I left home for New Zealand to start my new life on my 15th birthday. My father and mother took me to Hong Kong, where we had to say goodbye. When we were saying goodbye, I suddenly felt afraid that I had never had before. This was the first time I had traveled so far by myself. And going to a far-away place I have never been before made me feel terrible. I held back my tears until I could no longer see my parents. As I was wiping away my tears, I realized that, from that moment on, I would have to do everything by myself. After my arrival in _ , my teacher, Ms. Lang, showed me around my new school. A few days later, I started having classes. There were only 20 students in each class. Only math, science, social studies and English were _ , and students could choose other subjects for themselves, I chose music, Japanese and health. In New Zealand, students are very active in class. And teachers are not as serious. They often let us play games in class. We can sit with anyone we like, and the teacher can sit at her own desk or at a student's desk. The school had an easy manner, with few rules. Because there was no homework, we could join clubs or do anything we liked. I always went to the library after school, where I found a lot of books to help with my studies. Studying in New Zealand is very different from studying in China. In New Zealand, students depend on the library to gain knowledge instead of waiting for what teachers ask them to do. Time went fast. The two months flew by after I arrived. Then a week of exams began. I did not have to take these exams, because I had only been at the school for a short time. However, my math teacher encouraged me to take the math exam, as she thought I could do well. Though there wasn't much pressure on me, I worked very hard to get ready for the exam because I know that no pain means no gain. When the day of the exam came, I found that I finished the paper faster than the other students. One week later, my teacher told the whole class who had got the top mark: It was me! I got 94 percent. All my classmates were very happy and said congratulations to me. It was one of the happiest days of my life. The writer always went to the library because   _  .
the teacher asked her to do so she wanted to gain knowledge with the help of many books she had no homework and had nothing to do she must get ready for the exams