There’s a FB group ‘Nostalgia di SBP’ (or Nostalgia at Boarding School) and I read some of the posts out of curiosity (I’m hardly on FB as it is, I spend 15 minutes a day on it tops). A mate of mine had written some posts to the group too. The few posts I read made me think back of my life at boarding school.
I wasn’t a brilliant student, I found out very quickly that there were some seriously clever and brilliant girls in my class and within our batch. And I could’ve scored good marks but some subjects like Arabic, Art and Domestic Science were the bane of my lower secondary life (funnily enough, I scored an A1 in Domestic Science even though I did somehow manage to sleep during the trial exam until my friend woke me up because there was a correction to the question paper). I was never a sportsgirl and never an athlete (I could barely run to save my life, I just didn’t and still don’t have the stamina), in fact I didn’t enjoy any of the games or sport (I could cheer loudly though). I was never in any drama (be it English or Malay) competition (I have stage fright) or dancing competition either (I have two left feet). I wasn’t in either the band or cadet, wasn’t in the choir group. In short, I was just an average girl trying to fit in, at times in awe (but not envious) of other girls from more privileged background. My dad was approaching retirement and we didn’t have much to spend on branded goods then. So I was donning boring unfashionable clothes and I had a simple haircut. Then again, back then, in those days, not many things were fashionable anyway.
I was not any one of the cool kids. I wasn’t popular, I wasn’t in any clique (thank God!), I wasn’t at all cool. I never had any correspondent with a boy from another boarding school except for one very brief exchange of letters which I didn’t pursue. I was not a prefect. I did enjoy my lessons in upper secondary (I did have to bear with Arabic for another year though) and really loved Modern and Additional Maths subjects. I chose Social Science class as I was definitely not going to be in a pure Science class.
I broke some rules when I was in upper secondary. I was a latecomer many times and had to pay the fine when I was in Form 5 because I slept through the alarm and all the noise and racket around me (maybe someone did try to wake me up but I slept too deeply and soundly through it all). I skipped some physical education classes and hid in the drama props room with some mates. I forged Mummy’s signature so that I could join others and follow my friend back to her aunt’s place. So I wasn’t exactly an angel but apart from PE, I never skipped any other class (even Arabic).
I had fun at boarding school; I didn’t dread either going back home or returning to school after school holidays ended. I had friends, I enjoyed my classes especially in upper secondary. I was neither a goodie, nor was I a baddie.
Like I said, I wasn’t one of the cool kids then but I still fit in somehow. And anyway, people shouldn’t be too fixated about wanting to fit in (or trying to at least for some people). We may not know it when we were adolescents but I should hope we’re all comfortable and secure in our skin by now. And in our own way, we’re actually cool now precisely because we develop self-confidence, gain life experience and overcome life challenges as we grow.
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