I was pretty sad, so I wrote this

That’s it, no big fanfare to announce our departure, the end of our ‘academic career’, as it were, in the fine Cromwell Road establishment. As of today we have no more official lessons, and after a spate of exams in the coming month, our label as denizens of the venerated ‘Lycée Français Charles De Gaulle’ will be no more. If ever we return, it will be only as visitors, and even then, who would remember us, we have no legacy to leave behind, another consignment of students in the conveyor belt that is the educational system.

Not all amongst us will feel particularly moved or bothered by this fact, many are used to change and have been travelling all their lives, moving from place to place, home to home, school to school, and they’ve learnt to adapt well, say goodbye to old friends and embrace the challenge of turning strangers into acquaintances. These will probably put their Lycée experience behind them the fastest and fare the best once they get to University, socially at least.

Others still are happy to leave, sick of the bureaucracy and stagnation of the Lycée, its forever employed archaic methods, maybe just the people, or they have simply decided that their pursuits lie outside the scholastic field.

I, myself, am neither of these peoples and would have to admit that I have grown quite fond of the aforementioned school. Some may say the 13+ years I’ve spent there have caused considerable bias in my opinions. It is said that familiarity breeds comfort and this was certainly true in my case, there is security and solace to be found in what you know. It fulfilled the desire to be a part of something bigger than one’s self that everyone possesses. More importantly, I have never been anywhere else.

It has been over a decade of my life, but no longer. The future is now shrouded in uncertainty, university seems a distant and ostensibly unattainable ambition due to my lack of motivation, life lacks direction, but I digress.

It is not the school itself that will be missed however, not the unique architecture of the place, not the ever-changing quality of food, not the dire timetable-ing, not the outdated rules, not the complete lack of school spirit, not the non-communicative student-establishment relationship, but the people.

A school is defined and characterised by its students and over the last 4 years I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of, pretty much, the best bunch of people to have made up a year group (in my opinion). Some have come and some have gone during that time, but the same relaxed, light-hearted, friendly attitude has remained throughout. I realise that not everyone has been so lucky as to be friends with everyone else but, in our times since GCSE have we not learned to put up with, accept, and in some cases even like each other?

However much praise I can give our year, it saddens me to see that, after almost 4 years together, it has taken our very final day to bring us all together in one place. It’s disheartening that only now, after so long, did we contemplate all joining up as a means of entertainment

It took the very last opportunity for us to gather together and perhaps try to get to know more about each other, but even then, as it has always been, the park was somewhat divided up into little sections of persons doing their own thing, never seeming to stray too far away from their own body of people. Perhaps it’s my own fault for not ‘mingling’, maybe my own inadequacies are to blame, but at this point in time, it is no longer important. I will miss each and every person that I’ve had the honour of spending these years of my life with, everyone I knew in that park and those that weren’t there too, even if in the past 4 years we’ve barely said two words to each other, I will miss you. You might think I’m being far too emotional about all of this, but I must admit that the people that did accept my offer for a hug I did not want to let go of,. In a metaphorical sense, it was like losing a grip on childhood and being forced to face what will surely be a difficult future, but that isn’t important. In an ideal world I could keep in touch with everyone, but that won’t happen, because it just doesn’t.

I share the sadness of leaving with several of my close friends, although I am sure that they have personal reasons for their own expressions of grief. Whether we would like to admit it or not, our time at school and friendships therein have done much to mould our personalities and I’d like to think we’ve all contributed somewhat to each other’s persona, in a very Dawson’s creek sense “We’ve all learned from each other” to an extent at least. Following on from this, in a new environment we will all be forced to change slightly, and adapt to the new situations we find ourselves in, I wish you well whatever that may be and hope that you always maintain your laid back attitudes.

The school has never been too strict, and I’m happy to have been a part of it, but also happy to be leaving when I am, as in a couple of years, I’m sure it will become a fortress infested by upper middle class wannabe gangsters doing their darned best to stir up trouble.

You can say it’s just another part of life, you can scoff at what I’ve written, fair enough, you’re all entitled to your own opinion. These are simply my thoughts in the aftermath of the very last day.

Keep in touch… I implore you