Dinner under the stars. Seafood sizzling on the grill. Delectable food served to your table. Chattering and banter in the background. Batchmates to catch up with. Juicy stories (read gossips) to trade. Fresh faces to make friends with. Business opportunities to be taken advantage of… Boy, what a night!
As i browsed through the photos taken at Homecoming, I cannot help but envision the number of lives that NOC has touched since its inception. The fact that so many seniors from previous batches came is a testament to that. Though we may not have met all of them before, somehow there was this connection between us. It felt like I have been through what they have gone through during their time. It felt like we once shared similar emotions for example the exhilaration of getting selected for NOC, the excitement of visiting new places or the exasperation of balancing work with studies. It felt like we are all connected by lines of causality. In my case, I would not have thought about getting into NOC if not for one of my seniors. And my junior would not have thought about getting into NOC if not for me. And the line goes on and on…
Next year, another batch of NOC warriors will be coming home. We will be there to celebrate with them. Perhaps these juniors would also see what I see… In retrospect, our one year overseas stint at respective colleges was only the beginning. And as Bjorn has rightfully pointed out, we are all part of the bigger jigsaw that makes up NOC. Regardless of which college or batch we come from, we are all part of the NOC family!
Come to think of it… we have not taken a group pic for the returning batches! Granted that it may be quite a challenge to get all of us together, we should still try. For now, let’s make do with this one…
p.s: Sorry Stockholmers.. couldn’t find a group pic of you. This the best I could find. But look on the bright side, yours catch the most attention *grins*
Admin Note: The writer, Eric Feng, is from NCBV 6. Click here for his personal blog.
