NUS

After some silly training course today at the NTU Alumni clubhouse (which is at Buona Vista, not NTU), I went over to NUS to have lunch. I miss the Japanese food store at Science faculty, and 3 years since I graduated, the store has been taken over by another vendor, but my food was nice still.

I don't miss NUS per se, but the memories I have of my studies and stay there is indelible. Strangely, the most poignant thing I can remember is of myself walking alone all around the campus. Going to Arts faculty from my residence, traversing the multitude of stairs scarring the landscape. Taking the bus to Science faculty or NUH just for the food. Wandering up and down among the library shelves alone for hours.

Especially in my last year, solitude is the most significant thing that I experienced. I spent countless hours cooped up in my room facing my laptop, doing work, surfing around the net, and listening to music endlessly. Most people work till late at night, and I was no exception, churning out essays or cramming for exams till daybreak. And I spend many hours too among the fascinating books in the library, sometimes devouring books on my research list but often also browsing books on disparate subjects out of interest. I am just as likely to borrow books on literary criticism as essays on music and the arts, or sociological texts.

But there were much fun moments with ODAC people too, and it was intellectually exciting for me to conceive and plan for a great presentation for my literature modules - I can even get insomnia thinking about my presentation the next day! I made new friends in my lit honours class, and we hang out together at the Arts canteen sharing insider jokes and talk arty-farty about the latest critical theory terminology bandied around the tutorial room.

Those were the days.