The Lost Boy

Starting over

I was in Timor-Leste for two years, Thailand for more than four years, and other places like Bangladesh for short stints here and there. But after meeting a bunch of people here at SOAS, I feel like I may as well have been at a bake sale for the past few years.

It’s enrollment week at SOAS and I’ve moved into my student accommodation. I wasn’t overly keen on moving into halls because I remember how much of a moron I was when I lived in halls during my undergrad in Sheffield. It wasn’t just me: we were all morons, fresh out of school and fully aware that our first years didn’t actually count towards our final degree award.

And so here I am in halls again. I’m living in Paul Robeson house. It’s rather cramped and I think it’s expensive, but I can walk to uni and I have free Internet and a heater.

I would much prefer to be in a house, but there was no way I could find a place without being in London. I don’t imagine I’ll have any problems living here for a year just so long as people are quiet and don’t let their doors bang so much.

The people here are fine. Most of us got drunk last night and we ran through the standard introductions. What’s your name? Where are you from? What are you studying?

When I initially arrived here, the first few people I told about my living in Timor-Leste seemed relatively impressed. But any street cred I might have had was instantly wiped out once I started meeting more people.

I’ve met folks seemingly from every country on earth. Lots of these guys are dual citizens, sometimes triple citizens, although I didn’t fully understand how that one worked. I’ve barely met any English people. I’m almost the only one, which is great.

I think my life has been pretty cool up until now, but meeting these other people has made me realize that I am really just a very little fish. It’s as if the world’s under-30 over-achievers all come to SOAS to do a master's.

But that’s all by the by. I’m here for a reason and that reason is to hit the books and learn more about government and politics of Southeast Asia, as well as Indonesian language.

On a side note, I’m really struggling with the UK’s pint-drinking culture. I’ve discovered that my body is just not ready, or perhaps too old, to drink pints of anything. Even if I drink on a full stomach, it makes me sick. I feel like a sorry excuse for an Englishman.

I haven’t done much since I’ve been here other than finish my few remaining stories. I’m almost through with them. Will do a little more tonight I imagine before having a good sleep.

Tomorrow I’ll go in to enroll and attend my faculty meet-and-greet event. I’ll also pop into the Indonesian department and have them assess what level I should be doing here.

Living in London is all right. It’s cold, but not excessively so… yet. My only gripe is that everything is so expensive, much more so than when I lived in the UK before. I used to think Timor-Leste was expensive after spending so long in Thailand, but London is far more so. For that reason I plan to never eat out or do anything that requires spending money. I shall become a hermit.