As much as I loved summer break, I’ll go ahead and admit I also liked starting school again. It wasn’t because I got to learn new things, or study for test papers or start thinking about what I wanted to do with my life. Nope! It was all about the stickers, the stationery, the colored highlighters, the backpacks, the new clothes and the smell of new books. Who’s with me? Preparations usually started a couple of weeks before school and it involved running up and down to find the notebook that would strike the perfect balance between an ingenious design, functionality and a unique touch that would make it stand apart. From all these, I have learned lots of back to school mistakes we all did. And, to be frank, still do, even though we don’t get ready for school anymore.
I’m pretty sure everyone had one of these at some point. They looked so cool in the store. They were unique and just coming out on the market, they were clear, we just had to have them! And then you’d get home and realize everyone could see everything you put in them. Every-thing! Not so functional in the end, but still cool, to this day.
Let’s be honest here, the stickers mania is still going strong and not only for students. And how could you dislike a pokemon sticker, or an Adidas logo? How could you refrain from sticking Donald Duck’s face on your English notebook? I used to stock up on stickers like crazy. Of course I needed one square foot of butterfly stickers, I intended to take biology classes. And how could you say no to those Paris stickers? I used to day dream about visiting the Eiffel Tower every day during math classes.
But mom, I need that 400$ leather, hand made folder. How am I supposed to be able to study and get good grades and get into a good university and become a successful doctor and have a happy life without it? In retrospective, we all know we never used it much, it was way simpler to shove handouts in random books and forget them there.
Oh, the fashion magazines were a must before starting school. How were you supposed to know what colors matched your hazel eyes and what belt style you should go for? And of course, one magazine was never enough, you had to have multiple points of view in order to form an accurate opinion about the latest fashion tendencies. Which translates into me buying at least seven of them. Just to make sure what color to paint my nails on the first day of school.
It was all about colors back then. Everything had to be as colorful as possible. You could feel instantly happy just by looking at a pink highlighter. Oh, good times! By the way, remember pencil grips? Now I can’t help but go “eww!” from all their geekiness, but back then they were all the rage. It was the only way you could have both a nice penmanship and keep your fingers from getting sore.
What else did kids with braces do before the first day of school besides flossing even more religiously and washing their teeth eight times a day? Choose the perfect braces color, of course. And man, the struggle was real! Should I go tutti frutti or keep it classy, mono color, and go all blue? Come to think of it, green goes better with those new sandals, I should stick to green. Oh, the purples ones sure look nice. Needless to say, I ended up wearing the clear ones.
