As millions of kids prepare for a new school year, the people of Ireland have spoken about their fondest memories of the end summer holidays and heading back to the classroom.
The summer break was the stuff of legend as a kid. Breaking up for the holidays was a wonderful feeling as this huge period of time lay ahead where you didn’t have to go to school.
Unfortunately, as with all great times, it could pass in the blink of an eye and before you knew it, it was time to return for a whole new school year.
Lottoland conducted a survey of Irish people to see which elements of the return to school process they remembered most fondly.
The most common answer was ‘covering your workbooks in brown paper or old wallpaper’.
This was an excellent method to ‘protect your workbook’, although usually it was most at risk from boredom-inspired graffiti and doodles by you and your friends.
Other features of returning to school that people look back on fondly included being excited to see friends again, feeling nervous for your first day at big school, and feeling sad about the end of summer.
Graham Ross of Lottoland Ireland said: “They say your school days are your best days and while the whole Covid-19 experience has made the experience tougher for the current generation of school goers, as the nation heads into the ‘back-to-school’ period, we wanted to see what memories of this key time of the year really stood out strongest for the nation’s adults.
“Needless to say, we didn’t expect that well-remembered ritual of covering your new textbooks with brown or wall paper to be the biggest standout memory of all.”
There are plenty more elements to the returning to school process that may not occur to you until you see them pointed out.
Other fond memories included going ‘back to school’ shopping for new uniforms (something you will grow into), new lunchboxes and a new pencil case filled with all the necessary supplies.
The back to school haircut was also a frequent answer from the survey.
Other memories that come from the school day itself were forgetting your homework, smoking behind the bike shed, cursing the fact you had to study Shakespeare, faking an injury to get out of PE, getting kicked out of class to stand in the corridor and fancying the new boy/girl in class.
