Chinese. There was one Chinese girl in particular named Fei who really caught my attention. She was a pretty girl with tanned skin and a slim figure. Her looks were exotic, different from the other Chinese students. I wasn’t sure if she could speak English because she gave her introduction in Korean instead of in English like most of them did. If she couldn’t, I wanted to learn Korean s o I could talk to her because she seemed like a cool person.

We only stayed in homeroom for an hour. When the bell rang, I shoved my things into my shoulder bag, expect for my schedule, and rushed out of the door. Bodies were already beginning to fill the halls and I wanted to get as close to my next class as possible before people started getting in my way. I didn’t get very far though because in no time the halls were packed. There sure were a lot of kids at that school! As I navigated through the bodies, I went downstairs to the first floor, and then searched for my next class: Introduction to Korean. I memorized where my homeroom was but I couldn’t remember where everything else was. I looked at my schedule and checked the room number. I walked down one hall and looked around for the plastic plates with the numbers engraved in them. The warning bell rang and I walked a bit faster. Everything was looking more familiar as I got down the hall, and I soon found the room.

When lunch came around I was almost running to the cafeteria. I didn’t eat much breakfast that morning because my stomach wouldn’t stop acting weird, so I was starving by lunch time. I was curious to know what would be served. I was no stranger to Korean food since I’ve eaten at a few Korean restaurants, but I wasn’t sure I would like the school cafeteria food. If it was anything like American school cafeteria food, I would have to bring my lunch each day or I’d be hungry a lot.

The lunch room was filling up fast when I arrived, and I went straight to one of the lines. Even though the line was moving at a steady pace, it still took forever because every few minutes someone was breaking the line. I didn’t want to get in trouble on my first day so I held my tongue, but it was really, really pissing me off. I thought about saying something to one of the teachers, who looked on and acted as if nothing was happening. Finally, the fourth time it happened, I got so fed up that I stepped out and cut in front of a group of girls who kept letting their friends join them. They all gave me dirty looks and whispered things about me in Korean, but I ignored them. I was too damn hungry and irritated, and if one of them had said something to me, I was sure that I would get myself suspended.

When I finally got my food, I looked around for a place to sit. The cafeteria reminded me of my old school, in that everyone was cliqued off and sitting in clusters around the room. I searched around the room for someone who looked like me, but it was hard with all the Asian bodies everywhere. I decided to sit at one of the long tables where there were a few empty seats.

“Hey,” a female voice called out as I walked down one of the aisles.

I turned my head in the direction of the voice and my face immediately lit up.

“You can sit there if you want,” she continued, pointing to the seat across from her.

Oh my God, it’s an American student! And not just any American student- an African-American student!