I mainly remember the smell of the school. I went to a small private school for first grade. I never went to kindergarten, and this school was supposed to be for “gifted” early starters. I’m not gifted in the least, just an early started, I guess. Children in my first-grade class were mainly 5 year-olds and there were even a few 4 year-olds! Insane.
Anyway, the school smelled like (I know this now, as an adult) canned macaroni and cheese. It was horrible. I refused to eat it and I knew I was being rude, but it was mushy and looked and smelled as though it had already been partially digested.
I was in awe of the other girls, with their patent leather buckle shoes and pretty dresses(this was the late 60’s). My own swiss dot dress was homemade and didn’t swirl or swish like theirs. Also, they had names like Vivian and Kimberly and Pamela, while my name was Amber. It all made me feel as though I was not quite the way I was supposed to be. (Back then ‘Amber’ was a very unusual name and I hated it! These days there are a million Ambers running around.)
I also remember the teacher – Miss Malone (we didn’t use the title “Ms.” back then) telling us not to tease the geese on the school grounds unless we wanted a “nasty pinch”. The term “nasty pinch” sounded nasty to me, even then.