1. Pre-School
You are embarking on a new journey away from your parents: school. You have no idea why your mom is acting all emotional while taking you to Staples to buy this foreign object known as a "backpack." Why do you need to carry this huge thing on your back five out of the seven days a week? Sounds terrible; which is why, typically, on the first day of school there are lots of tears, and not just from the parents for having to let their baby go for the first time in their lives.
2. Elementary School
You've got a couple years under your belt. School is not so scary anymore; it's actually kind of fun! Lots of coloring and games and performances you get to engage in, which seems better than sitting in front of the TV screen at home. The best part of your summer is the back to school sales that your parents introduced to you in pre-school.
Loading up on pens, pencils, and erasers is a elementary school kid's heaven, and they always rack up the bill for their parents with unnecessary stuff that they are going to have to buy again the following year anyway. Playing with your friends is the best part of your day. However, even though these activities never go away, there are other things like homework and tests that begin to pile on as the years go by.
Homework makes you feel like a big kid, because over the past couple years, you have been watching the big kids on campus carrying their binders and books in their hands and having a locker. That is what you are looking forward to. During this time, going back to school is still really exciting.
3. Middle School
Middle school is the time when things start to shift. Kids are going through that rebellious phase where they think they are super cool and they know it all. The adoption of an "I don't want to go back to school" attitude commences, but ironically, going to buy school supplies is still super fun and picking out your outfit for the first day of school is a priority. It is all a facade; secretly, middle school kids still really want to go to school and have fun.
4. High School
This is the time where the "I don't want to go back to school" actually means I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL. The dreaded AP courses and long hours of extra curricular activities means that you have to re-adjust your sleeping schedule to wake up before 11 a.m. But sometimes, you "find yourself," and going to school is kind of exciting, because you know exactly how you are going to organize yourself to get the best GPA and SAT score possible.
The whole concept of moving ahead with your life and picking colleges is very exhilarating. Furthermore, your appearance and how you approach your eight hour days is very important. The school supplies minimize, because having a huge backpack that is over-full is "not cool," so the more compact you can keep your materials the better.
The first four months of the year, your outfits are "on point," while the next four months, you are wearing sweatpants because you remember why you did not want to go to school in the first place and how on earth you could have been excited about waking up at 6 a.m. each morning.
5. College
Cut me some slack on this part, because I just spent my first year living in Paris and only now came back to LA to go to USC, so I cannot help but be super excited for school to start and to see all my friends that shared this experience with me. However, I am pretty sure college is one of those academic times where students are just excited to be back and continue their studies.
This is mostly because they are finally studying topics that interest them, and college is a time to meet people and have fun. There is no dreadful aspect (except midterms and finals, where you all question your future together after two hours of sleep and walking into an 8 a.m. exam only to take another three hour exam immediately after). So, with my experience in college thus far, my only statement for this "college" section of going back to school is that EVERYONE IS EXCITED. Get back to me when I'm starting my senior year ;)
