Dear Singapore,
This has been the absolutely most amazing experience of my life. I arrived safely home a week and a half ago, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. My life without you is just… well… not the same.
I started feeling the loneliness in Singapore when my best friend, Shreya, had departed for Australia. It was the weirdest feeling not being able to run into her room unexpectedly five or six times a day. One by one, everyone had been leaving but I was fine with that – it was expected. But once had Shreya left, I felt really alone. Well, good thing, I thought. If Shreya were here, how could I even do well on my final exams without satisfying my need to bother her every minute?
One by one, my friends departed. Most were not going home, though. In fact, many exchange students had grand adventures planned for the summer.Whether traveling alone or traveling in a group, this was their chance to travel uninhibited throughout SoutheastAsia… and they were not going to pass it up.
Oh, how I wanted to continue traveling… but I, like some others, had final exams and very little leftover cash. So instead of calling mom and pleading with her to letme run around the world for another month or so, I quietly studied for the two weeks that followed.
With finals completed and another week to go, I thought to myself, “I can’t do this!” It was too lonely being in Singapore and seeing everyone leave. So instead of calling my mom and saying, “Hey Mom! Why don’t you give me more money and I will go to Bali with my friends for now?” I called her and said, “Hey Mom! Why don’t we change my flight and make it earlier?”
Oh, stupid me!
My last night was beautiful. We went to the Marina Barrage, which is a gorgeous elevated park with an amazing view of the Marina. People go there and theyfly these amazing, gigantic kites in the sky that light up! The kites go so high up, that all you can see are flashing lights all over the sky, making all sorts of shapes: Butterflies, Fireworks, Spiders…
We, of course, were not very experienced kite flyers and ended up spending most of our time sitting in a circle and making jokes while Andrew intently worked on detangling our failed rainbow-colored kite (although it didn’t fly, it did make an excellent mat for us to sit on).
That was my last night. The last time I would see the Marina, the last time I would be with the same people, in the same way. Often times I think to myself, “did I make a mistake? Should I be traveling around Asia right now, too?” It is definitely difficult to believe that this amazing and wonderful part of my life is over.
But hey, it’s got to end some time.
I still remember the day before we met. I was nervous, scared, and did not know what to expect. But Singapore, you fulfilled all of my expectations and more! It is hard to imagine any experience that can top this adventure of a lifetime.
Missing you already.
Love,
Resham
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain