Afternoons at the Frendutchamerican House is one of my most favorite times, especially when all of the residents come out of our rooms. Yesterday happened to be one such afternoon. By some stroke of luck, Ruben, Anne-Sophie, her friend, and I all ended up in the kitchen at the same time, all of us attempting to make lunch at the same time.
That's our kitchen. Imagine trying to fit more than one person in there at a time, let alone four. Well, Ruben and I chilled at the table, telling funny stories about a drunk Anso from the night before while the French mademoiselles made food. It's a little difficult to explain unless you had been there, but from those stories came lessons in basic French and basic/advanced English, so we were all bouncing around the kitchen trying new phrases on for size. And before you know it, we are all tickled and laughing at ourselves and each other.
There's a movie I watched a few weeks ago called "Pot Luck," and it's the incredible adventure of a French grad student who travels to Spain to study under the Erasmus program. When I watched it, I thought, how true is that movie; I imagine any exchange student who has seen it would agree that almost everyone's journey has been similar to that film. In the movie, the guy moves in with a motley crew of international students, and they had intercultural experiences that mirror the experiences Ruben, Anso and I have shared... attempting to carry on a conversation with a parent that doesn't speak your language, silent fights over space in the fridge, sharing the peculiarities of our different cultures. I think I may make my family watch this film when I get home, no doubt I'll stop it every thirty seconds to tell a story.
In the past 24 hours, I've had conversation upon conversation with different friends about Ireland and home and what will happen when people leave and how sad it will be and who will come visit when and scheduling vacations together. It's October! Surprising because I've only been here 7 weeks, and I won't be leaving for another 6.
I may miss home, but how will I ever be able to leave these people?
1 comment:
You said "I reek of Jealousy"
I say " I reek of Suitcase clothes and train stations".
It will be sad when you leave, but you all will find away to keep in touch with one another.
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