Folks, Happy Chinese New Year! Yes, it is Chinese New Year so I have a break. This year is the year of the Ox. If you want to learn more about Chinese New Year and the Chinese Zodiacs, then go here [link] and here [link] .

As some of you may know, I transferred from AST to TAS (I’m going to be talking about school so bear with me). There are pros and cons in this transfer and the pros really outweigh the cons. Let’s explore the pros starting from facility to community:

TAS is much bigger than AST and there are much more people. TAS has better lunch than AST. TAS offers a lot more courses than AST. Students in TAS get to literary choose their courses while students in AST don’t have many options since almost everything is required. What made TAS better than AST is that TAS offers IB programs, honors courses, and AP courses to all high school students. In AST, there are no IB programs and honors courses, and the AP courses are only reserved to seniors. I took AP Chinese in my sophomore year because I requested it.

My parents once told me that there will be bullying in TAS and I proved them wrong. Most teachers and students in TAS are very nice. They sometimes greet you and actively talk to you. Teachers in TAS are strict but they are very nice and passionate about helping students. AST has some good teachers but some teachers in AST are indifferent about their students and they even insult their students at times. Students in TAS are generally friendly and they don’t bully. Most students in AST are mean bullies and they call themselves “gangsters.” I can describe the gangsters using more accurate words but that would be the same as insulting them and insulting isn’t my style.

About the cons in this transfer: I miss the few friends I made in AST, I miss the Juniors Seminar course, and I lost my status as the chief editor of The Talons AST Literary Magazine.

Although it’s late, I really like my transfer.

I wish everyone (Smart and dumb; skinny and fat; tall and short; beautiful and ugly; happy and unhappy; healthy and unhealthy; nice and mean...etc) a Happy Chinese New Year!