Aberdeen House Blog, Ardingly College: December 2011

An imaginative short story by one of our very own Aberdonian authors as part of the Autumn Creative Writing Competition

'LEAVING'

by Jessica Van Droogenbroeck

(Remove)

It was time. I looked up at the board for my flight information BA062 and it was boarding. The queue had started forming up at the gate. I was reluctant to start moving. I looked forward to this moment and now I was beginning to become apprehensive.

I put my reading glasses back in their case and marked my page throwing both, case and book, in my big Ugandan kikoy bag.

Now I was starting to sweat. I am finally leaving Uganda. Rushing through the gates, getting on to the plane, I did not want to face my feelings. Night flight into London with 8 ½ hours flight ahead in a small snug economy seat was not a thrilling thought. Fortunately, with a series of leaving parties, I was ready for a good shut eye. Indeed 20 minutes into the flight and with all the bustle of serving dinner this late, I felt my eyes close but no sleep. All I could see behind my dark eyelids were my mum’s teary face and dad trying to keep a straight, brave face waving me goodbye and then I felt my apprehension return.

I have lived in Uganda for 18 years, which is my whole life. Now, I was going to University at Simon Fraser, British Colombia in Canada. I had been to one school since kindergarten, reception, primary and senior. Do not get me wrong, I have enjoyed my life here. School was a blast and I have made many friends for 15 years. I am going to miss my family, and friends, as well as the brilliant weather where I can swim everyday of the year and the days are neither too hot nor too cold in exchange for Canada where weather can dip to 0 in the winter with blistering winds from the arctic.

Everyone has asked “Why Canada?” There are many good universities in the UK and Europe offering the same course and closer to home. Really meaning one flight away from Uganda. They would not understand why I needed to go so far away from home like this.

I loved my family, home and friends very much but I did not want to live not knowing what the world was like other than Uganda. What did it feel like to live with seasons? What were other cultures and people like? Canada was the perfect choice. A melting pot of cultures and languages (English, French, Chinese and Spanish) and people of different origins of every corner of the world. It was the new world. I would fit in. Most people there came from other countries or their parents. So I should be excited, right? No. The initial excitement of the acceptance letter from university quickly turned into anxiety. I will not know anyone! No mum, no dad and no friends. Yet I know that leaving was the best decision I will make. I will get new experiences and spread my wings.

It all started way back in lower 6^th form when we were asked to start choosing universities and courses we wanted to pursue. The first choices for many of my classmates were universities in the UK – Bristol, Edinburgh, Warwick, Durham, London School of Economics, Kings College London and Leeds. A few were thinking of Oxford and Cambridge. Most classmates were selecting courses like – History, Art, Zoology, Medicine, Law Economics, Anthropology, engineering, etc all traditional courses. Well not me. I was going for Canadian universities, selecting the Simon Fraser University in British Colombia Canada to study Bachelor of Science in Behavioural Neuroscience!

“WHAT?” were the gobsmacked incredulous responses from my friends? “WHY?” they asked. Well why not. Actually I landed on this course by accident as I was searching universities and the Bachelor of Science courses was on offer. As soon as I saw this course and read more about it, I knew right away that this is what I wanted to study. To understand what made human beings behave the way they did unlike other animals and to research into relationships between mind and brain. Determinately I wrote to the University for their Requirements for the course and was offered a conditional place subject to attaining a minimum of 30 IB points in my mock exams.

Well, I got 37 points in my finals. Not too bad for a school in Uganda. Then the leaving parties began. First was the class leaving ball organised by the student council. Then my parents organised one for my friends and I at the Kampala Ange Noir discotheque. I subsequently attended 3 more parties of friends over 3 weekends! Phew, I am exhausted thinking about the nonstop dancing like our lives depended on it.

As sleep finally overcomes me and I try to recline the non-reclining economy seat, I welcome the black blankness enveloping me with a background humming of the plane engines and I realise that leaving is not so bad at all.