College is not an easy time. You become a pimply teenager, you meet unfriendly people and the CPE keeps saying “one more delay and you’re stuck”. Luckily, there are a few things to cheer you up: overpriced items, often useless school supplies, that make you the cool kid in the class. If you had two or three, you can count yourself lucky. If you had them all, we’re downright jealous.
Absolutely Necessary Supplies
Table of Contents
1. The basketball pen
We’ve already wondered what the best pen is and frankly, there are plenty of good ones. We remember the Pilot FriXion Ball with its tribal motif, the FlexGrip Ultra which always disappeared from pencil cases and the Waterman fountain pen which cost 3 months’ rent. But best of all, of course, was the basketball pen; the must-have of the season.
2. Pastel highlighters
From elementary school to college, pastel highlighters are one of those timeless supplies. They are pretty, they are expensive and they are not everywhere: the recipe for success.
3. The competition sharpener
All the children have experienced the hassle of the filled pencil sharpener that opens and empties into the pencil case. All except those who had the competition sharpener, the one that beats all the others. There was even a hole to remove broken leads without having to open the case.
4. Retractable eraser
One of the biggest annoyances with school supplies when you’re a child is that of the eraser that blackens in the kit on contact with pencils. Fortunately, there were retractable erasers. If you had that in your kit, everyone admired you and you knew it.
5. The architect’s compass
There were two types of children in math class: those who had the boring and wobbly compass where you have to hang a pencil and those who had the architect’s compass. At each geometry lesson, they were super proud to take out their well-stocked little box while we pricked our fingers looking for the null compass at the bottom of the pencil case.
6. The green drawing pocket
Considering what we were doing in art class and the grades we had at the end of the year, it probably wasn’t necessary to lug a giant folder around the whole school. Despite everything, we were proud to look like misunderstood artists from the 5th grade.
7. The Maped Twist’n Flex Ruler
Maped’s flexible ruler is probably the least accurate ruler in the world, but we didn’t really care, as long as we could bend it all over the place to deal with and use it as a catapult.
8. The Student diary with the jokes inside
I bought this diary for many years because it was the best on the market. Already, there were jokes and comics in it, ideal when you’re bored to death in physics class. Then, it was very light and the material was pleasant to the touch. Finally, we had fun customizing the cover with marker for hours. What a time…
9. Posca felt
The Posca is the must-have accessory for the cool college guy. It is used to draw on any surface, be it a notebook, pencil case, table or the wall of the perm room. We made beautiful graffiti out of it.
10. The calculator with the games in the programs
Nobody really knows if it’s an urban legend or a proven fact, but a rumor was circulating in college: it would be possible to integrate games into calculator programs. What to do incognito during the whole math class.
The cool kid’s starter pack
11. The Eastpak tagged in white
In college, it is absolutely necessary to have an Eastpak; it is the regulatory uniform of any self-respecting pre-teen. To stand out from the others, you have to play it rebellious by drawing with corrector or Posca on the fabric of the bag. Skulls and an anarchist symbol always do the trick.
12. Tongue-coloring lollipops
No matter how old you are, giving food always helps to make friends. So, when you only have change for bread as pocket money, you buy tongue-stain lollipops for 10 cents to please all your friends.
13. A brand new soccer ball
“Hard” balls are often forbidden in primary school where you can only play with wet and disgusting foam balls. In college, it is sometimes allowed to bring your ball to play with your friends. Inevitably, bringing a brand new ball wins a lot of friends.
14. A skateboard with stickers
According to the colleges and according to the generations, the skaters are not necessarily the popular children of the school. On the other hand, they still live cool and rush to the skate park after class to ride and smoke cigarettes. The real rebels were them.
15. A scooter parked at the entrance
Having a skateboard is nice. Having a scooter is a thousand times better. From the 4th, the students celebrate their 14th birthday and receive scooters, 50cc motorcycles or even overpriced Vespas. They are parked under a shelter in front of the college and the children who came by school bus look at them with envy.
16. Crutches (and therefore the right to cut off the self’s tail)
Having crutches when you’re 12 is a bit like becoming the king of school. Already, we give you the right to pass in front of everyone to go eat and you can even go there with your friends so that they carry your tray. Then, you are exempt from sports lessons while your friends run 4x500m in the rain. Finally, you have in your pocket the key to the elevator, the one normally reserved for staff, and a whole world opens up to you.
17. The right to go out on weekends
Having the right to go out where you want and when you want at 13 is the dream of any kid. Finally, it’s mostly a trick that popular teenagers use to do all the crap in the world while we stayed at home reading manga or watching W9.
18. Extra fries at the canteen
On fries day, you have to know how to play it delicately. The idea is to arrive in the cafeteria when a new round comes out of the oven and stay until all the students have been served. And there, it’s time for the rab and you have to run to have a chance to have it.
19. Many absences in the correspondence book
The student who has class is necessarily a little rebellious, he is therefore well known to the supervisors and has a well-filled correspondence book. Fortunately, there is a technique: say that you have lost your notebook, take a new one and alternate with the other so as never to be stuck.
20. A place near the radiator
The greatest privilege one can have in a college in the winter.
