Two Cents: Back to school

22 March 2013

I’m 26-years old and am proud to say that I now have relatively substantial facial hair coverage. I recently purchased an ironing board and just last weekend managed to assemble a set of Ikea drawers unsupervised. At this stage in my life, I could legitimately be mistaken for a grown up.

But no matter how many kitchen appliances I buy, it seems some situations can still so easily take me back to feeling like an awkward, metal-mouthed, pimply teenager again. 

My recent trip to SXSW is the perfect example of this, where I consistently felt as though I had been teleported back to my early high school days… although things were not exactly as I had remembered them.

Imagine if you will, 'SXSW High', a school in a parallel universe where the cool kids, instead of playing basketball and football, play with robots and data. In some kind of vindicatory role reversal, the jocks are replaced with geeks, who rule the school with even more authority and popularity than their counterparts ever did. 

Upon arrival on your first day of school you are immediately faced with an ocean of new and unfamiliar faces. Nerves run as you try to pluck up the courage to talk to someone, hoping desperately to fit in and that no one will notice it’s your first time there.

You take your seats and are lectured to for hours, just like a normal school, except in this class room everything is backwards; the popular kids sit at the front and are actually respected for asking questions and actively participating. People still pass notes around of course, they just do it electronically, which seems far more effective.

Having the latest and greatest new thing is still the most valued form of social currency at this school, but sneakers and hairstyles have been replaced by start-ups and technology. I find myself overwhelmingly envious of an uber-geek as he speeds past me on a motorised skateboard. 

If we indulge this analogy even further, we see that scoring an invite to the most popular kids’ party, in this case played by the role of brands, also remains a constant. But instead of the cute girl ignoring you… well actually no, even in a parallel universe the cute girl still ignores you. Damn.

At my high school parties, everybody would buddy up with whoever snuck in alcohol, in the hope of scoring some, but in this Shelbyville-like alternate realm, the commodity seems to be battery power and anyone clever to bring a charger finds themselves with a number of new BFFs. 

On closer inspection the similarities are truly endless. Constant lining up for buses, agonising over which subjects to choose, insecurities about your comparative level of ability… the list goes on.

And while I have drawn some rather pessimistic parallels, it’s actually the positive comparisons that ring the truest. Yes, it can be challenging at times, but it’s what you learn, the people you meet, and the experiences you have which far outweigh any of the negative. It was five days of comprehensive education, entertainment and inspiration, creating memories I’ll have for years to come. My only hope is that one day I get to revisit 'SXSW High' and do it all again!

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