Nottingham, England

I spent the whole of last night decorating my room yesterday. Felt like the right thing to do after leading a nomadic lifestyle the past few days--so talib says. Indeed, a chapter was closed as I lifted my empty luggage and rested it atop my wardrobe. Good riddance I don't need to lug it around for 3 months. It's strange, though, how the room makes me feel like I'm a little girl all over again. The whole idea of moving out and staying in hostel, away from your family. It's not typical of Chinese culture since we seldom move away from home that early, but in UK you do what the locals do and, eventually, feel what they feel too. All the 18 and 19 year olds coming in today looked equally lost and helpless, like when I first got here, as they sieved through heaps of clothing and watched cardboard boxes of odds and ends from towers in their dorm rooms. The lucky ones had their parents to send them over and also to help them through the mess. The not so blessed ones, like me, sit in solitude in their dorm rooms as they watch and listen to the rest of the world bathing in the euphoria of their first day away from home. At 7.15pm, while the freshies are pumping with adrenaline awaiting orders from the hall student leaders about the week's itinerary, I sit peacefully with my Murakami book in hand, gazing at the willowy trees swaying in synchrony with the wind.