Let's make this last - that is what I would love to have done with summer. It's such a brilliant feeling to know you never have to go to school again. September didn't come with moans and groans, thoughts of heavy school bags, homework and tights - they always needed to be hitched up or else after an hour or two I would look very Nora Batty-esque and believe me, that was not a style I wanted.
These few weeks have been great, apart from the hassle of having to view and appeal my English script. I know it is a great opportunity to get a paper rechecked but I think with so much emphasis put on the Leaving Cert, the least we deserve is to have the mark we deserve at the time we expect to receive it - i.e. August 15th. But the last few weeks really have been brilliant and I've still got two left to fill. This transition time poses as an invitation to maximise our capacity for fun.
With my holidays, three debs and two major concerts, under my social belt, I'm having a ball. To make the situation even better, these were funded by an enjoyable job: I spent every day helping kids play tennis while simultaneously bronzing my previously Caspar-like skin.
Now as I begin to face the reality that I probably will not see the friends with whom I've spent the last five years or more for gaps of three weeks at a time, it makes me sad.
Looking back, school was always a comfortable place. For every three bad days there was always at least one good day and you remember that one the best, so it seems to balance out. And sometimes the teachers were great craic. Oh man, a sure sign of an ageing person is sentimentality.
As I prepare for the "big move", I am doing it with open arms and excitement because if college life turns out to be what every one says it is, I can't wait. The only advantage of the here and now is that I don't have to study.
When my "little" sister went back to school on Monday to start studying for her Junior Cert, I felt so relieved that I wasn't returning. When I saw the piles of books on her desk a shiver went down my spine, no joking. To know that your time has been served makes you feel far more liberated than apprehensive.
I went shopping for some of the stuff I need for college - bedclothes, running gear, bicycle lights, spice rack, Jacuzzi, wide-screen TV, I'm still deliberating over the DVD and mini disc players - I just thought, "Wow, the long-awaited time has come." When my friends and I organised a meal out to celebrate our offers and as a get together before we head off to our various destinations, it was confirmed that this is a time to savour.
When we look back on secondary school, we can remember those memorable debs karaoke performances and religion classes spent humming the Red Hot Chilli's Californication album.
Hopefully we will slide easily to the other side of college life, coming out on top.
