Recently, I reorganized the entries on my notebook by moving some lables, stickers, and receipts to the new one, and transcribing some sentences. The reason why I did this is because what I truly want is to use a notebook both as a scrapbook and a diary. However, the older one’s paper is too rough to write, so a new common 16K notebook won.
The first entry is about an unforgettable New Year’s Eve on 31 December, 2024. That day, after hesitating for a while, I decided to hang out and my roommate said she wanted to go with me. We’d been in Xi’an for almost three years, which means we’d gone to some places at least once or twice. Eventually, we chose a bookshop we’d been to before. Everywhere would be crowded on that day but the bookshop might seem fine, we thought.
The bookshop itself was as boring as usual, and there were quite a few people because it was a part of Gpark, a commercial pedestrian street. We followed the directions on the map app and found that it became so convenient to go there because of the new loop line. It was the first time that I experienced a subway loop line and learned what outer loop and inner loop were, depending on the direction. Since it was a new line, the number of passengers was few and everywhere smelled new. Coincidentally, a loop line opened in Guangzhou later and they both were the first loop line in the cities and their colors were similar. Before the loop line opened, no matter what public transport we took, going to that area was a hassle. We felt glad that we could take it before graduating and leaving the city.
As to dinner, it was difficult to find a place without a queue. So the curry restaurant became our only choice. We also ordered two cups of milk tea from Cha Hua Nong (a local milk tea brand), exclaiming the beauty of the print on the cup that was a collaboration between Cha Hua Nong and Xi’an Museum. After dinner, we walked along the street and bought some cakes in Hema Supermarket (Freshhippo). Hema is a homophone here and it means both the supermarket’s name and 'hippo' in Chinese. Therefore, the brand mascot is a blue hippo.
We shared our cakes with other classmates after going back to the dormitory. “It was a good decision to hang out tonight, otherwise I would worry about the coming thesis defense,” my roommate said. I had the same feeling. It was a simple, happy, and interesting night and it still means a lot to me, since I will never have a night like that again. In the rest of my life, I barely have a chance to spend a New Year’s Eve with my friends who also are my roommates again. We are not students any more. Our lives as students ended.
