[imagesource:rutgersuniversity]

Adulting is not for the faint-hearted, that’s for sure.

For many of us, our school days hold very fond memories: feeling safe and secure with adults around us telling us what to do while we bond over our shared suffering, which mostly consisted of waking up really early, sitting through long classes, and battling assignments and tests.

Now, if you don’t have a partner or housemate, you wake up alone, eat alone, and do life, largely, alone. You only get to tell your friends about what happens to you, you’re no longer experiencing things together, which can be a fiercely isolating experience.

I always say capitalism (jobs) steals your friends.

So I don’t blame Hyejeong Shin for her odd little time-travelling stint, registering as a student at New Brunswick High School simply because she was lonely and wanted to relive her school days again.

The 29-year-old woman is accused of falsifying a birth certificate, pretending to be a teenager who was in high school, which her lawyer argues was just because she “wanted to return to a place of safety”, per The Telegraph:

She was indicted by a grand jury for providing false documents and hindering her own prosecution, but has pleaded not guilty to the charges which could carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Her lawyer described how her life became increasingly sad and lonely after she went through all the usual milestones of adulthood:

Ms Shin arrived in America from South Korea when she was 16 to attend a boarding school in Massachusetts. She went on to study political science and Chinese at Rutgers University in New York, and was named a learning community scholar in 2017.

She is also said to have enjoyed singing and meditating and had been studying for a master’s degree before she decided to rather go back in time:

But it appears that her life started to unravel soon after, as she got divorced and fell $20,000 (R360 000) behind on rent, according to court records.

“I’m no psychologist,” her lawyer, Darren Gerber told The New York Times, “but separated from her family and being in a different country – as well as a couple of other stressors in her life – may have caused her to act very uncharacteristically.”

Apparently, she lasted only four days at New Brunswick High School before arousing suspicion from staff. Then parents and teachers around the country raised a number of safeguarding issues online, with the story going viral.

Some students even went so far as to suggest that her odd behaviour meant she could be involved in human trafficking.

But her lawyer has asserted that although it was a “bizarre” thing to do, “and it may be difficult for people to understand,” there was absolutely no ill intention:

”At no time was anyone or any student in danger and this entire case is more about my client wanting to return to a place of safety and welcoming and an environment that she looks back on fondly and nothing more,” he added.

She is now hoping to apply for a programme that diverts first-time offenders from the criminal justice system, enabling them to wipe their record clean after a successful period of probation.

Then she will return to South Korea.

I don’t know, Shin, these Asian metropolises are notorious for widespread loneliness.

[source:telegraph]