Newcastle Girl

It's 5:26 PM back home and only 9 AM in London. I'm in neither places. Hehe. I'm way up in the sky, trying to make do with the fact that there is absolutely NOTHING I can do while on board except try and rationalize how all this came about. I'm feeling an utter lightness in my head knowing that I still have to be on this thing for another 8 hours and mind you, getting on this plane is by far the most spontaneous thing I've ever encountered in my life.

Even I am baffled at how everything suddenly happened, one day I was just going on my business like everyone else, trying to make it through the days and now I'm strapped and flying continents away from everything familiar to me. Don't get me wrong, this is good and I'm very happy but it's just, to put it mildly, too surreal.

Anyone who's anyone in my life knows this particular scene of me being whisked off out of the country, is inevitable. I've talked about it hundreds, millions of times over. I've been very vocal of my plans, dreams and my "game plans" but somehow that was just that for me then. Pure talk, all envisioning and though it really was what I wanted, I never thought it was gonna be this soon.

I was perfectly happy with my life in the Philippines, I have a great family, awesome friends, I was impassioned by my org, AIESEC and I have the most perfect boyfriend-bestfriend combo in JP. I couldn't ask for anything more and truth of the matter is, I haven't been asking for anything in a while but then, reality soon hit hard on me, on us. By November 2006, I casually tried my luck at applying to schools abroad, mainly in Australia but even with my conscious effort of updating every single day, nothing worked. December rolled by and all I got from them was a dramatic speech from one of their agents expressing how irresponsible it was of me to wait that long before applying.

Fine, whatever.

I knew at that time that Australia was my only ticket out of the country by February but as everything in my life so far, another surprise came my way. I knew for a fact that UK didn't have any course offerings in January or February for Mass Communications and that it was only JP's B.A. IT course that floated so, desperate that JP was to leave (he had to, as a request of his parents), I met up with my friend EJ's agent to see if she can try and help JP apply for the UK for January. She fixed JP's track quite fast and to my surprise, she had an offer for me as well. It wasn't straight Mass Com for me, it was a 6 month diploma course in Business and in September, I'll start with my Mass Com course. The process of application was mind bogglingly fast. By mid- December, my offer came in and if that surprised me, what made me fall off my back was the fact that JP's IT course got dissolved but me? Oh I was all set to go, paid and everything. Right after the New Year, I passed my visa application.

Now the school (Newcastle College) already opened classes on January 8th, they initially gave me until only the 15th to get there which was just too impossible and when my visa didn't come on the 12th, I felt like all hopes were indeed lost but.. as miracles would have it, the school extended the deadline for enrolment to the 22nd. That was when I felt that this was really for me. That was the only time in the past couple of weeks that my doubts were sealed and my fears extinguished. At that very moment, I knew my destiny was in the UK.

But as I was rejoicing, another blimp came into picture: my visa was still not released. I waited til about Wednesday and when it still didn't come, I called the embassy the next day to ask for progress. They said I've been issued on already but that it hasn't been stamped yet and asked me to call back the next day. Around 8am last Friday, I called them and after a long argument with them, they finally gave in and asked me to just pick it up no later than 12 noon so I did and after that, JP and I went over to my mom's office to give our birthday gift to her and prepared for my Despidida party at Halmen's restaurant.

Friends came and you know, said their goodbyes and even then it all felt too surreal. As my last party guest drove out of sight, it was again just me and JP. Looking in his eyes then made me get all the more scared.. Scared that finally my future in the UK was sealed and that for most parts of that future, he won't be there.

Saturday, January 20th went like a blur. I went to Makati to get my ticket from my agent (I told you everything was rushed) and when we got to her office, she found out that my booking got cancelled already so in panic, she called another friend and in a few minutes' time, they got me another booking for KLM. I preferred flying KLM so that was good but the pit fall was that it was leaving earlier, much much earlier. My original booking was at 8pm and having been transfered to KLM, my departure was now at 11:50. But that still made me smile. As my agent put it, she feels that I'm really destined to leave because KLM was booked pretty solid last they checked and the fact that I got in with not much problems (and a cheaper rate), it feels like it was truly for me. She even kept saying how she was getting goosebumps from what was happening to me and hearing that felt comforting (not her getting goosebumps, mind you).

After Makati, JP and I went to Ortigas to attend an AIESEC activity, the World Cafe Project, my last.. for now(?). After staying there a bit, we had to leave to get to Megamall cause I had to shop. Yes folks, even that was rushed. I bought my essentials. Laptop (needed a new one, hehe) a digital camera (my sister now plays mother to my old one), warm clothes, went grocery shopping and bought just enough shoes. Bought EJ's request (hehe) and headed home around 2am. After that, I packed til about 5, took a shower and was off to the airport by 6.

I managed to get to the airport fine (with a bit of drama with my mom) but when I got inside, I found out that I was 17 kilos overweight and they were asking me to pay around 500 euros or 33 thousand pesos. Were they nuts?! I had to have my other suitcase taken home and what made it worse was I only got to see JP for a couple of minutes but whatever time we had, I cried. Walking away from him at the airport (my family already left by then) was probably one of the most painful things I've ever had to endure -and I can tell you i've had such craps before, but this was different. It felt so bad leaving someone you have gotten so used to being with and not even knowing when you'd see him again.

With tears in my eyes, I made my way inside and as soon as my butt touched the seat, I cried even more. I couldn't imagine my days without my sister's pile upon piles of books and reading materials, I couldn't imagine life without senidng text brigades to my members calling them for a meeting, I couldn't how life would be without being disappointed that no one has replied, I couldn't imagine how life would be without pouncing on the phone after not getting through JP's line and.. I couldn't imagine life without having to wait for him to pick me up. These are annoyances I've had over the last few months but now, I'd give anything to experience them again one more time.

It was only when I got to Schipol airport that it finally sunk in me. I was definitely out of the Philippines.. Indefinitely. Waiting for my plane to Newcastle gave me a chance to fully bask in the change my life was going to undertake once I step onto the Newcastle soil.

Another hour after of being on another plane, I finally arrived in Newcastle. EJ and Ed picked me up, we took the Metro and in no less than 30 minutes (or so), they welcomed me to their flat. Since my College ran out of slots in their dorm for me (since I applied late because yes, even my application was rushed) so until I find a place of my own, they have a new roommate :)

I haven't actually started classes yet but I already have my schedule and they're not that good. I'm happy that my classes are only every Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays but not when it's all from 3 to 9 PM! Yea, my life's story.. Always have a tragic twist but it's all good. The school is helping me find accommodation that's close to the school so I don't have to walk all that far at night.

Newcastle is everything I thought it was gonna be, small, relaxing.. but not this Cold. I'm seriously up to my ears with the cold and it hasn't even snowed through and already it's 0 degrees. Bullocks. But the cold hasn't stopped me from wandering around, seeing the town.. and shopping! Every goddamned store here is on sale since they're clearing it all out from the past year all the more reason for me to think that I was truly destined to be here with all the cut off prices, all for me.

So it's day 4 for me here and i'm having a blast. Food is surprisingly good (we've been cooking so it still has a Pinoy twist.. we still eat rice!) and people are nice. I'd like to believe that I've already adjusted to the time and the only thing I'm having a difficulty dealing with is the cold.. I'm not even kidding. :)

So today, out of EJ and I's boredom, we're going out.. but don't know where. Hehe. I think we're going to reserve our Harry Potter books (weee!) today, laze through town and be uh, what do you call those? Wild childs. Hehe.

From this day forth, no more congested posts but rather, just day to day reports on my new life half across the globe.

Cheers!