Georgetown, Bermuda

A time ago, before all of this happened, Shaun and I were together in OBS (Outward Bound School) trying to get through a 5-day 4-night camp. About midway through the experience, he told me that he was experiencing something very odd; he told me that it felt like his soul had departed his body, leaving behind his flesh as an empty vessel. While we were going through BMT together, he reported feeling the same thing at the times when the strain was the greatest, when he felt he really could not take it any more.

Going through 48 hours of traveling to get here was exactly like that, and I have this to say about it: Never Again. 2 hours in Changi + 13 hours to Frankfurt + 3 hours layover in Germany + 8 hours to JFK + 7 hours layover in New York (+ delays) + 2 hours to RDU + 7 hours of helter-skelter scrambling to get everything packed + 2 hours to Philadelphia + 10 minutes to hurtle across the airport to make my connection + 2 hours to Bermuda is Too Much Traveling. Too. Much. Traveling.

Towards the end, I literally felt like the Living Dead.

It exhausts me just to think about it.

Anyway, for better or for worse, I'm here in the Bermuda Biological Research Station, warm, clean, nursing myself back to life. I missed the orientation this morning, but the gist of it was filled in for me. Managed to accomplish a trip to St. George (20 minutes walk away) to procure a bus pass together with 3 of my 6 companions this semester. It's windy and rather chilly out, but the weather is expected to warm up by the weekend. Even so, the seaside views are gorgeous, and being indoors just because of a little rain seems quite a waste.

What have I seen so far? The houses are pastel-colored, the roads have no pavements, the people are absent. Prices are jacked up, time is slowed down. No one walks, yet only one car is allowed per household. I had the good fortune of landing a single room, number 314, pi, to match the irrational nature of my decision to come here, leaving behind what is certain and loved for the murky possibility of potential enjoyment.

Well: upstairs to rest, and to see what tomorrow might bring.