We all hated going to school but now we miss it. Carla Formosa keeps Alan Paris and Lyndsay Pace in detention so they can write their school diary.

Alan Paris today and right at St Aloysius College.

A self-proclaimed tal-pepe, actor Alan Paris talks about his regimental days at the Jesuit-run, allboys St Aloysius College where, he says, “the national anthem was almost sung on repeat”.

However, despite the firm hand of discipline, Paris managed to work out a technique – or call it a high-class performance – which helped him weasel through his school years unscathed. From September to December, Paris would be the angel of St Aloysius – diligent, quiet and obedient. Then, once he had managed to gain his teachers’ trust, he would fool around for the rest of the year.

“I guess I always wanted to act,” Paris giggles.

“Still, I wasn’t the naughty type and was never suspended or expelled – I just suffered a few detentions,” he admits.

Due to the layout of the old St Aloysius College, being sent out of class meant another opportunity to socialise and hang out with his friends. Consequently, being chucked out of one lesson led to skiving a few more.

“We used to go down to the Birkirkara band club, listen to music, play billiards and smoke way too much for our age,” Paris recalls.

With outings to Birkirkara becoming something of a daily occurrence, Paris would only attend a few lessons. Eventually he had to finish studying for his A-levels from the confines of his own room.

However, for Paris, school wasn’t one long party. He explains his interest in languages and history.

“Being slightly numerically dyslexic and more inclined to the creative arts, I couldn’tstand anything that had to do with mathematics.”

Paris always took part in school plays and productions. He fully discovered his passion for drama after joining Juan Gambina’s drama group and performing in plays at Stella Maris College. However, Paris says that maybe, his artistic skills would have enjoyed an earlier boost had creative subjects been more widely accepted, as they are nowadays.

“Today, there is more support for extracurricular activities like art, drama and music, which are taught in an inclusive way.”

Apart from wishing his school showed more support for the creative arts, Paris had one other wish: girls.

“If I had gone to a co-ed school, I would have had no problem with being too shy to talk to girls,” he says.

To which he’s quick to point out that this shy streak didn’t last very long. Just like he had mastered the performance of handling his teachers, he had done the same with the girls he and his friends would meet on the Sliema front.

“After overcoming my shyness, I was the one who managed to befriend many of the girls in order to eventually sway them to a date,” Paris proudly recalls.

Nonetheless, even though Paris was never terribly excited about putting on his school uniform, he longs for just a taste of the carefree student life. Although tests and exams where the biggest hurdles, in hindsight nothing compares to the responsibilities of adult life.

Lyndsay Pace today and right, at school.

Singer and songwriter Lyndsay Pace would do anything to be back in a classroom at St Catherine’s High School, Pembroke.

“I was never the studious type,” she admits, “but I loved going to school.”

Busy producing her own music and performing on stage, Pace has little time left to spend with her friends. Back in her school days, Pace used to look forward to meeting her friends after the long summer months away from each other.

The self-confidence of an artist wasn’t always part of Pace’s personality.

“I was very shy,” she remembers.

This didn’t mean that she spent her school years alone in a classroom with a book as her best friend. Pace was lucky enough to have a very big group of girlfriends, although she was still considered the quietest of the group.

When remembering her friends, Pace’s face lights up when discussing one girl in particular.

“Lorna Sammut and I were like the proverbial peas in a pod,” she says.

Sammut and Pace were like each other’s shadow – wherever one went, the other followed. From sitting next to each other in class to playing together during their lunch break, the two stuck together and stayed out of any trouble.

Creative subjects were never really a part of the curriculum. The only time that Pace got the chance to show off her talents was during school performances and as a member of the school choir.

Yet her little practice with the school choir led Pace to her first solo performance in front of an audience.

“I still remember the fear of walking on stage and seeing all eyes on me.”

It was a couple of years after Titanic had been released and, being a fan of Celine Dion, Pace sang My Heart Will Go On.

“Although it certainly didn’t boost my career, it did change something in me,” Pace recalls. “It was the moment I decided to pursue a career in singing.”

Even though she used to be very afraid of forgetting something in class and dreaded the yearly embarrassment of sports day, Pace still treasures her school days.

“School days go by in a flash,” she says. “Before I knew it, I was graduating and saying goodbye to my friends with tears in my eyes.”