This might make me sound crazy, but I always get really, ridiculously excited for the first day of school. I really relish that feeling when you first walk in and everything smells new and clean, the halls are filled with friends reuniting, and all your options seem wide open and exciting. There are very few days of school that, in my mind, can top that very first one.
My favorite part is definitely buying school supplies and books. I love the crisp smell of a freshly sharpened pencil. I love checking that all my binder paper has reinforced holes. I love buying cute notebooks and folders. The feeling only lasts a few weeks, until your pencils are getting dull and your backpack is heavy with work, but it’s a really nice way to start off the year – with fresh, blank notebooks and the prospect of pointy grades waiting.
I always wait until summer is nearly over to begin my summer reading, and then I devour the book (or books) in a few sittings like a madwoman. A “responsible” student might read the book in early June, as I used to do, but I quickly learned that that strategy wasn’t going to cut it in high school. I wait to read it now so that I can remember as many minute details of the book as possible; I want it to be fresh in my mind for the first few weeks of school when the book is immediately relevant in class.
The cherry on top of my summer is my family’s annual dog birthday party. We have two dogs, Chip and Jetson, and on the day of Jetson’s adoption, we celebrate our dogs’ “birthdays” by giving them lots of special treats and taking their picture. It usually falls around my first day of school, and it’s a tradition I cherish. It’s a ritual as important to me as the first day of school itself.
My favorite part is definitely buying school supplies and books. I love the crisp smell of a freshly sharpened pencil. I love checking that all my binder paper has reinforced holes. I love buying cute notebooks and folders. The feeling only lasts a few weeks, until your pencils are getting dull and your backpack is heavy with work, but it’s a really nice way to start off the year – with fresh, blank notebooks and the prospect of pointy grades waiting.
I always wait until summer is nearly over to begin my summer reading, and then I devour the book (or books) in a few sittings like a madwoman. A “responsible” student might read the book in early June, as I used to do, but I quickly learned that that strategy wasn’t going to cut it in high school. I wait to read it now so that I can remember as many minute details of the book as possible; I want it to be fresh in my mind for the first few weeks of school when the book is immediately relevant in class.
The cherry on top of my summer is my family’s annual dog birthday party. We have two dogs, Chip and Jetson, and on the day of Jetson’s adoption, we celebrate our dogs’ “birthdays” by giving them lots of special treats and taking their picture. It usually falls around my first day of school, and it’s a tradition I cherish. It’s a ritual as important to me as the first day of school itself.