case: (Default)
Case ([personal profile] case) wrote in [community profile] fandomsecrets2014-01-25 03:42 pm

[ SECRET POST #2580 ]


⌈ Secret Post #2580 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 082 secrets from Secret Submission Post #369.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
silvereriena: Icon by dolcesecret (Default)

Re: International schools

[personal profile] silvereriena 2014-01-26 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
International schools? Basically, they're schools designed for foreigners or children of expats. but kids who are citizens of the country the school is in can also go. They use a different educational system than the local schools and usually include a lot of classes on culture/cultural exchange and world issues.
Most of the kids you'll find are children of diplomats and military personnel stationed abroad.
lunabee34: (Default)

Re: International schools

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-01-26 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
Okay cool. :)

What were the best and worst parts of attending this kind of school?
silvereriena: Icon by dolcesecret (Default)

Re: International schools

[personal profile] silvereriena 2014-01-26 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
Well, getting to live in a culture that is not your own is a great experience, and international schools have people from all over the world coming to it, so you get to learn a bit from everyone. I got to take courses on cross-cultural issues (I remember learning what different hand gestures mean in different countries, like how in Greece it's an insult to show your hand palm up). Most international schools also tend to have pretty high-tech facilities.

The downside is that as diplomats, you only have a limited time in a specific country before you're posted somewhere else. It's very common in international schools to see students come in for a few years and then leave again. So you had to get used to making friends only to have them move. And it was hard for me as a kid, too. I was very shy when I was little, and just when I was starting to feel comfortable some place and had made friends, I had to pack up and start all over again someplace else. There were times when I wished we could go back to Canada and I could experience the quaint suburban school lifestyle I always saw in Hollywood films (even though I know a lot of them are inaccurate now XD ). But all in all, I wouldn't trade my experiences.

Another downside was that there was a bit of counter-culture shock when I returned for college. I spent your life growing up in different cultures that are not your own, so you only sort of fit in. I didn't really grow up within my own culture, so I didn't really feel like I belonged here either at first. I belonged to a third culture, the one that expats experience, wherein you live in a mix of two worlds. That's why the term Third Culture Kid was coined, I guess.

Man, I hope I didn't ramble on too much.
lunabee34: (Default)

Re: International schools

[personal profile] lunabee34 2014-01-26 03:17 am (UTC)(link)
No! This is fascinating. :)

There's another expat posting in this thread who seems to have experienced some of the same issues you're talking about.

I lived in one place from when I was born until I went to college. It's hard for me to imagine what it must be like for people who move frequently. I don't know that I would have handled that very well as a kid; of course, kids are super adaptable, so who knows?