Introduction by Tiffany Chien and Shreya Nathan:

Final exams, hectic long lunches, and club fundraisers. Homecoming, AP Classes, and senior prom. While these events and memories may typify our own high school lives, students in our sister schools around the world have vastly different experiences.

A typical day is different for every student, every school. Here, students Yohaan Sharma and Praneeth Rajsingh from the K-12 Ebenezer International School (EIS) in Bangalore, India share their stories.

From Yoshan Sharma, reporter from EIS, Bangalore, India:

I study at Ebenezer International School in Bangalore. The air that floats through the campus is fresh and free from pollution. This is because it is situated outside the city and away from the busy streets that are swarmed with people and their noisy, polluting vehicles. This gives a sense of serenity in our campus and has a positive affect on students and teachers alike.

There are, however, disadvantages to having to attend a school that is so far from the city: the distance some students are to travel on a daily basis and the lack of transportation apart from what the school provides us with are the main problems we face. The combination of the 2 problems make it hard for the students that live far away and want to do anything they can after working hours.

For me, I travel almost 60 to 70 kilometers (38 to 43 miles) a day and sometimes when I have to stay in school after working hours, it is hard for me to find a way to get home and I often reach home late. Add to all the travelling, getting home after a day of school isn’t the end of it! After a quick lunch and a change out of the school uniform into some shorts, it’s time for me to drop my younger sister at her tuition and visit my grandmother and her sister-in-law who tutor me in English and Science respectively. Both of them were teachers before their retirement. This serves as “Quality time” for us.

Then, at half past 7 I leave to go pick up my sister and take her home where, hopefully, my mother has come back from her job at Manipal hospital where she works as part of the administration that cares for the casualty department and the emergency room.

Life at school is very enjoyable. Our school tends to 3 boards of education: the ICSE stream, the O levels along with the AS & A Levels and the PUC (Pre-University College). Our classes are informative and often very interactive. The students are pretty friendly and enjoy a good time, which makes my free time (i.e. the time of day when I don’t have a class) very entertaining.

With my interest in music, it’s no surprise that I spend most of my free time on campus in the music room where I have long talks with the instructors about the different styles of music as well as having a class with my drums teacher. All my time that isn’t spent in the music room is spent on the football field with whoever else is free and looking to pass time.

Life at home is pretty much short and sweet as most of my week is spent at school. Over the weekends, I focus on relaxing and unwinding until I have to start a new week. I spend Saturdays relaxing and Sundays I spend at church with some friends. We have a group that plays at various churches along with a children’s choir.

In short, most of my days are pretty much jammed packed. But I have no complaints because I enjoy every minute of it; from the long bus rides to the hours in the music room and the fields to the many songs that are performed by us in churches across the city, it’s all about having a good time with the people who’s company you enjoy.

From Praneeth Rajsingh, Reporter from EIS, Bangalore, India

“Supermassive Blackhole” is blasting out of my phone as I slowly drag myself back to reality, the last bits of a dream ebbing away. I reach over to turn off the song which plays on time, every day at 6 in the morning. I disdainfully fight off the desire to fall back to sleep. Once up, I’m off to prepare for the day.

By about fifteen past 7, I’m seated comfortably in the school bus, still a bit drowsy but nonetheless prepared for the day.

There are no boring days for me. Rather, each day comes with its own ordeals and obstacles. And in my opinion, the best way to tackle these is to pace yourself and take them on one by one.

A quiet day, which is quite a rarity would start off at 8.15 sharp, the first class of the day begins and I simply go with the flow, breezing through the classes I attend. I get a short interlude during the recess break where I inadvertently end up in the corridor catching up on the latest news doing the rounds at school. Soon, I slip back into my old flow, and by noon, I find myself seated at the pantry, lunch at hand and spend another solid thirty minutes doing nothing of any real value. This is followed up by my last class for the day after which at 2.30 the school breaks until the next day and we make a beeline for the buses and go home our minds exhausted from all the studying. The only real obstacles I face on days like these or not understanding a concept in one of the classes. Not very spectacular. However, if it were one of my crazier days, (which is most days) this would be another story altogether.

There have been days when I go to school and have not attended even a single class, and other days where I manage to squeeze in a class or two in between my co-curricular obligation. Being the Student Cultural Co-ordinator comes with a heavy workload and responsibilities.

Planning, selections and organising all fall on my plate. I have to constantly keep myself updated on each upcoming event, the progress made in training, the logistical arrangements to be made and all such matters, to ensure that the flow is smooth and unhindered.

After school, I get home around 3.45 and I rest till about half past four. Then I make my mandatory visit to either the gym or the tennis court where is spend a good hour or more, trying to sweat myself lean.

Once I’m back home, I wash up, do away with school assignments for that day and get down to either revising my German language skills or attempting further work at my co-curricular responsibilities. If lucky, I wrap things up by 9, which gives me a good two hours for the television or a book or the computer.

At 11 in the night, the lights go off, the sheets come up and the dreams roll in.