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7.1 Transition to high school
Being from France I have a different perspective I think. My transition was really smooth,I was stressed of course but I think prepared well enough to know what to expect! We actually start high school at around age 12, I started at age 12, then we start collège which is your high school at around age 16. I have a really good memory of my first day of high school, I was stressed and my whole world changed, it was way more diverse than what I experienced before but couldn't have loved it more -
8.1 Rite of passage
I grew up in Africa and one thing we would do when entering high school is taking care of a younger child. So much responsibilities, we were responsible for them to do their homewroks, being seuccesful. All of the new students would have to go on stage and receive their students name, parents, teachers, everyone was involved like a real ritual, a ceremony, it was like being part of something big, being an adult sort of. -
2.1 Early maturer
I was one of the first in my class to actually experience all of the changes. I felt like I was all alone, The gonadarche period changed my body so fast and I couldn't stop it.I was one of the tallest due to growth spurt, which would make me so sick,horrible experience.When talking about risk-taking behaviour,behavioural problems,I just wanted to prove everyone I was capable of doing it, wether dangerous or not! I would be so emotional due to hormones overload. Luckily it didn't las long. -
1.1 Entering adolescence
This is the day i actually had a serious conversation with my parents and expressed all my feelings. I just felt like everyone was against me. I felt overwhelemed with hormones, I was looking for my identity, changing my style and personality every week. I saw my body change and hated it. It felt like one day I was a young girl and the next I was about to be a woman. I pretty much match the book's description actually. -
2.2 Niche-picking
My mother thing is languages,i have been raised speaking 3 languages.When I entered high school I had a choice between 3 options:theater, math,Chineese,obviously I took Chineese because of the passive genotype environment correlations.i grew up learning languages and loving it so when given the choice I took language again. I am now an 8 languages speaking girl loving the world that surrounds her because I see it differently thanks to this cultural exposure. -
4.1 Gender typed behavior
One of my boy friend, sat down with me and just let everything go. He was just having a massive breakdown, in front of everyone, didn't try to hide ro to hold it just let go. This kind of emotion regulation definitely didn't fit the books description,It was not your typical type of behavior when looking at a boy.I found out that boys also had emotions and we not be as different as we think! He was just angry at everything just what the book describes however, boys tend to be angrier than girls! -
6.1 Parent adolescent conflict
I was in high school and had to make a choice for my future and had a huge argument with my mom. Generation gap she said, we were so different, we didn't have the same ways of seeing the world, she was more respectful than I was, she probably made mistakes when raising me... I defintely was more emotional and more irritable to whatever she would say about my looks or who i was, I was so egocentric looking now! -
3.1 Personal Fable
It is the day I learnt my mother was sick, she would lose memory, woudn't be able to recognize us, I just felt like no one could understand me.I just felt like I was the only one,who was really suffering from it, I was being egocentric, my sense of uniqueness made me feel like I was the only one in pain when everyone was. At night I would write down all my thoughts, create my own perfect world where sickness didn't exist and where my mother's pain wasn't real. -
3.3 Contradictions within the self
From what my family was teling me I was a brilliant girl,with blonde hair and blue eyes, tall and curvy,just like a barbie. However when looking at the mirror,all I saw was ugliness and acne,a fat girl who didn't know who she was, what was her purpose in life.One time I would find myself so pretty and proud of being curvy ,the next I would be crying because a pair of jeans didn't fit me and my fat ass. I was full of contradiction.Pretty but ugly,smart but dumb,curvy but fat,a girl or a woman? -
4.2 Non gender-type behavior
This would be me,When the book says that girls are supposed to be more quiet, wait for their turn in the classroom, have less behavioral probelms, I was the complete opposit. I would be the one sitting in the corner because of my attitude, because of pushing someone. Physical aggression was one of my problem, if you d say something about my family I would defintely fight for it, even though I was a girl! -
7.2 Transition to college
College, the transition was way more stressful. I was working for myself, not for grades or anything else, I was working to get a job, enetering adult life, having responsibilities, being indepent and working on my own, being autonome! The transition was though, I came from a little school that was like family to me and was about to attend university with people I had never met and had to compete with them! I met wonderful people but also learnt how to take care of myself -
6.2 Intimacy
The day I met my bestfirend. She is so much like the description in the book, I know I can trust her no matte what. We have our ups and owns, we have arguments but if I need her she will be there. I am in America and she is in france and noything change it! She understands me for who I am, she listens to me for hours without judging or complaining. -
6.3 Stimulatioin
Same here, my bestfriend once again. She just fits everywhere I look. We can talk for hours about nothing, just have fun, stay in the pool and enjoy ourselevs without thinking about anything. We took classes together but also some where we weren't she would teach me spanish and I would teach her sign language.; She is hearing, I am profoundly deaf and we both have to make effort and it is just so stimulating. -
1.2 Emerging Adulthood
Thats the day I entered Gallaudet University.I foud out who I really was. It also was a true period of instability,I was so far from home.The age of possibilities (Santrock p21)I agree. This year I just felt like the world was mine, and still feel the same. I travelled to america by myself, went to the bahamas, found an internship in New York.Self focused (Santrock 19) definitely, being so far from home I had time to think about me and what i really wanted for myself. -
7.3 Intrinsic motivation
Joining the swimming team just for me, not ecause I would get to compete or win or anything, just because I love swimming and always loved it. I had to be responisble enough to finsih my homework so that I could go and have 2 hours of practice and just swim! It made me larn so much about myself, how to be responsible, determined to do whatever I could just to be able to practice, and I have enevr stopped since!
