Beginning in the nineties…

I was born on 1st August, 1991. Therefore my childhood began in the 90’s, a decade of excitement, where the age of ‘free spirit’ began to come back into motion. People were not afraid to express themselves and became more vocal through television, literature, music and sports. It was the era that saw the birth of the Harry Potter phenomenon, the Spice Girls, Furbies and unforgettable events such as the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the worldwide growth of the internet.

Some of my earliest memories as a child growing up in Sittingbourne in Kent, are of trips to Whitstable, to enjoy the beautiful seaside. Then there was first learning to swim, and getting up the courage to go down the flume for the first time. At three this seems a terrifying ordeal. Then there was first starting school, South Avenue, and the joys that came with making new friends and the horrors that too came with homework. However I didn’t realise then how easy and relaxed primary school was compared to secondary and university. It was all just school plays, sports days, and those crazy playground games such as 40/40 and sticky glue. Then there were the fads we went through. The Pokémon cards that used to get swapped in the playground, and how all the girls loved and sang along to the Spice Girls. We even collected and swapped the Spice Girls collectable photographs. What can I say, we were true fans! Not only was there the music, us seven year olds loved, but the fashion. Well I say fashion. What I actually mean is jelly shoes and jean skirts. I’m afraid to say we thought we looked cool, and even more afraid to see, when I was shopping last week that jelly shoes are making a comeback. Oh dear!

I was only eight when we said goodbye to the nineties as the new millennium dawned. I remember the excitement, the fireworks and all that nonsense about the millennium bug as we welcomed in the new year. The start of the new century brought many changes for me. In 2002 I started The Westland’s Secondary School. I have so many happy memories from there. The time my friend accidentally sewed her artwork to her skirt in textiles, the time my other friend did a handstand in PE accidentally hitting our teacher in the face and the time I fell off the climbing frame on our trip to Nausica in France, still to this day make me laugh. There were of course those crazy teachers, you know who you are, and the members of our classes who always, somehow managed to drive them crazy. They were a great seven years, bringing me and my friends from those shy little Year Sevens to confident Sixth Formers. A levels caused a lot of stress, yet once we had all turned eighteen the summer of partying certainly made up for that.

Then came the time we all went off to university, saying goodbye to friends, and moving to a different part of the country, and I have so say I have loved every minute of university life. Well minus the deadlines.

I have so many happy memories from my childhood, and it has been a great nineteen years. Here’s to the next nineteen. I hope they are just as fun.