notes from the dorm
Millions of students must return to school and (oh joy) homework, after the bliss that was balmy summer. But for some of us, our grades in the International Baccalaureate and A-Levels have gained us entry to university and a new beginning.
For many, moving thousands of kilometres away from parental control to a place where they have an unprecedented degree of independence might mean entering a life of all-night partying - and suffering on the morning after. But those lucky enough to have spent time in an English boarding school before going to university - as I did - are adequately prepared for the organised chaos that is university life. Living on the other side of the world from home, sharing a floor with rowdy schoolmates who are perpetually high on life, coping with pangs of homesickness ... boarders have done it all before.
Sure, there might be minor differences, such as the absence of a red-faced housemaster breathing down your neck, the ability to go anywhere and do anything you want, when you want, without the threat of being grounded for a week, and the huge number of people (at least here in Vancouver) who 'just love' that hint of a British accent you never knew you had.
But the fact remains that when your Facebook news feed is swamped by people yearning for home in their status updates, you absolutely have the right to sneer at them - homesickness was so 2008 (or whenever that fateful date was when your parents left you to fend for yourself in your boarding house).
For me, though, one of the biggest changes from boarding school to university was the uniform, or rather, the lack. Back in Britain, people at my school took pride in looking dapper in their dark navy blazers and college ties - even those students in the lower years who hadn't quite mastered the half-Windsor way of tying it still looked respectable.
University, in comparison, is a jungle. In addition to the burden of deciding what to wear every day, the lack of dress code means I'm surrounded by 'creative' styles such as hipsters and punks. Oh, how I pine for the good old days.
