As long as we're together, gonna kick some ass

The title of this post is a line from "Goin' Back to Hogwarts" from AVPM. I figured it fit, because today I went back to Interlochen for Festival (basically, reunion + graduation + a ton of performances, because hey, we're an art school) and I've always kind of seen that place as my Hogwarts...except at Interlochen, art is our magic. (Yes, I am fully aware of how corny that was.)

I fully plan to post pictures of the campus and of my lovely friends, but right now I just want to explain why I STILL miss high school. Not that I'm not "over" high school, as Hermione (the girl who went to my sorority formal, to refresh your memory) puts it, but I still miss my school...and hopefully, I can manage to explain why, without droning on forever and giving SOMEONE an excuse to remind me once again, "Avery, you're not in high school anymore."

I started this blog and abandoned my old one because I needed to get away from Alien Water Torture. Because I was still caught up in Interlochen, rather than being caught up in my college, and I needed to let go of things that I was still holding onto that, trust me, I didn't need to hold onto. So I made myself turn away. Not that I severed ties with Interlochen--far from it. But I stopped letting Interlochen define me. I stopped thinking "What would I have done at Interlochen?" and modifying the answer to fit my situation at McDaniel, and started thinking more along the lines of, "What can I do now that I'm on my own?"

So, I made myself move on. But I still feel homesick for my school sometimes--how could I not? Essentially, I had what I'd always wanted there--a giant, close-knit extended family. Let me put it this way: my relatives live all around the country. Texas, Maryland, West Virginia...and I live in Michigan. Most people traditionally see their extended families at family reunions, holidays, that sort of thing...but at Interlochen it felt like having my extended family there all the time. Not just a bunch of cousins, either. We had our roles. I had a "wife" and "child" there; I had "sisters" who I still talk to over Skype. It's crazy what happens when you take four hundred whimsical-minded art students and put them all on a small campus together. Really amazing. I had conversations I didn't even think were possible. Anyone who is here via Alien Water Torture, this is where my love of Stolen Dialogue comes from. Anyone who hasn't seen AWT...well, here's a sample of what I'm talking about:

Person one: Hello darling, how are you?

Person two: Student senate was bullshit, how are you?

Person one: Oh well spotted, Sherlock...I'm fine, thanks.

 

Person one: Is there anything technological you can't do?
Person two: I'm sure there's a few things...when I find out what those are, I'll just learn how to do them.
Person one: Can you make it look like this movie wasn't edited by a hormonal overemotional teenage girl?
Person two: Sure...but I didn't know you were asking Justin Bieber to edit your movie...

 

Person one: So, Valentine's day is coming up. I think you should profess your love.

Person two: I think so too!

Person three: Yes! I could sing it to him!

Person two: NOT LIKE THAT! Oh God, bring out the steak knives!

 

Person one: So we were playing the airplane game, where you sit with a group of people and try to figure out, if the world ended while you were up in an airplane with these specific people and you were the only survivors, who would you choose to mate with so you could repopulate the planet?

Person two: Well...technically...everyone would have to screw everyone else.

 

Person one: There is nothing gay about these boots.

Person two: Are you kidding me? There's nothing STRAIGHT about those boots!

 

Person one: Was he telling me to get lost? I can never tell.

Person two: The boat? I think the boat was saying "Get out of the way or I'll hit you."

Person one: No, not the boat, Harry! I KNOW what the boat was saying, it's your roommate I can't decipher!
Person three: ...Wait, you speak boat now?

 

Person one: I'm going to list you as my brother on FaceBook.
Person two: Oh, awesome!
Person one: Except...your boyfriend is already listed on my FaceBook as my brother.
Person two: Oh...well, we'll just pretend we're in the south.
Person one: Oh, that reminds me, there's this movie we HAVE to watch in GSA, it's about incestuous brothers!

 

Person one: Talking to you is like knitting a sweater out of mashed potatoes.
Person two: I've never done that before.
Person one: Do you knit?
Person two: I don't knit with mashed potatoes.
Person one: Actually, it's about as fun as knitting a sweater out of potatoes too, because--
Person two: Whoa, is that a compliment or the other way around?
Person one: I was SAYING, if you'd let me FINISH--yes, it's about as fun as knitting with mashed potatoes, because it's such a novelty. Every conversation is different, you know?
[silence, while Person Two looks at Person One like P1 is insane]
Person one: Oh, come on, admit it...you're glad to have me in your life.

