My Speech to secondary girls  


             I did not want to grow up. I did not want to get older, take responsibility for my actions, and worry about what’s happening in the world. Growing up, becoming a teenager is like moving into a new house. You are all from an international school; you probably know what I am talking about. That feeling you get when you enter the house for the first time, knowing you don’t want to be here, knowing you HAVE to, knowing that there is nothing you can change about it, its definite. When I moved and entered our house, here in Bonn, for the first time, they weren’t even done building it. My parents have told me before that my room was supposed to be upstairs and when I entered our house… the stairs weren’t done. NO STAIRS, NO WAY TO GET IN MY ROOM. Scared, terrified, anxious, little Lea pulled at her Moms jacket and begged to stay where we belonged. My home wasn’t there it was in Essen not in Bonn. Bonn couldn’t be that great I thought, it was once the capital but not anymore, they must have had their reasons and I had mine.

When we finally moved in and I stood there in front of the door seeing all those people bringing in the boxes with our stuff, I knew it was definite. I couldn’t do anything about it, unavoidable. So I decided to make the best out of it. I walked around, looked in corners, found places where I could hide, places, which were mystical. 

 

Why am I telling you this? Well, now that I lived for more than 12 years in that house, I love it. Its part of me, its where I feel safe and its where my family is.

 

It’s the same with becoming a teenager. You cant do anything about it, well at least not until a crazy scientist invents a method for infinite youth. But for now you will have to grow up. Your emotions will be busy riding roller coaster and you will feel every up and down. Stuff gets confusing and complicated, yeah guys are really complicated. But at least it doesn’t get boring. There is always something to talk about, like there is in the new house to explore. I felt feelings I never knew that they existed before. I highly suggest to all of you to write diary during that time. I found my diaries from about two years ago and it was the most hilarious thing I have read in my life.

 

 

Then as if the emotion roller coaster wasn’t enough your body starts to change. As a girl you suddenly grow boobs. At first I was sceptical but then I started seeing the positive sides of it, bras are awesome pocket replacements. For periods, there isn’t really a positive aspects but I guess it is just another proof that women are the stronger sex.

You will always find parts you don’t like, just as in a new house. I still don’t like the basement room behind the lab but I got used to it. It took me a few years to accept, no to actually like the house and it will take you a few years to accept your new body, there will always be parts you don’t like but you will get to know how to live with them or how to like them.

I did not want to grow up. But I did not want to stay a child, either. With growing older, its not only wrinkles you get, you also gain more freedoms. You will earn your own money and then you can buy all those sweets by yourself. No Mama who tells you not to do it, staying up as late as you want to.

If you gain something you will always loose something else. In this case, you loose your old house, your childish mind, you childish body but you gain a new house, a new home, a new mind, new knowledge and a new body.

To close off I want to answer one of the most common questions: When do I become a teenager? Well, you will know when you start becoming a teenager, becoming a teenager is when the parents start to get annoying. - Meaningless