I remember when we were at uni, and all of my closest friends lived within 2 minutes walking distance from me. You could look out of your kitchen window and wave at some of your best friends as they poured themselves the first Caribbean twist of the night, or made themselves tuna pasta.
I remember one friend refusing to come out for a night out, so before she could type me another lame excuse on MSN about why she wasn't coming, I'd poured her a G&T and was knocking at her door thrusting a drink into her hand...how could she say no?
Getting ready was always exciting as people would be coming and going as they popped in to borrow things or lend things or ask advice on an outfit, and arranging to meet for lunch was never a problem as you could always just agree to meet in the courtyard. There was never the problem of 'I just need to pop home and pick this up before we can go here or there,' which might sometimes take hours for a friend to reappear, by which time it's too late to do your plans.
The morning after there was always someone to laze around with and watch Monk or Shipwrecked on the small TV sets we squeezed into our tiny rooms with the mattresses that were made out of some horrible plastic material.
After we graduated, meeting those friends became a logistical nightmare, work and money commitments got in the way and sadly it seemed like it was once in a blue moon I got to see them. We'd spend weekends away and I'd always miss the time when we wouldn't all have to whip out planners to scout through the pages to see when we could all hang out again.
It didn't get any easier with my friends in Sheffield either, dotted about the city it was always hard to work out who's house we should go to, whether I should drive or take a taxi, and as I lived so far from the center, sometimes it was just not worth the time and effort just for a cup of coffee.
That's until we moved over to Busan, into our teeny studio apartments up on the 6th floor, painted lemon and swathed in an odd baseball themed wallpaper. Now, I'm 10 seconds away from one of my best friends and can bound into her room whenever I feel the need to tell her something important (Oh my god, why have they turned Nick's character into a crazy in New Girl?...) or borrow something off her (it's absolutely vital that I paint my nails that shade of lilac that you happen to have or else my outfit totally won't look right).
More often than not I forget there are other people in these apartments around us and many a time have nearly been caught dashing over in my towel or underwear as I try and borrow something...cringe. It's usually the moment where I have hit the half way point in the hall, and have the fight vs flight moment, whether I should try and catch my own door before it closes, or quickly punch in Tasha's code and vault into her room, that's always the riskiest option... Probably the worst time I was caught by a neighbour is when I was in a pajama set, with my hair that I'd let dry naturally. For those that have never seen my hair dried naturally, the only way I can think to describe it is imagine if Jonathan Creek and Mugatu from Zoolander had a love child...
Being late is never a problem, as frequently Tasha will come into my room to see what I'm playing at, and impromptu Gossip Girl sessions or meals out are easily arranged.
It's also nice, whenever you feel like you miss home, to have a little piece of Sheffield right there with you, so you can talk about moments from home with someone that will toss their head back and laugh, rather than do a polite chuckle. When you remind yourself of the time one of you (not mentioning any names) broke a chair after a roller derby game whilst trying to do some odd, non erotic lap dance to the other one (me) or want to drool over the breakfast from Bungalows and Bears that is the perfect solution to an alcohol induced achy head. Sometimes I don't know how other people have come all the way over here without someone they know relatively well to just relax around.
I decided to make this my favourite this week after a Skype session with my other best friend, Clare who told me the exciting news that she is soon to be joining me in Korea with her boyfriend. Even though Seoul is a little further away, it will still be nice to have a home from home from home. Excited!
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