SF's Blog: The Night before & The Night After

*This post will be a series of short posts mashed together as I wrote each individual posts in different time and place . Enjoy :) *

17/1/2013 - 10.00 pm

Ah.. it's finally here. This is it . The time , to move on to another chapter of my life . Every time I am going to somewhere far away or going back to my hometown , the night before it , I will usually be feeling nostalgic and start blogging . Tonight is no different , save the fact that I am going somewhere that is further away from anywhere I have ever been before ( excluding where I went during my childhood time , because I don't have the slightest memory of it ) . Yes , tonight , or rather , a few more hours later, I will be in Singapore , the Lion City .

I was fortunate enough to receive an exchange offer to go study at National University of Singapore ( NUS ) for a semester . It was a totally unexpected offer , as I have only applied for an exchange to Australia . Nevertheless , it was a good surprise and I would gladly take any opportunities that was given to me without any hesitation , simply because ,I wanted to go overseas .

When I was given the offer , I thought long and hard . Do I really wanted to go ? What if the people there don't like me ? What if I have difficulties adapting there.. What if? There's so much what ifs questions that clouded my mind . But I knew I had to go , because I am growing too comfortable and in a way, complacent in UM .Complacency is disastrous . Here in UM for 1 and a half year , I am already quite well adapted to the environment and people , and have been quite comfortable in it . Do not get me wrong , UM , or rather KK7 , my hostel is great ! In fact , one of the best hostels in UM , with its nice people and bonding going on there . Yet , deep inside my heart , I feel a need to go out of my comfort zone , to keep on exploring more of the world and improving myself in every way possible . And NUS provides just the right avenue for me to do so . So , I took the offer.

As I am writing this , I felt a great sense of urgency to bid everyone farewell , especially to my amazing roommate , who have been such a great companion to me for the past 1 and a half year . Yet , as my time and resources are limited , I can only do so much in these final few hours . I wrote a farewell letter to my roommate .

While writing that letter , a strong sense of nostalgia and poignant memories started flooding my mind . This past 1 and a half year have been nothing short of amazing . I have joined a lot of activities , met a lot of people and new friends . I have laughed , cried , experienced joy and happiness , also depression and sadness . And believe me when I say , the onslaught of emotions that came in , could reduce any toughest , baddest , most heartless guy in this world to mere tears easily . I was not spared .

Roommate

***
17/1/2013 - 4.00 am

Photo credit to my exchange mate , Vin .

I have finally arrived at KL LCCT Airport . This will be the first time I am going to ride the air plane , with conscious memories in it ( I rode one last time , but I was too small to remember it ) . Here's how my journey is supposed to go : my college in university of Malaya => KL Central => Feeder Bus to LCCT Airport => Air Asia to Singapore => Changi Airport => MRT to Bueno Vista => Bus no 95 to NUS . So , now me and my 2 other exchange mates are waiting for the plane.

As we are waiting , I reminisce back about the incidents that happened a few hours ago .
I was so overwhelmed by the kindness and love I received when I was going out from the hostel . I met with a bunch of juniors and seniors who so coincidentally , happens to be there right when I am going to depart for what may possibly be the longest , toughest semester thus far . And they did a farewell celebration for me ( sort of ) , right there and then . I have some of the sweetest juniors and best , caring seniors in the world ! The events that happened these past few days have totally touched my heart , and further reaffirming two of my belief :

1) Good people are everywhere . Even in the darkest , most dangerous place of the world , filled with all the criminals and evil doers, there are good people . You just have to look deep inside :)
2) Good people makes the world a better place . Their actions touched your heart , and you in turn , must touch other people's heart with your actions , subsequently creating a chain reaction that makes EVERYBODY Happy and good :D

Thank Lord for Good People .

***
18/1/2013 - 10.00 pm

The first day in Singapore pass by just like a blur . Having a nearly one day sleep - deprivation , I was sleepy and lethargic as hell . Heck , I nearly slept when texting on the bus . That's how sleepy I was . Nevertheless , there are tons of things that must be done , on that very day itself , so we did it . Creating a bank account , buying various necessities , household items , and settling our registration in NUS , meeting new exchange mates and etc. It was one heck of a day .

Now that I finally have the time to sit down and reflect on it . The realization has finally set in . I am in NUS , Singapore now . This feeling is so surreal . Only yesterday , or perhaps should I say a few hours ago , I was there in my old , rustic hostel with floors without tiles , surrounded by familiar people that will greet me with a smiles in their faces , cracking stupid jokes and just being plain silly . Now , I am writing this in a condominium - lookalike hostel , their floors covered with nice looking tiles , and my window facing a nice view of... another hotel / condominium lookalike hostel , in a unfamiliar environment with complete strangers .

Ironically , even though Singapore is just realistically an hour of plane flight away from Penang , it felt like I am million miles away from home now.

I miss speaking Mandarin .
I miss seeing familiar people .
I miss having dinner in a close round table .
I miss having conversation that does not make sense with people I know .

Ah.. I miss home ;'( .