A little letter to the future and beyond (Simone)

FROM: An exhausted, eighteen year old Simone after her first official semester day at the University of Melbourne;

Monday, 4th March, 2013

The Living Room Couch

 

TO: Simone of (the more sophisticated) age of nineteen, at the end of her first year of her Bachelor of Arts

Approx time this should arrive to my future self: Friday, 22nd November, 2013

The Cool Bar You Now Always Go To (/The Living Room Couch, just in case not much as changed…)

 

Dear Simone,

Hi, there. Guess who it is! Your little self after her first day at Big School, university! I just thought that maybe it might be fun if I write you a short letter, or should I say, Blotter (see what I did there!! Hopefully you’re still as punny and good at word-merging as you are right now in 8 months time! …actually, let’s hope you’re not, because clearly, you’re going to be a lot less nerdy and a lot cooler by the time you’ve finished Year 1. Right? Right!). That way, you can compare this very day and how it’s going at the moment with how it’s ended up in the end. I hope you’re going well at the moment, having fun with all your not-so-new hipster lovely friends, hanging out with your spunky boyf (‘spunky’ and ‘boyf’ being another couple of words inherited from your mum that you no longer use, much to the relief of friends old and new!), having aced all your exams and assignments and what not (cough, cough), whilst still catching up with your highschool besties. But don’t be too hard on yourself if you didn’t, though, okay?! Just think back to me, your little (rather innocent) self, and realise what a giant step you took this year. I’ll bet you’ll have achieved more than you’ve realised!

My first day today went well – perhaps you’d like a quick recount of how it went, for old times sake? To start with, I was terribly nervous on that packed Swanston Street tram, I’ll tell you (I know, it probably sounds pretty lame now to you!), with my very first lecture in this rather strange sounding place called ‘The Spot’ which isn’t even on the main campus!! I made it there just in time as all the other Creative Writers entered the lecture theatre, and made the mistake of getting a seat with one of those things you lean on while you’re writing that you probably know the name of by now, for left-handers, which meant my right arm was twisted in a kind of awkward position around… the lecturer spoke well, made a few jokes which seemed to break the uncomfortable silence in the room. Some people were scribbling down every word he said; others tapping away at their Macbooks. I wasn’t sure how much of the ‘introductory’ kind of notes we really needed, how much to write down, but I guess that’s one of the little things you’ll have figured out by the time you’re reading this. You’ll be a lecture-pro, writing down all that stuff! I then restrained myself from running and fast-walked my way back through the campus for my next lecture, which seemed to be on the other side of the earth. 8 minutes or so is not long enough to get from The Spot to anywhere on time! (But you’ve probably worked out a few short cuts by now!). I then had an entire 3 hours break to get lunch, in which I sat in the shade of a lovely tree for a while and caught up with an O-week friend, and finally had an Arts Foundation lecture that went for an entire 20 minutes, with a good 10 minutes spent watching some (relevant) music videos on Youtube!

Are you still in contact/good friends with those from highschool? Or have you drifted away a bit? Do you have many new friends? What has been your favourite subject? Do you still love Ed Sheeran and Missy Higgins and Coldplay and Atonement? 

My prediction is thus: you will remain close to your best friends, even as one will be in London come November and travelling the world and one at RMIT; you will have met a few lovely new people, in the Melbourne Uni clubs and things especially; your favourite subject will have been Creative Writing but you enjoyed Psychology more than you thought you would. You’ll probably have a clearer picture for the future, and hopefully some exciting summer holiday plans. Maybe you’ll have been to a few more cool concerts and night clubs, too. Oh – and you’ll have probably met the other bloggers! Say hi to future Kiryll and Victoria for me!

Please write back,

Love,

Simone