When I was younger, choosing to go to a mixed school wasn't something that I even considered. I thought boys were annoying (didn't we all) but being part of an all-girls school made me realise that not only was it a terrible choice for me, but it really brought out the true colours of young females.

Having a school full of girls only, felt like hell on earth and emotions often ran high, especially when your periods came into sync. It's been a longgg time since I went to school so I thought I'd put together a list of my 20 strongest memories.

1. Popular Film Quotes Became Your New Phrases

“That’s why her hair is so big. It’s full of secrets.”

Though you may not have mastered all the words to mean girls, you certainly knew most of the phrases and would use them as often as possible, even though they got old pretty fast.

2. Skirt-Rolling

You learnt the art of rolling your skirt by the end of your first week. Not many were brave enough to cut the length, so rolling was a must and most girls did it to make their skirts a lot shorter. Why did we do it? Because it looked cool of course.

3. Your Bra Became Your New Handbag

Your bra was the perfect place to store your phone throughout the school day. Well, where else would we put it when we couldn't have our bags near us?

4. Your Periods Got You Out of Everything

The male teachers never noticed that you would use the excuse 'I'm on my period' every week to get out of class early or for some other reason. And even if they did catch on, they wouldn't dare question you about it. It was a conversation they feared and longed to avoid.

5. You Rarely Ever Took Part in P.E

Unless you were good at P.E. you would go out of your way to get out of it each lesson. Be it a forged note from your ‘mum’ or pretending you have period cramps. Even if you were forced into it, you would do the bare minimum and basically sit around doing nothing.

6. Meeting Boys From the Local All-Boys School

When the bell went for the end of the day, you would all rush to the toilets to re-apply your make-up, fix your hair and cover yourself in Charlie body spray, so you look and smelled good for the boys from the other school when you met them.

7. Tampons and Sanitary Towels Were Shared Like Sweets

If you did come on your period while at school there was no shame. Just let everyone know you need a tampon and they would be thrown at you in all shapes and sizes.

8. The Hierarchy System

The hierarchy was based on how rebellious you were and who had the latest gadgets. The category you fell into always seemed to be picked for you somehow, without you even knowing. You may have thought you were pretty popular, or average, but to the majority — you were a geek.

9. Your Carrier Bag Had to be Cool

If you ever needed to bring something in for a class you would save all your Jane Norman or River Island bags just for this occasion. Of course, we couldn't be seen carrying a supermarket bag!

10. Standing up to Pull up Your Tights in Class was Common

You would pull your tights up in the middle of the classroom without worrying about who you flash because it was socially acceptable to do so.

11. Your Stationery Stash Gradually Declined Over the Years

In the first year of secondary school, you would obsess over having the best stationery. This means having the best pencil case from W H Smiths, coloured pencils, and of course the smelly gel pens you all had to have! By the end of the year, you'd lost most of it.

12. There Was Always One Fanciable Teacher

If there was a male teacher who was half-decent looking, he immediately became the one you all fancied and wouldn’t stop talking about. The reality? He wasn't even slightly hot and you wouldn't look twice at him if he weren't a teacher.

13. New Rumours Were Spread Daily

Rumours spread quicker than you could say ‘gossip’ and people would make sh*t up for no reason just for entertainment.

Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash

14. Everyone had MSN

You would rush home to log onto MSN and get talking to that boy from the other school. If he added your name to his status and put a little heart next to it, you knew it was true love.

15. Heartbreak Happened Often

Breaking up with that special person was awful and would end in you locking yourself in the girl's toilets whilst your friends comfort you and tell you that you were far too good for him anyway.

16. Detentions Made You Cool

If you were given a detention, especially an after-school one. You were a badass. And you would be worshipped.

17. Fights Were a Regular Occurrence

If a fight broke out between two girls (which happened weekly) it would look like a scene from WWE. You would definitely not have thought teenage girls could be that strong.

18. Terrible Hair Extensions Were the Norm

Buying cheap hair extensions that felt like rough animal hair and showed all the clips because no one truly knew how to put them in correctly was totally acceptable.

19. The Arm Link

You and your best friend couldn’t walk anywhere without linking arms. It was a sign that you were BFFs and no one should dare come between you.

After all the dramas I witnessed during my school years, I could not wait to leave. They say school years are the best years of your life... Pfttttt, really? REALLY?

P.S. Thanks to Mean Girls, I actually still use the phrase "I'm not like a regular mom, I'm a cool mom!" to this day.

Did you go to an all-girls school? What memories do you have?