Big Big World
And with a couple of short goodbyes, a "call me on my mobile if you need to contact me, you have my number", I walked out into the warm night to my car, filled with my belongings. All my shoes were in the boot (didn't know I had that many) and a stack of clothes in the passenger seat. A multitude of emotions were running through me. Excitement! A brand new lifestyle! Sadness. I'm missing them already. Anxiety. Can't wait, this will be great! Fear. I'm now all on my own.
In the car, with the pleasant night breeze through the window, my mind begins to wander. The image of what I left behind remains clear. My youngest sister, in the lounge room with a group of her friends (this is the first time I remember her inviting a group over), gambling, laughing, having fun. My other sister, on her laptop, standing next to the ironing board, chatting on MSN to her friend. My mum, on the phone, talking to some relatives. Roger Federer, on the TV, about to win his 7th grand slam title. Our microwave, on the floor of my half vacant room. Bright lights. The house was abuzz with activity.
Back to the present, the ride into the city was uneventful. Traffic was unusually heavy at this hour.
After dumping all my stuff into the aparment, I headed off to Coles at Broadway to pick up some necessities. It was 11pm. There were boxes everywhere, lining the aisles. Fellow late night shoppers were doing their thing. I feel like one of them now.
Got back to the apartment and proceeded to deodorise the carpet to rid it of its stench. I don't remember this smell when we inspected the apartment. With the whole apartment fumigated, I realised it was probably a good idea to open some windows before I pass out from the smell of "Garden Fresh".
I began assembling my bed and putting my things away. By 12:15am, it was done. I was all sticky so I took a shower. Felt weird without one of them water saving shower heads from home. Felt like I was actually getting a proper wash :P
Come 12:30, I began to settle down and let the whole atmosphere sink in. The apartment was still quite empty. My flatmate who was meant to move in with me on Saturday, got a bad case of food poisoning from some dodgy asian food in china town. Thus it was only my room and bathroom that was populated with stuff. I was lucky a friend was kind enough to help me move my stuff on Saturday, on short notice. We planned to move my flatmates things too but ran out of time. So the kitchen as it stood was bare, and so was the lounge.
Sitting on the lounge room floor, breathing in the garden freshness, I drank in the whole situation. With the faint sound of music from my room, I decided to called the one person I knew would be awake at this hour. A workmate of mine. We had a chat. About work tomorrow, about the apartment, about chinese new year, amongst other things. At 12:45 we hung up and I headed to bed. Set the alarm for 6:30am. Couldn't sleep for a little while, different environment and all. Felt like I was away on camp. Or in a barracks on army training. As those were the only other times that I've slept away from home for extended periods. And so began my first official night living away from home.
It's going to be different. Which was what I wanted. I feel more independent, more responsible and more like an adult already. I'm going to miss my family, but I will visit often. I'm also very excited at the prospect of this change in lifestyle. I'm literally bursting with anticipation :)
posted by Chip @ 9:40 AM
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