Diary Entry – New Beginnings Bridget Reidy Dundon
21/11/2020
Looking back now, I realise why I hated my first day of school this year so much. It was extremely difficult. I mean, now I can see why in a different light. I’m used to it. It isn’t that bad. Walking into school that first day everything was different. I mean, I spent my first two years in my secondary school mixing with the other years, being able to hug my friends, doing group projects in class. But now that wasn’t the same. I had to wear a mask (which was fine, I felt so much safer doing so!), constantly had to hand sanitise, sanitise my desk before and after use, and I was alone at my desk a metre between the people around me on each side. At first, the isolation was nice, I mean, I didn’t have to worry about someone bugging me all class to chat. But then, after a few weeks I began to feel sad. I wasn’t able to do group projects. I wasn’t able to move seats to sit near a close friend, or away from someone I wasn’t really thrilled to sit near. Everything was so restricted. You know, my school has only had once case. And it was a teacher. So we’re doing something right. We’re being as safe as we can be in a time that’s extremely difficult to navigate. It’s not easy. It’s extremely hard to not be able to talk to the first years and help them in their journey to settle in and transition to a new school. But, of all this, a plus side for me was that I reconnected with