 

And finally, my favorite:

 

Person one: You have to see Let the Right One In, you will see so many parallels to our friendship...except I'm not a vampire...and neither are you...

Person two: How do you know if I'm a vampire?

Person one: If you were a vampire, I would know.

Person two: Yes, but it's been mostly overcast since we met...so how do you know if I sparkle?

 

 

Yes. These are the kind of conversations that take place at Interlochen. (That was all stolen dialogue lifted straight from my blog, by the way. Just in case you didn't pick up on that.) Most of those conversations were mine. As in, I didn't just overhear them, I actually took part in them. The last one, especially. I'm always and forever going to cherish that moment. (Yes, Saxophone Boy, I'm looking at you right now.)

 

Oh, yes. Saxophone Boy. I always seem to forget him, don't I? But he was a big part of what made my senior year special. I think he knows that. (If he doesn't know it by now, I don't know what the hell he's doing in an Ivy League school; I'm not exactly what you would call subtle when it comes to emotions.) But to this day, we will still answer any random question the other asks with, "Because Edward loves Bella and vampires have two extra chromosomes!"--and neither one of us is a Twilight fan. Those are inside jokes you just can't force. They have to come naturally, and with us, they always did. That's the kind of friendship that can only grow at Interlochen. If I say something utterly ridiculous in a letter to Saxophone Boy, he will grab it and run with it. In fact, I can't say something stupid in a letter to him--he turns it into comedic gold. Again--you can't force that kind of chemistry in a friendship; it only develops naturally, and ours didn't wilt when we stopped seeing each other every day.

 

And that, right there, is why I love Interlochen.

 

You know what? It's not just him. All of the friends I made at Interlochen are like that. And I'm not talking about the nice seeing you every day at lunch, ok we graduated now we'll never see each other again we'll just 'like' each other's statuses once in awhile friends--I'm talking about the people I still regularly contact because I miss them too damn much to stop speaking to them. (You know who you are.) I can log onto Skype and within moments be virtually assaulted by Goddamn Gypsy, and her insistence that I read her latest story or that she be allowed to read mine. Similarly, I can receive at least ten skype calls a month from Smilelover, who has a charming knack of waiting until I fall asleep at my computer, forget to turn my computer off, or get into class and am using my laptop to take notes, and then calling me. (But on the occasions that she actually manages to catch me, we have epic, lovely conversations.) Saxophone Boy painstakingly responds to my rambling, ridiculous letters. VanSant2 responds to every one of my IMs, even if he only has time to tell me he can't talk right then. (Isn't that sweet? I think it is.)

 

Today I went back, and was afraid that I would find it changed. I was afraid that I would feel unwanted, as I had often felt on-campus (I've explained this before--long story short, I didn't do as well in my major as I would have liked; most of my friends were outside my discipline). I love Interlochen--I love the friends I've been fortunate enough to make there--I love my teachers--but it wasn't always sunshine and butterflies, and I was afraid that stepping back on-campus would remind me of that.

 

It didn't.

 

Yes, there was a little bit of regret mixed in with the nostalgia. But you know what? I was not unwanted. I'd been missed. I got some of the best hugs of my life. People I didn't even remember knew who I was. I realized that I had, in some way or another, left my mark on that school. Is my picture up in the concourse? Am I remembered as well as certain other members of my graduating class? No, and of course not. But I wasn't immediately forgotten--and that was what I was afraid of. But that didn't happen. People missed me--people I didn't even know would miss me, missed me. (If that rambling makes sense. Give me some credit here; it's been a very long, very emotional day...and I'm damn tired.)

 

A member of my class, whom I'd always considered something of a rival, revealed that not only did he stalk my YouTube, but that he liked my films. That, to me, was the biggest triumph. (Yes, I realize that only a film major would say this.) He praised my work, told me he wanted me to continue, complimented my junior thesis (I'm still not sure that praise was deserved), and told me not to give up on Alien Water Torture. And maybe he was just being polite...but I don't think so. This was almost as amazing as last year, at the end of my senior-year film screening, when the hardest-to-please MPA came up to me and told me my film was one of his favorites. (What can I say? I'm a sucker for a film-related compliment.)

 

I missed this place more than I can express. But you know what? Coming back to it now, when I've grown and changed and know how to define myself without it, makes seeing it so much sweeter. Will I always wish, on some level, that I'd done things differently in high school? Without a doubt. But I know now that I can stand on my own--and that lets me see Interlochen through entirely different eyes. And that is a reward in itself.