Maris (Latvia)

My Own Words

“I’ve been at my school the longest of anyone.

I like the fact that there are so few kids. I can know everyone’s name. I can know something about them personally.

Many of the kids who come here don’t really like the school because you actually have to work. But I think it makes you work for something. You clean your room because it’s your room. You pick potatoes because you’re going to eat them in the winter. It builds character. 

This is my last year at this school. I have to go to high school next year. 

One thing I’m scared of about high school is that there will be so many new people. Obviously I won’t be able to know all of them. It will be hard to make new friends. This year we got two new girls at our school and it took me like two days to even talk to them. It’s always awkward for me to make new friends. 

That’s why I like it here so much. This school seems to attract kids who are different and unique in their own way. My older brother goes to a high school with 30 kids in each class. That’s more than we have in our entire school. How do you get to know everyone? It’s tough. I think most of them are going to be normal people. It’s like the herd effect - you follow everything that everyone else follows. Nobody wants to stand out. That’s scares me too. They’re not going to like the things I like. 

I don’t like to make guy friends usually. I think of myself as a pushover. I don’t do as well with sports. I don’t like hanging out with so many guys because usually all they like to talk about are sports and other stuff guys usually talk about. It’s boring for me. I find football games boring. 

I think I’m a little weird. For example art is more my type of thing. I also like fashion and makeup. I know that’s really dumb for a boy. It just interests me. I even have to explain to some of the girls about makeup and fashion because they don’t know that much. 

Most of the guys in high school would probably bug me about liking fashion. The girls might be cool about it and I could have them to talk to. That’s why I think I’m going to have more girl friends.

I want to be in the entertainment industry. An idol. An actor. A pop singer. Whatever. Or an influencer. I’m drawn to showbiz. 

But the shows in Latvia are terrible. I’d want to be in American movies. Like Avengers or even romance and comedy movies. Maybe I’ll move to New York or even Japan.”