And it was your heart...
A while ago, while waiting for the lift to arrive after saying goodbye to Michele for what might possibly be the last time, I was feeling melancholic as I looked out of the window toward Melbourne city. I love the picture that a city lit up for the night makes. I stood staring - transfixed, really - for moments, for once glad that the lift was slow in reaching me. My heart clenched and unclenched.
I was brought back to that feeling I had in 2008, on my first night on exchange in Japan. Touched down in Narita International Airport, Tokyo. I swear, guys, the feeling you get when you finally reach the place you've been yearning to go...
I had been longing for Japan for ages and when I finally got settled down under the comforters of the hotel bed, I could hardly sleep for the thumping in my chest and the looping echo in my head:
"I'm in Japan. This is my first night in Japan. I'm really here." I crawled out of bed and went to sit at the window sill looking at the night lights and the winking headlights of cars moving along the maze of roads. My heart swelled and my body felt like I couldn't contain it. According to books, that's what falling in love feels like. Well, I suppose I will forever be at least a little bit in love with Japan.
***
The view of a very familiar street - Swanston Street, Melbourne CBD's busiest.
Photo credit to kyspeaks.com
The picture above was taken from the same building that I've stayed in for the past two years. That street you're looking at, I've walked down it many times now. I've headed to Woolies in Queen Victoria Village (affectionately known as QV), walked to Melbourne Central to catch trains, sat on the grass in front of the State Library, countless suppers in Chinatown, took a trundling tram up and down Swanston Street... I'm moving elsewhere for the remaining semester I have in Melbourne. A semester's really only about five months. Five months left in Melbourne! Wow. That's...
...really short.
