Every other year our old grade school Apalbyskolan has a reunion night, where old students can come to visit. I was actually a part of arranging this the first year when I was in 9th grade. It was so much fun seeing old students come back with their own kids and it sure was a full house. I went back once or twice after that but there wasn't as many people any more and life took over. But now I won't get the chance to come back here again for who knows how long. So me, Sofie and Jasmine decided to go there after work on a Tuesday in April. There was actually quite a lot of people there this time! Pretty much only students who were younger than us so we were the "oldies". Such a weird feeling xD We went there for 10 years which felt like forever and now it has actually been 10 years since we graduated... time moves way too fast when you're a grown up.
We talked a lot to Jennie who was always there to talk when me and my group of girls had our dramatic arguments :P She said that she is dealing with the same drama today, just that the fights are instead about "She wrote this about me on Facebook and now I don't want to sit next to her in class" haha! We only walked around in the area where the 6th-9th grade was but that was enough to make our jaws drop a bunch of times. Things that have changed. Like Mässen, the room where we used to play cards on every break, had now been transformed into a part of the lunch room. And they weren't using a whole bunch of the classrooms anymore since they had been given to the lower grades instead.
The most special part of our visit was when one of our old teachers let us into the music room. Wow. I mean yeah... if you want to talk about a nostalgic moment. From the 1st grade and up to 5th grade we got to spend so many hours in that room with our beloved music teacher Göran. He was such a wonderful person who truly wanted peace on earth and to make music fun for kids. He created two games that were so popular among us all. He wrote children's songs that made us laugh. And he wrote the official song for the school that I wonder if they even sing anymore. It's so beautiful and we would sing it all of the time. Unfortunately Göran got a bad form of cancer and passed away within just a few months after. I have been to his grave several times since then and will never forget to appreciate his work. He truly made an impression on us kids. I swear that I don't believe in ghosts but every time that I have been in the music room since he passed away, there has been a strange vibe. Like he never left. And Jennie told us that there have been students filming in there and capturing strange lights on film that couldn't come naturally. How weird.
There weren't a ton of our old teachers left working at the school. But it was wonderful to see at least a few of them. Two of our old teachers are married and have kids now which is so fun. I had no idea about it until years afterwards, but apparently they were so obviously in love that most people knew about it before the two of them even did, lol. I got to talk a lot about Nick of course since I am friends with Jennie on Facebook. I am always more than happy to talk about this great man that I have met. It was funny how Jennie said that I used to be so shy and laidback in school and now she sees me partying away with this American guy, she can't believe it's little shy Caroline, lol. I am so happy with how my life is now compared to those days. But I still look back on a ton of happy memories from that school. I know a lot of students don't and we all have had our different experiences. But I was always someone who looked at the bright side of things and wasn't looking for trouble. So that is probably why I have very fond feelings towards this school today and forever.
Here is where I spent 1st and 2nd grade with Kerstin as my teacher :) gosh... almost wanted to cry when I saw it!
I don't know what to call this room in English. But here is where we got to create things out of wood. I was never a huge fan of it because the dust really got to me. But I loved the smell.
Lol the monkeys' patio? That sign sure wasn't there in our days...
Weeeird being back
Security cameras!? Haha woah what
The music room <3 pretty much everything on these walls was there during Göran's time and has never been taken down by any other music teacher, I think that is wonderful.
They have a ton of guitars and I loved learning how to play on them
Gosh, same keyboards too xD
It's interesting how simple hallways can bring back soo many memories
The old Mässen... now lunch room!
The real lunch room where I would always eat. And here is Anders and Susanne, the two gym class teachers who found love ;)
The only other student that we recognized from our time was Micke. He was always into swimming so he's working as a swim teacher now. Although we remember him as Pepsi-Micke who would always have a Pepsi can in his hand. He himself has no memory of this, lol. Lovely Jennie is in the picture too!
We had a huge school yard with lots of forest. But we can always go back and revisit that. But we can't go back into the school as easily so this was a nice day. We're glad that we went.
