Personal Narrative: How School Changed My Life

As a child, socialising was never my forte. As such, much of my childhood was spent sitting in a corner of my classroom by myself, watching others play. Over the years, I slowly but surely picked up some of what I considered the “better” traits and habits of my former schoolmates which allowed me to climb out that shell and makes some friends.

Kindergarten was nothing but meagre short dialogue sessions that ended the moment I stepped out of the gate, while primary school was a series of extended conversations that never really lasted the end of the term. And then came the time I was going to change it all, the time where I was going to make some ‘real’ friends. It took some trying but soon I met a class that would prove endearing. It was

But I didn’t join this trip to find a wife and so I shoved that thought aside and worked with the rest of the group to complete the many projects and activities we had plan for the children of the orphanage in Cambodia.

Over the next few months, our friendship grew over common interests in movies, music and food; I being the one that cooks and she being the one that just eats. We even went out on trips together to buy supplies for the trip and being from a “better’ class from me, she would often help me in my weakest subjects. All this brought us closer together and when the time came for the week-long trip, we were inseparable, spending very little time with the others in our group.

The first few days were busy, to say the least, rushing from place to place, trying to build the wall around the school as fast as we could. But even in the most preoccupied of times, my team and I still found time to fool around carving our names into the concrete on the wall, almost as a symbol of our hard work. And to add to it all, she carved her name beside mine with a tiny plus-sign in the middle while I was not looking. Finding out only hours later, the feeling can only be described as one of the deepest infatuation. Someone who barely two months ago had no clue who I was had just shown one of the most endearing acts a person can show to another human being, caring for someone who very few cared