Hello everyone! First, thank you for opening this story! I am Koinu no Waltz and I'm an amateur writer and artist. I've written for fanfiction and this is my first attempt at fictionpress.

Some Things to Know

1) I created all of these characters!

2) These characters are based off of real people!

3) Most of the events are out of real experiences! (Even the falling off of 60cm high bed and them hitting head on desk part)

4) I AM AN AMATEUR WRITER. Please don't just write 'you suck at writing'. You MAY write however, 'try to work on your sentence structure and grammar' though.

5) Rated T for future references and cursing.

Summery:

My name Maia and I am the President of the Foreign Country Research Club or the FCRC. What is the Foreign Country Research Club, you may ask. Well, it's a club where certain students, who were recommended by staff members of this school, travel around the world and research the culture of the country. As I said, these students who are part of the FCRC are selected students who gained the trust and respect from the teachers and staff members of the school. You would imagine these people are respectful, honor students... well... That's what I thought at first as well. They were far from role models. Although they were all respectable, smart people, I came to realize that they were regular teenagers just like me. Well, you'll soon come to understand what I mean.

The School of Academics and Foreign Encounter, also known as the SAFE, is a prestigious school found 200 kilometers off the coast of Porto Santo, and 700 kilometers off of the coast of Portugal. While its existent is not a secret, most will not be able to to answer the question "What is SAFE?" if asked. Our school has three grades with 111 persons per grade, and 60 staff members.

Since being founded in the year 1870 by Alfred Schwartz, the School of Acedemics and Foreign Encounters have had over 1000 applicants each year and growing. Having been founded before the age of flight, the 700 kilometer voyage to Scwartz Island took months at high risk. Now, in the new age of flight, access to the island through connecting flights from Porto Santo. Schwartz Island, named after the discoverer, was once an uninhabited island filled wild beasts, critters, and mountains. Now, half the island has been reformed into a school, airport, and town for students to use freely at any given time. The other half of the island remained in its original state since founded, and is the base of the science program at SAFE. Enough talk, and now, I, Maia Megalos, would like to welcome you, to the School of Academics and Foreign Encounters.

Light flooded into my room through the small crevices from the tall drapes. As I turned in my bed, trying to escape from the light, I felt the mattress disappear from below me, and with a thud, I fell 60 centimeters to the floor. I must have hit my head hard, for I struggled to get back onto my feet, but as soon as I could, I hit my head on the corner of my desk. I cussed under my breath as a rolled on the tile floors of my bed. I held back my tears. Todays was not going to be a great day.

Changing into a fresh set of closing, I tied my long, wavy dark brown hair into a high ponytail and with a few great leaps, I crossed my room and ran down the steps to the living room where I met my mother.

"Maia! What was that sound I heard from your room!" she asked me in her demanding voice. I couldn't say that I fell off my bed, for they would think that I need a railing installed on the side my bed, so I simply told her half the truth.

"I had a small fall." I replied in monotone as I sat myself down at the table. Across from me, sat my father who silently ate his breakfast without taking notice of me. "Good morning Pateras*" He gave me a silent nod and returned to his food. My father and I never had a conversation which went beyond the five word line, which was fine by me. We understood each other and that was all I needed. It was different with my mother however.

"Miteras*... May I have something to eat?"With the politest tone of voice possible, I asked. My Mother was a strict woman from a strict family, she hit me on the hands had I been rude to her. "Miteras?"

"I've cut up some fruits. And there's some yogurt as well. Please, help yourself." As she said, I stood up from my seat and prepared breakfast. It was the same pattern as always, at least, until my father spoke.

"Angele mou*, when did you say your first day of school was?" In a quiet voice, he asked me. School... It took me a few moments to comprehend what he had just asked me. School... That word hadn't been said to me in ages, at least, since June.

"Ah Pateras, It begins on the 7th. I still have six more days." I replied in a sweet tone. "Ah, and speaking of school, I have to pack my bags. Pateras, Miteras, I'll be upstairs." I quickly finished my breakfast, stood up from my seat and walked back up the stairs. Once I have entered my room, i headed straight for the closet where my suitcase was. Carefully, I pulled the old thing out of its home and placed it carefully on the tile floor. I had to pack clothing which would last me for 10 months. I go to school in a place perhaps 5,000 kilometers from my hometown in Athens, Greece.

My school, The School of Academics and Foreign Encounters (SAFE) is a prestigious school with high schoolers from all other the globe looking for opportunities in foreign encounters. Now in the third year of high school, I have been going to SAFE for two years, and even at two years, the school and the Island of Schwartz never fail to surprise me each year. My freshman year, my classmates and I got lost in the forest and went three days without real food, in sophomore year, my friends and I discovered an ancient hot spring which the principal used as a bathing area. This year, it will be special, for I, Maia Megalos, was going to be the president of the Foreign Country Research Club.

Vocabulary...

*Pateras = Father (Greek)

*Miteras = Mother (Greek)

*Angele mou = My angel (Greek)

-The thing is, I'm not Greek, so I had to google translate all of this stuff. In the future, any language besides the one I know (Japanese, Germen, French, English, and Chinese) so there may be some errors in the language AND the regular english. (After 5 languages, you start confusing languages...)