First day of school

It's out with the old and in with the new. 2013 has ended as well as my life in Jakarta. 2014 starts and I start my life here in Singapore. What I haven't done in four years however, is start life once again in a new school. As always, I enjoy the clean slate that I get (before I dirty it again a few months later). Whether I made a good first impression, or any impression at all, I cannot say, but what's done is done and whatever I have impressed I have impressed. The welcome day has ended, and work time has begun. 

Having grown up in an international school environment, my parents have painfully committed a large sum of their money into enrolling me into a private school in Singapore. An insurmountable amount of money has been committed and it would be an absolute embarrassment to not do the best I can possibly attain, which is much more than what is expected of anyone doing the International Baccalaureate curriculum.

Already it feels like I have met my friends in Jakarta years ago as I meet new ones when in reality I only saw them not more than a month ago. It is hard to make friends, especially when the ones you meet have already known each other for a long time and have formed such a tight network of friends to the point that it is hard to include another member, but nonetheless people start opening up to me. Start from the bottom and reach the top, something that I often do in many first time encounters with a community. 

I do get to meet one of my friends from Jakarta, who has left 2 years before me and has enrolled into the same school. It becomes bittersweet when I remember memories together despite the fact that we have only formed such a tight friendship that lasted over a year. I come here hoping to regenerate the bond between us and go back to the fun times that I once had. But of course, that will be a dream. With new responsibilities ahead, it is hard to spend much time for fun (especially with my new commitment to do the best I can).

The clocks continue to tick, and I grow more sleepy. I must end here to catch whatever opportunities the future has to throw at me, and I bid you all farewell.

Cheers,

Matthew Tan