Growing up

A portfolio I wrote

As I'm growing up, I've noticed a few things about how Dunedin has changed since I was a kid and some small places in Dunedin. How they’ve decayed, been demolished, rebuilt, abandoned, and forgotten. The places that have changed little to large since I was a kid, How it feels to see them now.

Growing up going to multiple schools, I saw a lot of change, some small and some large. It's always strange to see change sometimes; change is needed other times it's not. Change can sometimes take away those memories you had as a kid fooling around in the park, The parks now just overgrown bush and some overgrown memories, But sometimes change is needed like those memories of you falling off stuff and getting hurt or something like that now changed into this fool proof safe place where you can't get hurt. It can be hard to adapt to the change or the need of change but sitting around thinking about it wont do anything its best to keep the good memories in your heart and forget the bad ones. You can go back and try to relive them but it will never be the same as it was.

I used to go to Ravensbourne School. It was good when I was there. I had many good memories but of course with good comes bad so there were a few bad ones too, One of them being my last day there I had got into a disagreement which led to me getting suspended. It was a long time before I went back there when I finally did my memories flooded in but a lot had changed my favourite class had become a complete different one most classrooms were more flashy, It made me think how different it would've been to grow up with those classrooms instead of the old ones the same feeling I get walking around town the buildings more flashy yet do the same thing they always did, The streets getting flasher but the same drivers do they think making it look better will improve the driving that we don't know. I think we've all wondered what the government does for dunedin doesn't seem like alot but im sure theres alot of behind the scenes but in saying that growing up there was barely any evolution the most i've seen to this day would be a new hospital which started recently I always here about people going on strike.

After I got suspended I moved to Arthur street. All through Arthur I had bad memories from teachers to students. I mean it's normal to have bad memories but this was a lot. I stayed at Arthur Street till high school. My many years there weren't the funnest but you go to learn not have fun, At Least that's what i was told. While I was there it was a very old school that didn't have many new things from that day and age wasn't flash was cheap. Not that a school has to be expensive to be good. I mean they had good morals there was a 3 R’s system that taught you to be good, They same way you train dogs with treats for doing something good. I mean the teachers were just trying to get paid just doing there job, Even if that makes my day worse it doesn't matter because it doesn't affect their paycheck yet I don't blame them I mean they're doing there job and getting paid, Im getting treated like a dog in training. The last week of school was the best since I new I would be leaving they always talked about rebuilding the school but never did. The final day was the best knowing you don't have to come back it's all I could think about, We had a assemble all of the teachers got the chance to say goodbye like they cared and give us a calculator for our good work, You walked down onto the stage shook the hand of the principle and took your calculator neatly wrapped up from the other hand then you go home and have holiday till you start high school. After I started high school I ended driving back arthur street at some point, The rebuild had started all fenced off they were demolishing the school before building you could tell it was going to take long, The same as the new hospital in town much more flashy the size is similar to the current unflashy hospital but the new ones still being built.

I started at Logan it's not the flashest but it's better then arthur street was, most places are. As I went through Logan good memories came quick, It was along time before any bad memories were made. After one year of being at Logan the bad memories were becoming more common mainly from teachers, The same with going to school it just felt so repetitive but I have to go otherwise I could fail, I watched as my grades dropped my attendance quickly followed, Soon after I realized something had to change for me to succeed so I focused on school spent a lot of my time doing work and learning, I didn't have time for myself. Years later my grades were okay, they worked which is what mattered. My attendance was better, I was doing better and still didn't have much time for myself. I passed by arthur street at one point and I saw what it looked like now, Colourless,flash,big it was very different from when I was there I wonder if it was better or worse, I wonder if the teachers were different now, I wonder if they still used there “moral’s” system as a treat system to train kids like dogs or were they better now?. I dont think ill ever know if they are but it won't affect me anyway i'm at Logan now creating good memories instead of bad. Town is still changing, the smaller businesses becoming more flashy while the more needed bigger businesses sit in their old buildings filled with memories, Overgrown with memories, Overgrown like all the bushes around Dunedin, The prices overgrow with inflation, cost of living increases. Theres all ways gonna be memories some good and some bad but in the end you will outgrow them so enjoy them while there there, Because change is going to happen for better or for the worse just depends how you look at it.