We were waiting for the results of the JC postings, and for some reason, I was extremely nervous. I was sad, too, knowing that I am to be separated from my SJIIJ friends. I loved them too much, man. I mean, the first two years of Singapore is not easy, and not only I seek comfort from them, they are literally my life. When you are staying in a hostel with a daily curfew of six pm barring Saturdays, it rocks to be certain that you have all the entertainment you ever need within a stone's throw. Help was never far away, loneliness was seldom. I became too comfortable.
By 0500hrs I gave up all attempts of sleeping, went to Parry Hall's extensive dining table and saw my friends experiencing the same problem. We were nervously chattering away, attempting to kill time, before the text message that dictates our lives in the next two years arrive. Suddenly, one of my friends' phone gave a beep. 'ACJC!' exclaimed her. More phones began to beep, and by 0700hrs the dining hall was bustling with a concoction of emotions. Mine beeped, at last. '(name here) (NRIC here) has been posted into Raffles Institution'. In the end, only the two of us were going to RI. I suddenly felt very lonely.
I moved to Raffles the very same day. Eyeing the boarding school with awe and uncertainty, I thought to myself: 'So this is Singapore's premiere college'.
Life was stressful. Had my comfort zone stripped off, with some not-so-forthcoming Singaporeans and completely-alien-environment replacing them. I knew very little people here, even the Indonesians.
The first formal dinner I attended here would be the Chinese New Year formal dinner. That was when I first met my Indonesian seniors, a somewhat warming feeling, the 'someone-will-be-guiding-you' feeling. They were very much different from me. They came from different parts of Indonesia, with their own distinct dialects and cultures.
Yet, I cannot believe that today would be my last formal dinner together with them. They will be taking their A levels in less than two weeks time, going to hopefully a better place afterward. They've done a lot, too. One gave us tips to survive JC and keeps reminding us to study hard. Another shared hot and juicy gossips. The third and the fourth one filled our dinners with laughter. The fifth one simply laughed. But they all made a difference.
Impermanence is permanent. I will be donning the term 'senior' next year too, and I have big shoes to fill. Thank you for everything, my seniors.
I wish all of you the best, and only the best, for the upcoming A Levels.
Forever yours truly,
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