My son and I went shopping for school suppies tonight, which prompted me to remember his reaction to his first day of kindergarten: “Mom! It was the best day of my life!” (And charming as that was, I couldn’t help but think, “You’ve got no place to go but downhill from here.”)
So what do YOU remember about your first day of…
Kindergarten/First Grade
High School
College
As for me…
First Grade
I had a really cool book bag, of the style that would be called a “messenger bag” today. Red vinyl. Lots of shiny buckles. I also carried a purse (WTF? I was five!), and when we got our seat assignments, I left it in the desk where I had first sat and another kid found it and Sister Mary had toask who it belonged to and I was really embarrassed at having done something that made me the focus of a nun’s attention.
College
I was pretty sure I wanted to major in geology. But my very first class (8 a.m.) on the first day of college was Geology 101, which was in a huge auditorium with probably more students than were in my h.s. graduating class. And as if that wasn’t disconcerting enough…the professor was a total “I’m too sexy for my shirt” sleazebag. I never took another geology course.
Kindergarten- I was surprised that I was one of the only kids who knew how to read. The rest of them were working on some pretty lame stuff!
Both my kids loved school from the moment they got there- in fact, when I came to pick up my oldest after his first day of preschool, he ran to the far corner of the classroom and cried, saying he didn’t want to go home!
Kindergarten: I was surprised that almost all of the other kids already knew each other, from preschool. I only knew two kids in the class, because we had always lived on the same street and played together.
High school: I never realized how big that building was until I had to make it from one end to the other in four minutes. My legs hurt so much at the end of that first day that I could barely walk upstairs to my bedroom.
College: That was one big-ass lecture hall, and the professor seemed to expect me to know something about the subject already (I didn’t). My second class that day was much better, but the 500-people lectures were intimidating, at first.
Kindergarten I was really pissed that they made me take my shoes off and leave my bag in the cloakroom. I thought they were stealing them. I didn’t know anyone because I’d just come from China. High school I was scared of the juniors and seniors in their differently-coloured shirts. On my first day of year 11 I looked at the year 8s and thought “Hey, I bet they’re feeling pretty threatened by me. Score!” I also didn’t know anyone because I’d just come from Canada. College I missed my first lecture. And I still didn’t know anyone, because all my friends had ditched me for UWA.
