Alvin’s Weblog

If you have not read Part One, please do so.

Continuing on, I was very relieved someone was kind enough to actually tell me that I was in good hands. I looked around me, scanning for familiar faces. Coincidentally, the guy I met back at KLIA was actually also headed for USQ. He seemed a bit snobbish for my liking. I can be so wrong at times because he wasn’t what I expected him to be, and we are pretty good buddies now. Along with him, I also got to know about a few other guys which are still in contact with me now. There were a few chics also headed for USQ.

We were all pretty close back then, and still are now, as we found it comforting to know that we are all from the same country, coming over to endure overseas studies. I got cheeky and tried my luck getting to know a few chics. Heck, I mean, I have nothing to lose really. Besides, it was just friendship. OK, what I meant here was I tried getting to know a couple of chics while at the airport. Me being a timid guy, didn’t exactly fancy the idea of going up to girls back then. OK, I was just kidding on the timid part.

Then came the not so good news:

USQ Representative: Well, seems like we’ll have to wait a little while longer for the next batch of students from Papua New Guinea. I hope you guys don’t mind, otherwise, we’d have to make a 2 round trip.
Me (and the rest): That’s OK with us (It wasn’t like we were inconsiderate bastards/bitches). What time is their flight?
USQ Representative: According to the flight information, they’ll arrive at about 10 p.m.?
Me: (What?!?! KNNCCBTNS!!!)
USQ Representative: Well, we’ll grab them up and head over for a Mc D stop so that you guys could get something to eat. Meanwhile, you could get some coin changed if you’d like to call back home.

With that, everyone headed over to stores to get some notes changed for coins. Well, I didn’t do that, thinking I could call from my roaming Maxis line. I had RM50 credit in it. So I called but I couldn’t get through. This was due to the fact that you had to dial a prefix to be able to dial home. Moments later, dad called and was I glad he did. I talked to him and mom for barely 10 minutes.

The next time he tried to call, he couldn’t get through. Hey! I have credit and he paid his bill too! Wait a minute, I am roaming, no? Crap! RM50 gone just like that! WTF?!?! !@#$%^&*

The next batch of students arrived on time, again I wish! No, they arrived 1 hour later, and I wasn’t even hungry anymore. I was homesick! So we departed about 11.45 p.m. that evening. Next stop, Mc D. That didn’t happen either because it was getting so late, everyone was literally sleeping on our journey up to Toowoomba.

See, I had to endure 12 hours of flight (transit included), 2 hours of bus ride, 4 hours of wait, and I hadn’t slept the previous night. How much more interesting could this get? No Mc D? Crap…

Fast forward 2 hours later, we arrived at Toowoomba, and the city was bristling with traffic… nah, I was kidding. It was a small, serene, suburb city on top of a hill and who am I kidding? A couple of minutes into the city, the area began to get darker and it came to a stage where I couldn’t see a thing around me. To a certain extend, it was eerie.

USQ Representative: Guys, we are here. Welcome to Toowoomba.

Everyone started waking up and they were visibly still blur and dumbfounded. Where was this dark place we were headed towards? Weren’t we supposed to be headed for our residential college? Hmmm… OK, I saw light from the distance. That must be it!

Just great! It was already almost 2 a.m. and I could use some rest! The bus came to a halt and we alighted, grabbing our luggage together. I had 4 damn luggage to be exact.

USQ Representative: Alright, you will be staying here for the night. The residential college isn’t going to be open until tomorrow.

Oh f###! Just great! Now I need to fork out some cash for deposit and a night’s stay. Thank goodness I brought some! Hey I paid for the college you know?! It ain’t cheap either! Whatever, I thought. I needed a place to stay anyway. Everyone settled their payments and we were assigned our rooms. Off we went to our respective rooms.

As I was walking, the night was cold, excrutiatingly cold…

To be continued…