Never had I really understood what it meant to be a small fish in a big pond. In elementary and middle school, I was the big fish in the small pond. I knew the parameters of my pond and everything within it. There were no surprises to be had and no sight that I hadn’t seen. Everything had an air of familiarity and simplicity. My graduating eighth grade class consisted of twelve people; all of whom I had come to regard as family. I had an overwhelming feeling of belonging. This changed when I began my freshman year at much larger high school.

With my first steps into the building, I realized that everything was different. The most obvious sign that I had become the small fish was the size of the school. I cannot remember how many times I had gotten lost within my first week. I grew so accustomed to the minute three- floor school building of my middle school that the four massive floors of my high school began to feel even bigger than they were. The hallways provided the next shock; it was cultural. The way in which the students presented themselves was seemed foreign to me. They expressed themselves so freely and in such different ways than I had anticipated. The boy dressed head to toe in white, including a white hat and pristine white sneakers. The girl with three different colors in her hair. These people were more unique and different from anything I had ever encountered before. While initially overwhelming, the cultural divide did not scare me. If anything, I embraced the new culture around me. I saw this as an opportunity to prepare myself for college and the world outside of academia.

The culture shock that I had experienced was not a negative shock by any means. It was a surprise, but one that I wholeheartedly welcomed. It taught me that there was something to be said about leaving the familiarity of the small pond and venturing out to the bigger one to find yourself. I learned to embrace myself and new environments no matter how big or small they made me. Despite the changes I may have faced, I learned that I, too, can swim in a school of fish, even if I was small.