Early Times, Mardon Times

When I first arrived at Uni in September 2006 I lived in a big Hall of Residence called 'Mardon'. It took me about three weeks to find my niche in terms of friends and I remember I struggled with feelings of inadequacy as I just wasn't as loud and confident as many of the people I was trying to socialise with. Then suddenly I met someone who steered me towards another group of people and those are the people I'm still great friends with today. This is a poem I wrote around this time.

Some of my best friends today. I'm in the front row, green dress.

A stranger in a foreign place

That's what I am

Deceptive; the welcoming voices in their glee

Later on forget about me.

Their smiles inviting, warm and kind,

Their smug rejection I later find.

How to tell who'll fit right in,

Is lack of raucousness a sin?

I come to learn they've what I've not,

And stumble on a better lot,

Whose jokes and thoughts I come to see

Are far more like the real me.

And all in all that's where I'm at,

Just for the moment - that is that.