This is the first time that I’ve been
properly alone in Cambridge since I got here.
There’s no parents who have made arrangements to meet up tomorrow, and
there’s no fellow college mates who want to lunch.
While I was busy with all these meet-ups, I
actually looked forward to the moments when I would be alone. Then, I could actually think and unwind. I needed my own space.
Or so I thought, until I said goodbye to the
fellow college mates after dinner. Faced
with the prospect of being alone in my room with no internet, I suddenly felt a
sense of crushing loneliness. For a
moment, I thought I understood Voo, Ten’s friend. I thought I understood what it was like to be
alone in a foreign country.
Now, after a bath and with the radio on, I
don’t think I understand Voo as much as I thought I did. Yes, I am alone, but I am not estranged. I know where everything is, including
entertainment is if I want it. I already
have a favourite music station – Star Radio for Cambridge. I have college mates that I am reasonably
familiar with just a phone call away.
And I have already made connections, for better or for worse, with the
staff of the college, and my fellow college mates, and I’m sure if I asked I
would be able to get in touch with the people at the business school as well.
Right now, I have the luxury of choice. And I intend to exercise it while I can. After all, when everyone comes in I might not
even get a moment to myself. It might be
work and projects and meals and activities and generally being occupied all
hours of the day. I might have
internet! I might be chatting with
people a long distance away! Or even
close by. One never knows.
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