One evening, during that two week summer holiday away to Cyprus, I remember sitting in my aunt’s living room. She was ever the open-minded, forward-thinker. I remember my closest cousin, who also studied at City University years before, looked at me and said ‘Maria you look awesome – you do you and don’t mind anyone else!’. Needless to say my mum was beside herself seeing her dear daughter go from heels to hemless jeans. I wore a pair of jeans falling off my hip, with a chain hanging from the loops and the leg hems looking like they had been chewed up by a lioness. In my second year of university I went to Cyprus for a summer holiday. A place where I could lose my inhibitions, a place where I found acceptance because I was ‘different’ with my disability, a place I could explore my youth. The scene was all about nu-metal and rock music. I started going out to Camden Town to the Purple Turtle and Feet First in the Camden Palace (now known as KOKO) with old friends from college, trying to meet new people, feel comfortable out in society and learn how to speak to boys. I had always been the black sheep of the family or the dark (elegant) horse - shall we put it that way? – so it wasn’t long before I started exploring my need to experience more in life. Beyond what my traditional mum would see ‘fit for a young lady’. I always felt like there was something more for me to explore during my student life. I studied every night, always finished my homework, yet I still partied hard with my friends - three times a week. I was a good student, my attendance at lectures one hundred percent – give or take, considering I was a dialysis patient and had hospital appointments to silently attend while nobody was paying attention. Or in this case send my mum packing to Cyprus for 3 years to live with dad while I lived a ‘normal’ student life.Īnd so, the mice came out to party while the cat was away. So the next best option was to get rid of my mum!Īt the time it was just me and her, a matriarchal household with two strong minded Virgo women battling it out against the world. I won’t bore anyone with the details, but although his sentiment was correct, as a disabled young woman on dialysis every night this meant it was not an option for me to do the ‘away from home’ thing. Ten years my senior, he had chosen to study while living at home and wholeheartedly regretted it. I soon realised that was a ‘mortal’ mistake when my big brother sat me down and said ‘going away to university means leaving home to also live your life independently as well as study, if I had to do it again I would have gone to another UK city to study, if not abroad’. I was in my second year at City University studying Economics and living at home. Mystical melodies – I couldn’t agree more! Have you ever thought back to a time when one specific album changed your life in ways you never would have expected? One single melody can trigger a life changing moment in time, lyrics can resonate so intensely that you see your future flashing in front of your eyes, or maybe the singer became your next obsession and you have never looked back since.Īs the lead singer of Simply Red once said in an interview with the FT.com ‘There’s something very mystical about creating a melody’. And so is music, especially if you are an arts and music lover like myself.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |