<p>It's my second week at boarding school (in America), and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and exhausted from everything that is going on. I don't mean to be racist or anything, but there are a lot of Asian teens in both the girls and boys dorm, and like two other american teens including me. I can't connect with any of them. I'm more connected to the day students, and I find it hard to talk to the other dorm students, especially my roommates. They rarely speak English in and outside the dorms. That's just one problem. At my last school, I only ate dinner, because the school lunches sucked, and I worked out three times a week. I lost some weight, but was able to maintain it. I don't have a scale in my room, but I know I'm probably in the high 90s. I'm usually around 101 or 103. I eat both lunch and dinner at school, but I feel like I'm not getting enough to eat. Breakfast really isn't my thing. I also hate going to dinner, because it's so stressful to find a place to sit and all they have for dinner is something chicken something something every night. It's usually better during the week days because I have cheer and when I go to dinner not a lot of people are there. Usually some teachers ask me to sit with them because I sit all alone. I've been thinking about going to breakfast and lunch only, because I heard the breakfast is amazing, but I hate feeling full while in class. Does anyone know how I can cope with all this stuff. Also, exercising is a really big thing for me, but cheerleading isn't really giving me the workout I want and the equipment my dorm has is old and has dust-webs on it. I also can't go to the football field to run, and I have no idea where I'm going on campus. At certain hours we have to walk with a buddy, and I don't think my roommate is the type to wake up or stop what she's doing to exercise. Any advice to help me cope with all of this stuff would be awesome. Also, I'm haven cravings for all these different foods, lol. How do I stop them?</p>
<p>Stvggles - What boarding school? I really can’t believe that there are no other “american teens.” Don’t get an eating disorder - eat healthy and exercise. Be friendly and open minded. You will find a friend to run with, talk to, and sort out some of the issues that you are facing. </p>
<p>stvggles - in no way do I mean to diminish your anxieties. They’re real to you and that’s what’s important. But from my older, fatherly perspective, you are seriously over worrying! My advice is that whenever you’re feeling uncomfortable about breakfast, about working out, about talking to other kids - a loud voice should shout in your ear “do it anyway!” In no time, you’ll find that a lot of your worries fade away and that you start having a great time. It’s the fear that holds you back. The secret is to push through those fears, own them, throw them aside. You are stronger than you think.</p>
<p>Change sucks. Even if it’s change you like, even if it’s something you have worked hard for, even if it’s something that makes you happy.</p>
<p>Women get depressed after weddings, after having a baby- even if they’ve wanted to be wives and mothers their whole lives. People commonly get depressed after they win the lottery!</p>
<p>Even if you have wanted nothing more than to go to this school since you were a baby, the transition period, the first few months, are going to suck. All the daydreams about actually being there are being ground into dust by realtiy. Just like actually dating your crush destroys the illusion that they are perfect. </p>
<p>Most people expect transitions to be happy things, and then they get stressed when they are not happy. My advise is to gird your loins for some world class suckage- you’ll be tired, lonely, homesick, and stresed. It will last between two and six months, if you just go through it. If you want to distract yourself from your own misery, the best way I have found is to find someone else who looks stressed, lonely, or sad and try to cheer them up. Stepping outside your own misery is the best way to bypass it, because for a little while you’ll be focusing on another person’s feelings more than your own.</p>
<p>At the end of the transition period, for you it may be at 2 months or 6, when you have found your groove, you’ll be happy again. It will have all been worth it. Just don’t be shocked that things will not be sunshine and puppies while you’re transitioning into a new life- it ALWAYS sucks. </p>
<p>Source: I went to 11 elementary schools in 4 states. Moving always opened up new opportunities but that transition, man, it blows. Even just transitioning to your local high school full of people you already know is miserable. Even when I was desperate to move, when I wanted to be in a new state, the first few months always sucked. </p>
<p>Things get better, don’t worry, you just have to go through it first. Don’t worry too much, just know it’s normal and it ends.</p>