I was surviving school more than experiencing it.

The line contrasts mere endurance with genuine participation. To “survive” school suggests an environment experienced as hostile or draining—something to get through rather than learn from—often implying bullying, anxiety, alienation, or institutional pressures that reduce education to coping. “Experiencing it” points to what schooling is ideally meant to provide: curiosity, belonging, growth, and discovery. The quote’s force lies in its quiet indictment of systems (and peer cultures) that can make students feel unsafe or unseen, and in its recognition that resilience is not the same as flourishing.