I still have a hard time in places where there are many identical buildings in a row because I remember getting lost in an apartment block when I was in the fourth grade and not being able to get home.
There was a large apartment block in the school district of the primary school I attended, and many children went to school from there, but my house was in an area where there were many large houses, and I had not been in an apartment complex for as far as I can remember, so I had a subtle admiration for them.
One day, my friend who lived in an apartment block invited me to visit her home, and I happily visited her house after school. Since I lived in a spacious house, many things were new to me – I still remember the small entrance and the sight of the bunk beds filling the room.
I probably said goodbye on the doorstep after having a good time with my friends. I left the apartment block from there and tried to go home. I tried, but even after walking for an hour, I could not leave the apartment block. I couldn't find any landmarks on my way home because of the same rows of buildings. The sun was setting, and I was starting to panic.
The apartment block was built on top of a small hill, but I decided that I needed to get home in any way possible, so I finally found my way by sliding down a grassy slope, not a road. Anyway, it was a terrifying few hours.
But it wasn't just that. I think it was the culture shock of seeing my friends and their families living in a completely different way from me. I felt confused and afraid that I would not be able to come back from that world. Every time I see apartment, it brings back a lot of feelings from that time and makes me feel uneasy. Even though there’s nothing wrong with apartment blocks.
Last year we bought a house in the countryside and this year we plan to no longer live in an apartment, after having done so for many years. Once I became an adult, I always valued convenient living over having a spacious house, but perhaps people do indeed go back to their roots. I have never set foot in an apartment block since that incident.