@ImpracticalDino: I struggled a lot with grade school growing up. That wasn't to say it was
all bad or anything. There were definitely fun times, and I got to meet a lot of cool people. Especially the friends I made during that time, and all the parties and fun hang-outs we used to have, which I think in many ways helped me survive my school years. But there was also a lot of hardship with things like bullies, and I got bullied a
lot. I likewise struggled with the work load and/or not doing well in many of my classes. I'm also autistic, and while I am much more well-adjusted now, that is certainly something that made socializing with others hard, and also contributed to a lot of my struggles with course work and the school curriculum.
As to which school years I consider the best, I'd have to say once I was at the college. I still struggled a lot with post-secondary as well, but thankfully there were no more bullies, and overall it was a more stable environment. In particular, while I didn't care for Multimedia Production a whole lot (the program I ultimately got my degree in), the couple or so years when I took General Studies were generally a lot more fun.
I had a really awesome teacher too.
Before post-secondary, however, my high school years were probably the best (which for me was Grades 9-12). Again, it wasn't an easy time, but the number of bullies had largely thinned out, I had more friends at that point, and I was slowly but surely learning to adjust. If nothing else, anything was better than junior high.
@Anagnos: My initial response was going to be dragons. And while I do think they are neat creatures, having them in real life could be very potentially dangerous.
So I'd probably go with a hippogriff instead.
