An ode to my Alma Mater

So I realized that blogs are such a beautiful thing.  There are a lot of things I want to tell people, but how often do people actually want to hear it? If i write it in a blog, I get it out of my system and maybe someone will read it.  It gets it out sufficiently.  Any how, this is what I really wanted to talk about

So about a month ago, I had this revelation: I'm really proud of where I come from and where I've been.  And recently, I've never been more proud of my high school experience.

I went to an all girls Catholic high school, St Joseph Hill Academy. Go ahead, I know what you're doing already - you're judging me.  We're "good girls." We're quiet, sinless, and conformists. Although this may be true for some girls, I don't know a whole lot of them.

My friends aren't badasses but we're definitely not conformists, we're definitely not quiet, and we're definitely NOT sinless.  We damn well know how to have a good time.  This was obvious if you took a walk through the halls any day of the school year.

My favorite time of the day (besides lunch time) was the time between each class.  Screaming obscenities and inappropriate sexual gestures were popular in those three minutes we had to run to our locker (which always had to be locked because an unlocked locker was against the rules), run three floors up, and pray to the several crosses you passed along the way that you were not late because that would result in detention.  Ok, detentions were not distributed for lateness all the time, but they were always a threat.

So it was a Catholic school.  Catholic school = rules.  A lot of crazy rules, like the locked locker rule.  Seriously, the dean would walk through the halls and pull on locks.  If your locker was unlocked, God help your soul because you would be returning to your locker with a salmon-colored detention slip taped to it.  Seeing that salmon colored slip on your locker felt like an eviction notice.

Now, some of my favorite rules applied to the uniform.  Oh yeah, about the uniform.  It was kind of unique, I guess you could say.  We wore mailman-blue pants or the skirt to our knees, white-nit collared shirts, long black trench coats in the winter that made us look like street vendors selling illegal tickets, and saddle shoes during the fall and spring.  Yes, the black and white "bowling shoes" girls wore in the 1950s.  I wouldn't trade those saddle shoes for the world.  I was proud to be a "Hill girl," even if the shoes were not viewed as the latest trend.  Actually, speaking of the latest trend, saddle shoes have recently been spotted in Bloomingdales and Teen Vogue magazine.  Of course this is a huge joke between my recently graduated friends and I.

After a few months into freshman year, the rules didn't even matter anymore.  You had to get used to them fast. It was survival of the fittest.  The girls who couldn't handle an unrolled skirt and not wearing make up were kicked out.

As far as the all girls, no boys thing goes - I loved it.  Sure it was hard to find a prom date but there were certainly no distractions within the classroom.  When learning about the vagina biology freshman year or talking about sex in health class, do I really want boys in the classroom?  Not really.  Without boys, all of us girls can just get all of those stupid questions we're all wondering answered.  Not only was being boy-less beneficial in the classroom, but also at lunch time.  Nothing could stop us from getting our food.  Food was like a fresh antelope and we were like tigers.  We played with our food - personified animal crackers, stuck french fries in our mouths like teeth, and shoved as many grapes as we could in our mouth.  Being normal was not an option.

I make it sound like it was a lot of fun, but we actually worked our asses off.  The average test to day ratio was 35:1. Ok, just kidding but it was an average of 2 tests a day.  We worked hard and I guess that's why the fun we had seemed to be so much more fun.  We needed each other to survive the day.  We needed each other's support to make it through the brutal midterms and finals or just when we're having a really bad day.  I'm so lucky I had such a strong support system.

I could brag on and on defending my high school but I, honestly, don't like what i just wrote so I'm just gunna publish this anyways. My high school friends are the most unique and different group of girls you will ever meet and I wouldn't trade them for the world

currently appreciating: No Such Thing by John Mayer