Being the new kid means nobody remembers your old mistakes. That’s a weight most people never get to put down.

Arriving somewhere new comes with an advantage that is easy to miss while you are busy being lonely. Nothing you did at thirteen followed you here, and the role you got stuck with before does not exist in this building. Hardly anybody gets a clean slate, and this one arrived by accident rather than by choice.

Decide what you want to be known for before people decide for you, then behave like that from the first week. If you were the quiet one or the difficult one, you can simply not be, and nobody will contradict you. Being new is uncomfortable and it is also a short window worth using.