All for one and '1 4 all.

     
      Ever since I completed my very first day of school, back in September of 2001, I have heard everyone around me say "Enjoy these years while they last. Before you know it you'll be walking across the stage, diploma in hand, wondering where the time flew."

     Every year seemed to drag on and on. Then I reached high school, where my link crew leader told me the same thing. "Enjoy these next four years at Maggie, because before you know it, it'll be your last year and you'll be wondering where the time flew.". Based on previous years, and how it always seemed to be an eternity before the school year ended and summer rolled around yet again, I naively didn't believe her. Now three weeks ago I found myself walking through the double doors of Princess Margaret Secondary School, on my last first day thinking to myself: "wow... turns out they were all right. How am I already here? I am now a senior student. Top of the school. It's my very.. last.. first.. day."

   They say this is the year. This is your year. Make it worth it. Cherish it.
If I could go back in time and tell myself one thing it would be this: take their advice. Listen to what they have to say.. because believe it or not, when you find yourself facing your final year (which you will before you know it) you'll regret not playing messy musical chairs in the common area.. or playing rock 'em sock 'em with your best friend. Just get involved, as much as you can.

   The scariest thing about grade 12 isn't who you're going to go to prom with.. or whether or not you're going to trip on the stage on your way to collect the diploma you've been dreaming of since the first day you stepped into a school (well.. this might be a bit of a lie.. it is a pretty terrifying thought.). It's not even filling out the university applications, or the hours spent on your laptop trying to find the perfect 325 words for that scholarship essay you have to write. To me, it's wondering how the years have managed to, as the cliché goes, fly by. It's wondering what the future holds for me, now that I'll be leaving not only the comfort of home, but also oddly enough, the comfort of high school.. never thought I'd be saying that. But then again.. grade 12, already, seems to be making a huge impact in my life, and has me considering things, feelings things, and wondering things I never thought I would have.

Giorgia on my mind

      Globetrotter. Bi-Lingual. History geek and in her eyes a photographer. Born in '96, during an icy winter. Perhaps the bitter cold she faced as a newborn has something to do with how quickly she grows tired of the crisp months and the way she finds herself craving the long, peaceful summer days again.

      Her name is Giorgia. The name is, literally, like a melody. It always causes people to sing that Ray Charles song. The name that she has never been able to find on a keychain or a magnet. The name that is almost always misspelled. Giorgia is in many ways an average teenage girl. She hates Monday mornings. She loves starbucks. She's got a bad case of the 'like' disease and she loves to shop. But in many ways she's far from ordinary. She's been to Italia a grand total of 6 times, and seen 6 different European countries and she hasn't even hit 17 yet. In her free time she gets a kick out of watching youtube videos on how to speak various languages. Hej, jag heter Giorgia, och youtube som lärde mig grundläggande svenska. Jag älskar språk!
Her iPod is filled with music that isn't English, and she is capable of taking hundreds of pictures in one day.

     She is full of dreams and knows where she wants to go in the future. Ambitious, head-strong, and determined, nothing will ever get in her way once she sets her mind to something. These are traits she has carried with her from an early age, and traits that -hopefully- will never leave her.
 
    She's just an old sweet song, with a desirous heart full of dreams, adventures, and wanderlust.