The Echoing Silence

The Idea

In my first year of uni, moving across the country from New Zealand to Australia, it was a very scary and nerve-racking experience for me, especially leaving home and family for the first time, as I am someone who is very family-oriented and very close to my family. Even though my 2 best mates from high school also decided to move to Melbourne with me and the 3 of us all attending the University of Melbourne, I think we were all trying to make new connections, try new things, and meet new people. But I felt lonely because I felt like I had not found my group of people that I vibe with, and it felt like everyone around me already had a friend group. On instagram, all I would see are people hanging out, going on trips together, and I just felt that I never had that. Living at a residential college away from my old friends, we drifted a bit, and while I made new friends living at a college who were so kind and lovely, I always felt like I wasn’t completely myself and I didn’t really fit in. It was something that I felt like no one really understood and I felt really alone about, because I was surrounded by people, but I still felt really alone.