My Second Week as a Senior

My second week started off in the best way possible. I submitted my first Sociology assignment. I learnt about glucose rings and disaccharides. I learnt about emission spectrums. I reviewed transformations in Adv. Functions. And then I caught a cold. I caught a cold the day my parents told me to wear my hoodie to school because the temperature would be low. So, I had to admit that it was my fault.

But admitting it, apparently, wasn’t enough, because I woke up on Tuesday looking like Dwight after his concussion in season 2 of The Office. I went to school anyway, because it’s Grade 12 and I can’t miss a day; it’s like the TDSB makes teachers teach the whole year’s syllabus on the day I miss school. Biology was the same as every other day; we finished the Carbohydrates section and moved on to lipids. But then in Sociology, I realized I couldn’t even hold my pen properly to write and made the decision to go home after the class ended.

I got home and told myself I would only rest. I wouldn’t sleep, because that would mess up my sleep schedule. And guess what I did: I slept. I slept for what felt like 5 minutes but were 5 hours. My mother checked my temperature and I had a fever. And the only thing I could think of was how I can’t miss the next day at school, because I had already missed half a day. That was probably the first time I got a taste of the adult life, where you can’t take a week off just because you have a fever. ☹. The fever may have messed up my sleep cycle and I am not down for it. I love sleeping the way Terry loves yogurt, or the way Joey loves food.

Wednesday wasn’t extraordinary, especially because I could barely talk through the cold. We continued our discussion about Schools of Thought of Sociology in period 1. We used 3D building sets to make macromolecules like Carbohydrates and Lipids. It was fascinating to see how the molecules joined to form huge chains IRL and not just in a drawing. We had our first proper Student Council meeting; planned so much fun stuff for the coming weeks. I was late to my Chemistry class because of how far my locker is from the rest of my classes. I might have to get a different one. ☹.

Thursday was a fun day. It was the last day of Ganesh Chathurthi. For those of you who don’t know what that is: Ganesh Chathurthi is basically a long celebration of Lord Ganesha’s birthday. Imagine celebrating your birthday for 11 days. I would love that. I wore one of my new Indian outfits to school. In Biology, we did an online activity based of macromolecules in different food samples and run tests to see which sample had what. I’ve done this in real life, at my previous school. But it was fun doing this here, with no added pressure of this being 30% of our mark. XD.

We missed most of the 2nd period because of the assembly, where the SAC formally introduced its new members for the first time this year. I feel I may not have given the best introduction of myself because I was a bit unprepared. So, to those of you who were watching: I’m Aarushi Gupta. I’m the Treasurer of the SAC this year. I’ll be taking care of the money being allotted to clubs and spirit weeks. That’s right: I put the fun in funds. XD. The rest of the school day was either review for quizzes or actual quizzes.

In the evening, we performed the last prayer of this year’s Ganesh Chathurthi. Then we immersed our idol in a bucket of water, in which it dissolved into clay. The idol we bought, this year, was eco-friendly and did not contribute to any sort of pollution. We used the clay for the soil in our front yard. I’m a little sad to go back to living a plain life after spending 11 days celebrating a festival.

Friday was interesting because of the work I did at school. In Sociology, we discussed the Schools of Thought of Psychology, my favourite being Psychoanalytic Theory. My Sociology teacher ran a psychoanalysis of the class and the results were so accurate for me. It’s a seriously good topic to research. In Biology, we wrapped up the first chapter and were handed an assignment to summarize any scholarly article based on the topics of the unit we are currently doing. It’s a change from the ‘copy from your textbook, paste in your notebook’ homework I used to get till last year. We did a problem set for Chemistry that involved a couple of ‘Think Outside the Box’ questions. Math was chill, because it was the last class on a Friday. I finished almost all my homework by 6 PM that day.

What a week!! It’s been quite a looong week. Glad it’s over. I can’t wait for next week. -Aarushi