| Again, I am amending/updating this page. It was a while ago, but nothing much has changed - I jut wanted to add a few comments! It has now been 6 years since school and I think 2001 will have to go down as the year of mending broken friendships and catching up with family I haven't seen for a while! As a result, I have been able to be more honest with people and as time has passed on, their attitudes have changed and with that has come acceptance. Some of the friends I have seen are old school friends and what I wrote doesn't hold so steadfastly to being the ultimate truth. They have been exposed to a wider world than just school (and a private school at that) and as a result they are more accepting of my sexuality. | Life really does begin after school finishes. Not only is there more to do in a day than study; attitudes and friends change too. I should have had my fifth year reunion last year. I was overseas at the time, but it gave me an excuse not to show. Had I been around, I still don't think I would have gone. | ||
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed school and the opportunities that existed, but I didn't like the person I was or more to the point, the person I was expected to be. I was never picked on because I was gay or anything like that, mainly because I played a very convincing straight girl, complete with crushes on guys, and dilemas about who I should go out with. I played sport, did well academically, gave everything a go and conformed to things I found alien and attitudes I thought archaic and whatever else I thought I should. For whatever reason, I still never quite fitted in at school. | It was sink or swim, and for a while I felt like I was splashing around waiting for someone to throw me a life jacket when I realised the only person to do that was myself. So I threw myself a jacket and I did what any confused teenager would do if they couldn't think of what to do with their life. I took off and lived overseas as an exchange student for a year, learning another language and soaking up a different culture. Upon my return I moved away for university, and didn't try to fit into my old life. I just made a new one, with new friends and a new me. I have lost touch with some friends from school, but also made stronger some of the friendships that started years ago. I can happily recommend both experiences as life changing and growing experiences. | Very cliched, but all too true.
There are some many places to be, things to do, people to see. There is no time to sit still and collect cobwebs and wonder whatelse you might be able to do, when you could be out there doing it. |
It seems all I have done since school is fit activities in between travelling! I have been back to Sweden since I was an exchange student and now Africa and the UK. I worked hard towards this goal and have met fantastically open minded and interesting people, seen so much and I think become a more well-adjusted and less judgemental person because of it.
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