what I've learned

first game of ultimate of the year 4/2/12

Summer is approaching. I can practically taste the warm air floating just out of reach that positively reeks of freedom. I've been thinking a lot these past nine months, thinking about where I would be if I hadn't gone to school. And thinking about what I've learned while at school. So here's a quick summary of what going to public school has taught me:

1. School buses are not long enough
Throughout the year, I've skipped around where I sit on the bus. Sometimes the third seat, sometimes the fifth, rarely the seventh. I'll get pretty attached to a seat and the BAM! I climb aboard and it's been taken. And somehow, every time I have to transfer seats I get placed closer and closer to someone who's a tad louder than the last person I sat next to. Go figure.

2. Sleeping is not hard
For the first few weeks of school, I was appalled at the thought of sleeping in public. But one day, something happened that changed my school life forever:
I dozed off.
Yep, that's right. I forget why I was extra tired that day, and I forget how long I slept, but who cares? I slept. And from that day on, I conked out every morning, and most afternoons.

3. Music is a quick fix to 99.99% of the world's problems (or, my problems)
It's true. Many times this year I've been about to scream, cry, or punch someone something and that's when I get the genius idea to plug in my earphones, crank up the volume, and lose myself in the music. The artists that have been on repeat since the beginning of the year? Kenny Chesney, Blackhawk*, Keith Whitley*, and Taylor Swift.

*If you have not been raised listening to these artists, you probably would not like/appreciate them like I do. This was the music my dad would rock me to sleep with as a baby, and that I danced around the living room to as a toddler.

4. Not all school lunches are bad
I've had friends come over after school some days and claim they had cardboard for lunch. Not true for my school. Their pizzas are the highlight of my day ;)

5.  99.99% of girls who go to school are insecure
Why is it that every girl who attends school has a reputation of being a jerk before you even meet her?Well, it's because they're insecure and want to draw everything away from their insecurities and have people focus on their words, which most of the time are the ugliest thing about them. Going to school has let me see how really self-conscious girls are. Even the nicest, prettiest, most popular girls in your class can have their insecurities–everyone does.
Since I wasn't raised in an environment to be concerned of what people thought of me, I went to school that way. And I'm sure I've changed a bit, but never once have I found myself complaining to myself or anyone else about something I seriously didn't like about myself. Sure, I've said "Geez I'm havin a bad hair day," and stuff like that, but nothing serious. And to be honest, I pride myself in that. I'm happy that I don't have any self-doubts and I just hope it rubbed off on other people.

6. It takes guts to stand up for someone
Several times over the past nine months I've stood up for different people in my class, most of time it was an autistic kid who didn't know that certain people were just not his friends. I've been lucky enough not to have been a target for bullying, and when I see bullying going on a flame ignites in me. Usually I just told the bully to knock it off, but sometimes when it got extreme I went to on of the administrators. Protecting someone is different from tattling, and I just wish more people knew it.

So that's what I've learned this year non-acedemic-wise. What have you learned?

-hannah
p.s. It's Mark's birthday today, and I'm sure he would love it if you stopped by his blog and said hello, or maybe even followed ;)