Nothing would scare me more than walking to the school hall of my teens and seeing the faces of former school "friends". With Joe's 10 year high school reunion, it's got me thinking about if I would ever attend my own, which if my school was ever to have one, would also have been this year. My school didn't, it doesn't really do things like that.
A school reunion for me would mean going back to that claustrophobic hometown where everyone knows your business, where you either resettle hundreds of miles away from it's populace or your stay trapped in it's folds for life. In fact, probably one of the reasons why my school would never have reunions because typically every Friday night down the local watering holes is pretty much the stomping ground for all your old school friends and probably lots of people still in school too. I don't have much love lost for my school years or my hometown.
I wasn't the smart kid but I tried hard, I always did my homework on time. I sucked at sports and maths, (confession here - I originally typed math - oh i'm turning even more American by the day but I digress) but art was my escape and I found a love for geography and sociology, both of which I have degrees in. There were teachers I hated, some we made cry (our year was hell to French teachers - in hate even though we were rural, our school was pretty rough) and some inspire me still. I kept myself to myself and in fact, I still do. I'm not really in touch with many from those senior school years, those that I want to, I've chosen to befriend on facebook.
Facebook actually got me thinking. Has facebook, or social media in general killed the need for younger generations to have reunions? Every day we get an inside glimpse into what our old classmates are getting up to, their rants, their love life, what baby number they are on to now and who they currently hate. I know everyone's dirty laundry.
What about you, would you/have you go/gone to your school reunion?
I would LOVE to go to my high school reunion. I had an absolutely awful time in high school and think it would be neat to see all of those same people now, years later, but not as a scared teenager. I'd be seeing them as a more mature, competent individual and i think it would make a huge difference. When I was in high school, I was very shy and timid and slow to make friends, so now that I've grown out of that phase it would be great to see them all!
ReplyDelete~ Samantha
You make a great point there, although I wonder from my school year how many of the school jokers really would have matured!
DeleteWe do have some reunions are my school, but it is in NZ and now Im in the UK so I dont think there is much chance I will be going! I do find it odd that you can now stalk so many people, but to be honest I deleted a whole bunch of people when I left school so I would still find it interesting, but I feel as though it would be full of people trying to one up each other! x
ReplyDeleteJasmin Charlotte | UK Lifestyle Blog
Yeah I certainly wouldn't fly back to the UK just to attend mine that's for sure. I deleted a lot from facebook just before I left for the US, but it's still amazing what you can find just from clicking throw a couple of mutual friends pages.
DeleteI would NEVER go to a school reunion. I was horrendously bullied in my last two years by people who were my friends once. I have no one from school on facebook either. My home town sounds like yours, and I'm one of the ones who made it out! Yay!
ReplyDeleteamber love
Sorry to hear you were bullied :( It's weird people either stay in my hometown or move far, far away typically to another country!
DeleteIs maths a Brit thing? I thought it was a typo at first, haha.
ReplyDeleteBut anyway, I didn't go to my high school's five-year reunion because it was almost too soon to go back, plus my life was a mess at that point. Weirdly enough though, I've been kind of looking forward to a 10-year reunion. (Mine would be in 2016.) A lot of people in my class spread out after high school, so it would be interesting to talk with some of those people in person again.
Yeap, we call it's maths in the UK.
DeleteI don't think I'd ever go my school reunion lol. High school was okay, but my so called "friends" from high school ended up turning their backs on me and still talk about me (openly, on social media) to this day. Which is nearly 4 years later. I also agree that reunions aren't really necessary anymore. If I really care about how their lives are going, I can just hop on facebook, like you said. I'm guess I'm just completely over that stage in my life!
ReplyDeleteJenny
From the Desk of J
Yeah high school was fun but it's a chapter in my life that i'm happy to close. Friendships were too come and go and the drama of the playground was too much at times.
DeleteAbsolutely not!!!! I hated high school, and don't keep in contact with any one even on facebook.
ReplyDeleteI was bullied, spent most lunchtimes alone or in the library, and then when things did start getting better and I found some friends, and I got a boyfriend it was an abusive relationship and I was isolated from everyone I was just started to get to know.
You couldn't pay me enough to go to a high school reunion.
I don't think I would go if my school had a reunion simply because I already keep in touch with the people that I want to keep in touch and I have zero curiosity to know how everybody else is going. I'm also a very private person so I wouldn't want to trapped in a room with people asking questions about my life.
ReplyDeleteYou raised a very interesting topic that today we can pretty much "stalk" on Facebook anyone we are curious about.. no need for a reunion.
