I've got those.
I've got plenty of those.
Too many, in fact.
And today I have a new one.
But after some thought,
perhaps I shouldn't share that.
Something else came up !
An even better memory.
Something blog-worthy !
(hopefully)
The first day of school in Australia.
I was expecting it to be great and all.
I'm always a sucker for the first day of school.
Of course,
nothing ever plays according to how I imagined it to be.
On the first day,
a Monday,
I took bus 404 to school.
My first class starts at 9.30am.
But I arrived at 8.
That's how excited I was.
I was bored.
There wasn't anything for me to do.
So I went to check out the computer room
which is where I should be picking up my free Macbook.
My orientation teacher said it wasn't this week,
but next week
But my insecurities grew when there were also other students waiting.
I was unsure whether to wait or go.
So I headed down to the main office real quick.
Dropped all the bookmarks in my file while walking there.
Picked everything up hastily.
And asked the front counter about my Macbook session.
She confirmed that I should be there at about now.
So I rushed back to the classroom and
waited outside with the other students.
A teacher suddenly came out,
and she told us it was next week.
False alert.
I had almost an hour before my first class,
Maths.
So I decided to go to the only place on campus that was 'entertaining'.
The Library.
Luckily, my new library had a tertiary education corner.
I browsed around.
Did a little reading on a guide for International Students.
When it was 9.20a.m,
I placed the book back on its rack and
made my way to my Maths class.
I waited outside along with other strangers.
Initially, there was one.
And I was unsure if he was in my class.
Are we suppose to wait outside the classroom ?
Or are we suppose to go in and wait for the teacher ?
I was unsure.
So I took a little tour around my new classroom.
Before making my way out and waiting.
To my delight,
my Maths teacher is a woman.
To my not-so delight,
she was merely a substitute teacher.
Filling in, while my REAL Maths teacher was gone.
She gave us a little practice sheet.
It was basic algebra.
Piece of cake.
I managed to hog a table at the left most front.
The table connected to mine was empty.
When I took a look back,
my heart sank.
I was the only person in the room,
without someone sitting beside him/her.
Depressed, I made my way to the cafeteria.
I sat down alone.
Took out my Uncle Toby's bar.
Finished it.
And went out.
This was embarrassing.
It was humiliating.
I hurried to the library.
It was only the first day of school,
so the library was fairly empty.
And they had a special corner full of study carrels.
I took a seat.
Opened up my unfinished algebra sheet.
And erased all of my troubled thoughts.
Around noon,
I walked to the far east of the campus.
To the physical science block,
where my Chemistry class was taking place.
Again,
we waited outside.
Me and strangers.
Earphones plugged in.
Then the doors opened.
My chemistry teacher was a tall man.
Male pattern baldness was not nice to him.
I failed to secure a seat on the front row.
So, I settled for the second place place,
second row !
Each row was like a long counter.
With a basin in the middle and
gas pipes on each side.
The chairs provided were small and tall.
Kinda like those you would expect at bars.
Only less fancy.
Well, at least they had back support.
Unlike the lab chairs at my old school.
The teacher introduced himself,
and believe me,
he was scary.
He's like an Aussie version of Mr Goh.
Well, maybe not that scary.
But still pretty scary by Aussie standards.
He is loud.
That one thing I can be sure of.
After class ended,
I went to him and asked about my calculator.
Whether it was qualified to be brought into exams.
He reassured me in a very....loud and...benighted manner.
I left.
And I made my way to the cafeteria for lunch.
But you know what ?
Screw it.
I turned and headed for the library.
I had no homework.
I just wanted to escape.
I did some reading from my previous Chemistry class.
My phone was my only companion.
"Thank God I downloaded new songs yesterday"
was what I thought to myself.
One song in particular made me tear up.
It was lunch time.
No one was at the library.
The study carrel was blocking me from sight.
So I just let it all out.
It wasn't much.
But the feeling was liberating.
With a gloomy expression, I made my way to Physics.
Once again, located at the physical science block.
My Physics teacher was also an old man.
He was shorter and, to an extent, "cuter"
than my Chemistry teacher.
He spent most of the lesson introducing new things to us.
Both about the college and Physics.
I once again managed to grab a seat on the front row.
His friendly attitude lifted my mood a little.
I left Physics with a more positive mindset.
Next was English.
Lessons were consecutive,
and by the time I had reached my English class,
the lesson has already began.
Or not.
But everyone was already there.
Oddly enough, it was very dark.
I couldn't see all my fellow classmates properly.
I got a second row seat.
Once again, sitting alone.
I missed the teacher's introduction unfortunately.
She discussed about our course outline a little.
Time passed and it was time for IT.
This was the first time that I took IT.
So my mood slowly getting lifted up.
Our IT class took place in a computer lab,
so everyone had a computer.
But it was quite crammed,
so I had to sit next to someone.
Surprisingly, the Asian girl from my English class,
which I only managed to get a glimpse of due to the poorly-lit room,
was also in IT.
And I was sitting next to her.
My teacher, like any other teacher, introduced himself.
We didn't do much.
But I managed to observe this Asian girl's behaviour.
At least she laughed at some of jokes our teacher made.
'Ok. She's approachable.' I told myself.
But not yet.
I had to wait for the right moment.
I tried to keep a stoic expression for the entire duration of the class.
And finally, at 4.30pm,
my first day of school has ended.
I hung around the library.
Doing monkey business.
I reflected on the day.
I was so optimistic the night before.
But now,
I feel defeated.
I sit in my carrel.
Which has become my only 'home'.
That was my spot.
I sat there everytime I went to the library.
No one seemed to like that spot.
Probably because of all the eraser shavings that I always leave on the carrel.
I idled until around 5.
Then I slowly made my way to the bus stop.
I got on the bus.
I got back to the bus station.
I went home.
My iPod had arrived.
The iPod which I raved about for weeks.
The hype just disappeared.
The iPod proceeded to lay around my table for months without any songs in it.
The wheel of life has stopped spinning.
And with this, the OVA has ended.
I really hope there is at least one entry in this OVA
that you enjoyed reading.
Stay tuned for Season 14,
which will see it's debut in around a fortnight.
I have an exam to focus on in the meantime.
Listening to People Help The People - Cherry Ghost
Trying hard.
TK
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