Green-eyed Monster

So the weekend that has just passed took me half way across the country to beautiful Lincoln to take my 18 year old brother to Lincoln.

Now let me just explain that the last time I visited Lincoln was not exactly in the same happy context. It was during was second year of uni and my close friend and roommate was in a long term relationship with a boy studying at Lincoln. On the Saturday night, my friend, myself and another friend of ours went for a rather messy night out and on our return home, our friend’s boyfriend had basically broken up with her via Facebook chat (really?). So being the great friends that we are, we made a alcohol-induced pact, sealed with a pinky promise to travel to Lincoln early the following day. Thinking back on it now, this probably was the best of ideas, considering the previous nights antics.

Anyway so the next day, the friend in question was up early waking us up to go, stocked up with Co-Op plastic bags full on bribing snacks and treats for the journey. So regretting our pact but in desperate need of the bag of treats we kept our pajamas and tumbled into the car. Finally 3 and a half hours later, we arrived to dreary Lincoln, where it was wet, cold and we were miserable with not only hangovers but also with the stress on that following week’s assignments.

On arrival, we come to a decision time. Do we just knock on the door of his room and potentially risk seeing him with another girl (me stirring ideas) or do we call him first. Enjoying a bit of drama, I preferred decision number 1. However, we then came to a dead-end as we needed a pass to get on site, so decision 2 would have to do. Our friend finally got him, much to her ‘ex’ boyfriend’s shock and they caught up on some much needed discussion. So for a solid 3 or 4 hours, my other friend and I sat in the car eating Wilkinson’s pic n’ mix and moaning about life. To cut off my painfully long and pointless story, my friend and her boyfriend got back together, however it was clearly not meant to be as 6 months or so later she actually broke up with him.

So anyway, Lincoln! We arrived on Saturday to a very sunny picturesque Lincoln and after dumping our bags in the hotel room, set out to explore the city and take as many pictures of my brother in his ‘new home’ as possible. Lincoln is filled with many independent little restaurants and tea shops and a variety of vintage type clothes shops. That evening we ate pastas at a delightful little Italian before heading off to Electric Bar overlooking the river for a nightcap cocktail.

The following day was time to say goodbye. We unloaded the car and I tried as much as possible to fit in as a student, and I did wonder whether people thought I would be the one joining them in their halls. We helped him unpack and sort out his room and through all this; I could feel a nagging sensation at the pit of my stomach. I recognised it immediately. Jealously. Now don’t judge me, I wasn’t necessarily jealous that I wasn’t at university, I was jealous of all the fun he was going to have for the next few years, all the new people he would meet, all of the new experiences he would experience. All my fantastic memories of university came flooding back and I wondered whether on the day my family dropped me off in my halls, whether I thought I would be where I am right now and graduating with a first.

For those of you that read this and haven’t yet gone to university, DO. It will be the best experience you’ve had. Out of all the people I ask, no one regrets that decision. So as we finally left him, I couldn’t help but feel sad, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t because my brother would not be at home (as I will have a cleaner bathroom) but because my experience of university was over.