My school year is basically baby talk on facebook. I don't mind talking about my life but it often ends up in questioning why I haven't had kids yet lol
DeleteI would totally go to my high school reunion... even though everyone knows what everyone's been up to thanks to social media I think it would be awesome to see everyone in prtdon rather than just on screen. I had a weird high school experience... It was so full of drama because of the two boyfriends I had, but full of so many fun and happy memories from hanging out with my friends... and also really scary memories of having to stand up in front of the class and read my paper out lod... sigh... I hated reading in front of the class... I think the teachers loved torturing us :P
ReplyDeleteJessica
the.pyreflies.org
Oh i'm so glad we didn't have to read essays out! Reading books aloud in English Lit was bad enough. I don't think I would have coped well with the American way of high school I have to be honest!
DeleteI went to my 10 year high school reunion. It wasn't the most horrible experience I've ever had but by the time the night was over I was 99% sure that I'd never go to another one. I'd rather leave that past in the past where it belongs. My college reunions on the other hand...I went to my 5 year and I'm even helping to put on the 10 year one. Ha ha! I had a way better time in college than I did in high school, clearly.
ReplyDelete:) Alice
www.alicemanfrida.com
I'm the same, I was much more settled into being "me" at university, especially when I did my masters, we were a really tight group of friends, probably because there was only six of us doing it full time but we still talk on facebook etc. High school friends - nothing much more than the odd like on a status.
DeleteComing home at Christmas and summer from university and popping to the pub for a couple of drinks with old school friends and seeing other people from my year, I got that feeling that school reunions would ever be any different, I don't even think the topic of conversation had changed too much either.
That cartoon made me smile - my five year reunion was last year and it was so strange.
ReplyDeleteLizzie's Daily Blog
Wow a 5 year reunion sounds too soon after leaving for my liking!
DeleteI couldn't think of anything worse than going to my school reunion. I'm like you and I have no real love for my school days of my home town, it was a tiny place and I couldn't wait to escape and have never wanted to go back!
ReplyDeleteI think that's why I love city life so much - because of growing in up such a tiny place where everyone knows you and your business. I like the anonymity of city living!
DeleteI don't know if I could handle a high school reunion... I think I'd avoid it like the plague! Saying that, my school would never do a reunion!
ReplyDeleteEven when I go home now, there are places and supermarkets I don't go to for fear of bumping into people I went to school with. I also avoid the tesco my ex works at but that's a whole other set of baggage!
Ahh facebook. It's the devil!
To be honest, thinking about it I don't think my school has ever done one. I know what you mean though, just walk down the high street in my small town and you'll see the same faces and faces from your past. No thanks.
DeleteI don't think I would ever go to a high school reunion. I wouldn't want to see most of my school "friends" if I'm honest. They're no longer in my life for a reason. Plus I think I'd feel like a little bit of a failure. I was thought of as one of the "smart kids" and yet here I am as a housewife with no job. I think a lot of people who do go to reunions were either the popular kids (I wasn't!) or want to show off their successes!
ReplyDeleteI think Facebook has sort of made high school reunions a bit redundant. If you want to know what's going on in someone's life you can just "friend" them online even if you aren't friends with them at all!
Debi x
I think i'm in the same boat as you, I was one of the hard working kids, did well, went to uni, got a masters and I work on an ebay store when my teachers had PhDs and big jobs in my life (which to be honest I could never imagine me doing). Now with all the "when you having a baby" talk from school friends that sometimes makes me feel like a failure in a difference way too. Eh people.
DeleteI actually really wanted to go to my high school reunion because our class was so close, but it was so expensive to go back a week earlier than I did to make it. I'm still in touch with a lot of friends from school, but haven't actually seen some of my bests in ages.
ReplyDeleteI think it's easier than ever for people to stay in touch, so there's less of a surprise "OMG you did THAT with your life?!" element to reunions than there used to be. That said I have fallen out of touch completely with a few people over the years, and have wondered now and then what they were doing... but I still didn't go to my 10 year reunion, haha!
ReplyDeleteI think you're right, social media means that so many more people stay in touch (even if they don't really want to) that you never hear of school reunions happening any more. I know when I left in 1999, I was the person who said they'd do a 10 year one but when it got to 2009, it really didn't seem like enough time had passed to be organising one! :-) xx
ReplyDeleteHigh school wasn't the best time for me. I was a bit of an awkward teenager who was boy-mad and highly jealous of other girls! I was always nice, but always a bit too insecure and jealous to have too many girl friends, so I hung out with boys. Until I was 18 and left school and realised that girls outside of school are different and nice and now I am the opposite way round to the extreme!
ReplyDelete