News from Saudi Arabia

Hello, Austin! I’m writing this post from across the Atlantic Ocean in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. I had to stay awake for two days straight for plane trips, and I still think it’s Wednesday afternoon. Curse you jet lag. I was picked at the airport by my half- brother, whose house I’m staying at right now.

The neighborhoods here look more like fortified military bases then neighborhoods. They are all surrounded by foot-thick concrete walls topped of by barbed wire. You have to have a visitor’s ID and be fingerprinted to really do anything here. This place is much more serious about visitors than the U.S..

I’m not quite sure about about what we’re doing over the next four weeks I’m going to be here. I think I heard something about camping and meteor crater. I’ll write another post in about week with updates.

Stress in Students

What causes stress in students? Almost everyday of my life is consumed by school. My free time is limited due to the large amount of homework I am given, having to study, and practicing my cello. Schoolwork puts too much stress on students and prevents them from getting enough sleep. As an effect, they are unable to do their best at school during the day. Homework is supposed to help students remember what they learned in school. It will have the opposite effect if it starts to consume their lives. The other half of this is not the school’s fault. A lot of other students I talk to say they no time to do their homework because they have extracurricular activities like sports all afternoon. Students will not be able to do well in school if they find no time to complete their homework. These two factors will take over a student’s life. They need time to do something they enjoy, to be with family. To solve the problem, schools need to lessen the amount of homework and students need to learn to balance their schedule so they have time for homework, extracurricular activities, and free time.