Today was my last day of school

I pretty much hated sixth form. Towards the end of it I started liking it a bit more because I had an actual friendship group again. But compared to 03-08, the experience was not very much. I’ve been excited about finishing there for so long, and I’ve been saying for weeks that I have no emotional attachment to the place and that leaving would be a doddle. I was wrong. It’s stupid because I knew I was kidding myself the whole time. It was so easy to leave the place and to leave the majority of the people. For the pure fact that a lot of them I either don’t like or don’t know. And it was easy to say goodbye to the people I know I’m going to keep in touch with. The thing that really got to me was saying goodbye to the people I have so much history and so many memories with who I know I won’t keep in touch with. Because let’s face it, you can’t stay in touch with everyone. There were a couple of people in particular that I found it excruciating to part with, for the sole reason that I know it probably was goodbye for good. What made the day so much more dimensional was that an old friend of mine who left the school last year came to visit. I hadn’t seen him properly in about a year, and it was only when I went up to him and hugged him that I realised how much I’ve missed him. We might not have much in common anymore, but we were close for so long and I have so many in-jokes, memories and shared experiences with him. It was so amazing yet so emotional to be kind of reunited with Nick (‘: And then this afternoon as I was going into work I saw another friend who I haven’t seen in a year. Pete is the year above me and I’ve known him since year 11 and we spent a lot of time together last year and then he went off to uni and that was kind of it. But he’s back for the summer and working in the same place as me so we crossed paths this afternoon. We literally spoke for around 15 seconds but again, it made me realise how much I’ve missed him.

I’m lucky in that I didn’t suffer at school. I was never badly bullied and I always got/get (touch wood) good grades without having to slog my guts. But the last two years have definitely not been massively enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made some friends for life over the past 20 or so months, new friends that I didn’t have beforehand. But the experience of actually being in sixth form was not good. Maybe that’s because I had years 7-11 to compare it with, which I loved so much. Whatever the case is with that, I’m so glad I’m out of that place. It presented me with some nice people, some amazing people, but a few too many awful people. It’s over now though, and it’s full steam ahead. Full steam ahead with my exams and full steam ahead with the rest of everything.