WAITING FOR THE LEAVING
The English language is the glue that binds so many different peoples together, writes Sligo Grammar School Transition Year student
I enjoy English. Much of my life has been taken up by reading. I devoured series such as Beast Quest, Horrid Henry, and Horrible Histories. Each of these series lay foundations for interests later in life. Beast Quest ignited an appetite for action, fantasy and adventure, usually with young male protagonists, as I always saw myself in that role.
These books included The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini (my first fantasy love), Anthony Horowitz’s various works and the American writer Rick Riordan’s many novels. When I first discovered Rick Riordan, I had of course heard of mythology, but it was mostly a mystery.
That is, until Riordan presented it in such a unique fashion that I couldn’t put those books down. They were the definition of compelling (my English teacher will be happy I included that word).
And once I finished those, I moved on to his series about Egyptian mythology and finally Norse.
Nils is a Scandinavian name, and every year I visit my mother’s home country, Denmark. But I had yet to learn about our ancient culture until I discovered the Magnus Chase trilogy and Neil Gaiman. My eyes were opened, to say the least.
Horrible Histories was my favourite series of novels when I was younger. Not only was it fantastically gory, but also real! I couldn’t believe it. One day, I came across a novel written in that exact same style but about Shakespeare. It described tragedies such as King Lear and Romeo and Juliet.
This kindled a passion for drama which incubated over six or seven years, and it finally erupted into an inferno when I joined the Sligo Youth Theatre. Here, all the different fantasy worlds I read about could be experienced.
I remember one day specifically where I narrated Little Red Riding Hood set in the daunting forest of Ikea.
However, recently we performed The Hypochondriac by Moliere and it was one of the best experiences of my life so far. I would recommend any young people reading this article to join a youth theatre.
English is pivotal to us and the world, as so many people from different countries speak it. Yes, almost one billion people in the world speak Mandarin, but are they all from different nationalities? This is where English bridges the gap and why it’s so important.
I’m a Transition Year student and the implications of the Leaving Cert are just starting to sink in. But I am looking forward to new challenges and opportunities to prove myself.