Adieu!!!

An ode to year one....
Year one of college life is over for me (well, guess I could say so without getting the results :p). What a year it was! So much to learn, so much to enjoy and so much to experience!
July 17, 2004 was when I landed in Singapore, abroad for the first time, first time all alone, meeting and staying with "relatives" I had never really met or talked to before (who were lots of fun, though!) and well, having a totally different life ahead of me. I still remember the scene at the Chennai international airport, as mom looked quite glum (trying to conceal it, though), dad worried yet hopeful, an encouraging uncle, and grandparents very depressed and shedding silent tears. In my enthusiasm to start a new life, I forgot to be depressed. Yes, sad I was, but I did not shed a single tear. (Hard-hearted me again??)
As the flight soared across the skies and up above the great sea, I was suddenly skeptical. Had I made the right decision? I looked out of the window to look at that sea whose shore I had enjoyed many a day and this thought really left me sad. But it did not take long for me to look at brighter side of life, and I decided not to be depressed. After all I had not struggled so much to get into this university to just think of whether I made the right decision or not!
A few weeks of joyful (!) torture in the name of orientation (dignified name for ragging) and getting to know different people, making new friends, a Thai roommate, life started here.
This place has taught me so many things, starting from how to react for anything unexpected (bad marks in school papers were nothing, I tell you...), how to face people who tell you something right on your face in the name of healthy criticism, how to stand up straight and face rejection. What behaviour to accept and what not. And importantly, how to silently hold your breath when people next to you ate something whose smell you cannot stand. ;)
This place has made me a more matured person (so I hope...). This place has taught me never to give up easily. The computer I'm typing right now on is a perfect example. It took more than two months for it to work properly without giving any sort of trouble (touchwood!), testing my patience and tolerance all the while. It taught me how feeling tensed or upset about something is never going to work (how well this lesson is learnt though, I don't know!). I learnt whom I should give a damn to and whom I should never care about.
Hmm...that's the serious side of life. Looking at the fun side, I learnt to eat a great many things I would never have gone near if at home. Now I'm more adventurous and dare to experiment. I've experienced nice stuff and it has been a lot of fun. I've gone to a beach which I had seen only in movies. I've learnt how to speak to any guy :p, considering the fact that I'd been in a girls' school most of my life. I've learnt how to nicely snub people I do not like and how to sweetly avoid some people also. :) I know how to say "Thank you" in chinese and malay. I know names of a lot many chinese and malay dishes.
I've learnt how I should never feel ashamed to do something I truly believe in, how to be proud of what I've done, and how to stand my ground. I've learnt to be totally myself.
I've learnt how home is the nicest place, too! :)
I also learnt how to live with tubelights which shake to the wind and with cats that scare me! (That reminds me, click here to read That cat, part 2 !!)
Yup, this post will be long...there's so much of sentiment in it, and no I'm not crying! :p But it's quite long since I wrote such a long post!
I won't be posting in my blog from this *sweet, khewl n black!* computer of mine for another three months!
Chennai, here I come!