I am writing this post well after this unexpected prince has made an appearance in my life. I have fallen in love with a South African man named Craig Campbell. He’s unexpected in every way: in no way was I looking for a mate—more or less one with his description—and alas! He has shown up at my doorstep (or rather the hallway outside of CH620) and completely captured my heart. I will digress briefly on this.
I met Craig in the beginning of the year, although he didn’t make much of a first impression being that I thought him to be pretentious, arrogant, and somewhat of a womanizer. Never—and this word should be italicized—have I been more wrong about a first impression (perhaps this is a sign I should be more vigilant about not making judgments about people???) For the record though, I always found him quite attractive, despite the fact I would have rather auctioned off my right arm than admitted that 6 months ago.
Craig originally came to Edinburgh from South Africa to do his PhD in Politics (specifically to examine why post-Rawlsian Anglo-American liberal thought and concepts of justice and freedom, do not speak to post-colonial African liberation movements...I promise you he's brilliant) – but arrived in Scotland to find out his supervisor has unexpectedly gone on sabbatical and let’s say he and the newly assigned supervisor did not see ‘eye-to-eye’ on various matters (and any Masters or PhD degree holder can attest to the importance of a good relationship with your supervisor!) He thus decided not to move forward with the degree and resolved to get a job instead. This was about October.
I saw Craig frequently, as we shared mutual friends, but I never spent much time with him outside of our group. As I saw him more often, however, I began to reconsider my first impressions of him. The most prominent trait that began to change my mind was his manners. What a well-mannered chap! He never once went through a door before a lady, held the door for her, and always offered to carry her bags, something I find rare in today's society. I remember walking back from the Meadowlands Stadium after watching Guy Fawkes fireworks in November and Craig offering to carry my bags for me. It was things like this that stood out in my mind about him.
I really began to get to know Craig though through studying in Rebecca’s room. Rebecca (SA Becks hereon out) is another dear friend from South Africa. She is studying Law at the University and one of the kindest (and fun) people I have met in the past 8 months. (I will return to SA Becks in the SA chapters of this blog to come in April.) I started studying in SA Beck’s room up on the 8th floor, hidden away from distractions (or so I thought), working away with her daily from 8am most mornings to mid-afternoon second semester. Yet an unforeseen distraction was Craig. Craig and SA Becks had become fast friends first semester and while Becks worked away on Medical Jurisprudence, International Human Rights, and other agonizing subjects, Craig would sit at her desk, searching for jobs or reading Coetzee (a [depressing] South African author).
As the three of us spent time together each day, I became increasingly fond of Craig, although these feelings were FAR from romantic. That is not to say I didn’t flirt, however, and one day I was so frustrated with my work I flippantly suggested why doesn’t he just marry me, whisk me away to South Africa, and let me be his trophy wife while he runs off to work to make millions? Craig apparently found my (then) joke humorous and added his stipulations to the story (that he would buy me as many dresses as I liked, as long as I staying in shape...) From there on out our marriage joke only became more grandiose and exaggerated.
Yet, all the while, I couldn’t help but realize perhaps I was falling for this young South African. After spending 6+ hours with him 3-4 days a week, I saw a kindness and gentleness I haven’t seen in a man that age other than my brother. I saw an element of wisdom and steadiness that reminded me of my father. I saw manners and polish I thought to be extinct in 20-30 year-old men. Not to mention, I saw THE MOST well-dressed young man I have seen, perhaps ever (bar the rich boys on Gossip Girl).
This relationship continued until Feb 16th when I opened my email to a message from Craig asking if I fancied dinner with him the following evening…just the two of us. I wrote back saying I would love to – and Wednesday Feb 17th was our first date at Le Monde.
The rest is history so they say!! This is the ‘Introduction and Chapter 1’ to my relationship with Craig and the rest is still to come… ;-)
