The Things I Will NOT Miss About High School

In my last post, I mentioned my next one would be about the things I will not miss about high school and here it is. Of course, it won’t be a long list, but I thought it would be fun to have it exist and let people know that I’m human – there are things even I don’t like.

1. 9 AM Classes. Or an early class in general. In Dubai, school started at 8 AM and clubbed with an hour-long bus ride, it meant I had to be up before 6 AM to get ready for the day. I was relieved when I moved to Toronto and found out school didn’t start till 9 and my commute would be less than 25 minutes, meaning I could wake up at 8 and still be on time. But it wasn’t until my last semester of high school that I realized I didn’t like the 9 AM classes either. I got a spare period, and since my school had a Day 1, Day 2 system (which means period 1 on day 1 is period 2 on day 2), every Day 2, I got to come to school at 10:20 AM. Of course, I arrived early even with that, but now I was waking up after 9 and taking as much time as I wanted to start my day. And boy, am I glad most of my university classes don’t start until 10 AM. I know, with the commute, I’ll still have to get up early but a) I’ll finally be awake when I sit down to learn and b) my first semester is only so the only commute I’ll have is from my bed to my study space. #grateful.

2. Lates being recorded. In addition to not missing 9 AM classes, I won’t miss me being late showing up on report cards. I’ve never been one to take punctuality lightly, but when you’re dependent on public transport, you want the other party to be a little considerate. Out of the 4 times I was late in my first semester of Grade 12, 3 were because it was the middle of winter and the bus was extremely late, and, even then, I got to school three or four minutes after 9. I was still marked late and I’m not happy about that. I mean, as someone who gets to school on time even after almost splitting her head open in the bathroom, I would like a little more leniency. Which is why I’m looking forward to professors not being bothered about when I show up. Not saying I’ll take undue advantage of that but it’s nice to know no one is waiting to punish me if I’m a few minutes late.

3. Group Projects. This is not me saying that university won’t have any group projects, but it certainly won’t have as many as high school did. I will say that, although I enjoyed the part where we presented, I never liked the part of group projects where we prepared. The point of group projects was to collaborate and come up with ideas and information together. But in every group assignment I have ever been a part of, we split up the work and did it individually. The only collaborative work was to compile it all, and even that started becoming one person’s job near the end of high school. I look forward to working on projects with people who want to be there and aren’t being forced to do it for the sake of credit.

4. My 100kg backpack. The one thing I’m looking forward to the most is not having to carry three textbooks and four binders every day. All my life, my heavy backpack has caused me intense shoulder pain, so it’s relieving to think I will only have to carry a notebook and my laptop, in terms of study material. Along with that, I won't miss having a locker far from all of my classes and not being able to change it because then they'd have to change every kid's locker if they asked.

Haha, this post was just for shits and giggles. None of these things had any adverse effects on me, nor do I hate any of them. This will be my last post for a while, I mean study tips/hacks kind of post. I do think I’ll post some of my school work, like the ISU Short Story and poems, but after my last weekly recount, I do want to take a well deserved, guilt-free break. I hope you have a wonderful summer and a great end to this awesome school year. - Aarushi