Needle in a haystack

I got vaccinated yesterday. My first wall of defence against the coronavirus. Now, I personally am terrified of needles. To go get vaccinated by myself was nothing short of an adventure for me and my loved ones. My family back home, worried that I was going to be sick or in pain after. My friends here wondering if I would be okay and mostly curious of what the process would be like for them, when their turn comes.

I have to say, even as an international student living here, the process was smooth as ever for me. I was given all the necessary instructions, and everyone was very helpful. As I dreaded my walk to the vaccination station, I only saw warm smiles. Everyone enthusiastic about bringing us all one step closer to a new normal. I took my vaccine, which was honestly like a little ant bite, and moved on to wait.

As I sat there waiting, fearing if I would have some sort of a reaction to it, I found myself only filled with joy and hope. Hope that perhaps we will have a normal summer this year. Hope that perhaps we can all go back to work and study. We can see each other again and hug each other again without the paranoia staying with us for days. Above all, we could all go back to our home countries soon enough!

So while my fear of needles in still very persistent, finding this needle in a haystack of disappointments from the past year has substantiated this metaphor for me. Perhaps, needles aren’t all that bad, but I guess we will see about that after this summer.

Rina Manjrekar (22) is an international student in the final year of her study Mechatronics at Fontys School of Engineering. She moved to the Netherlands four years ago from Malaysia. Here you can find her earlier columns for Bron.