The green, green grass of home

2004-01-24 7:48 p.m.

Today, I entered a place where I could never experience the life there as others have for two years. Yes, I’m talking about ACJC, the school which I did not continue my pre university life in. No, I’m not lamenting or regretting anything, NJC was a great place to be, the moments are even more poignant now with the onset of NS. Ok, back to the topic. I stepped into ACJC for a practical reason, to sit for my SAT I again. I of course could have chosen NJC—the time taken to travel to both places is roughly the same for me—but as you know, I like trying out new places. So I stepped into ACSian soil at around 0755 and found my way with much difficulty to the Badminton hall, where the test would commence. ACJC’s layout is slightly more complex than NJ’s, but I guess you would get use to it after entering the place frequently. Interestingly enough, the place was not dominated solely by ACJC students, but by other schools as well. Saw a few familiar faces amidst the sea of people—Serene Foo from A04, Vena from debate and Iris (Greenlink president). I was however, too focused on the test to bother to go up to them and say hello. It was freezing in the hall, made worse with the downpour outside. The three solid hours in a hall was nothing new to me, but after over a month of not sitting down at a desk for a few hours, you tend to forget what is called exams.

The whole thing ended at around 1300 and I took a small amount of time to explore the sports complex before I headed home. It wasn’t a brand new spotless place, there were cracks in the wall, the paint was peeling off and the air was quite musty. It was a far cry from what most people would expect from a school which is suppose to be rich. You can’t really expect everything to be perfect even in a wealthy institution like ACJC. However, that was not the only thing that I saw that day. The ACS crest could be found at distinct corners. When you star at it, the ACS spirit surrounds you and you feel that magical touch. It’s a sort of unexplainable feeling, pulling you to back to your alma mater, or at least keeping those ACS days in your mind wherever you go. You suddenly realise belonging to ACS is like having a special passport, that almost everywhere you go, mention the words “yes, I’m from ACS”, will start a string of conversations which may turn into a debate about the school and its students. At that point, you find yourself defending it even though your period of stay there was short. In other instances, mentioning those three letters will bring warm smiles on the faces of other ACSians and friendships will immediately be established. It’s more than magical and even could be transcendental.

It was great to touch the green, green grass of home…

previous - next