That End-of-the-Summer Nostalgia

An outdoor "ethnographic" movie

Classes here end on Friday (two days from now!) and on Saturday I am flying back across the country, and I do not know when I will return. Amidst all the busyness of finals, I am taking a break to reflect on the summer, this summer of late nights studying in the dorm, Sunday afternoons spent in the laundry room, early morning jogs, and linguistic mind-stretching.

Yes, sometimes the late nights trying to finish assignments were stressful. I calculated it and we had something like 40 or 50 assignments in these short nine weeks, for our various classes. But I am so thankful for my classmates. We live in the dorm together, we have our classes together, we eat together and we study together. You would think I would get tired of these folks- but I am not tired of them. I am completely at home among these people who have similar goals, desires, and interests as I do.


A few memories stand out from my time here. One is our communal suppers. We eat together each night and I love every part of it: the cooking, the cleaning up afterwards, and especially the dinner followed by the long, lingering conversations.
Another memory I have is playing ultimate frisbee. We played each Monday and Wednesday afternoon and it was a fun part of the week, and a great way to get to know people.
I have so many more good memories from my time here too: eventful trips across the border, late night fire alarms, hilarious staff and student skit nights, incredible chapels and a lovely trip into Vancouver.

This is us trying to work on our phonetics homework on route to somewhere

This past Saturday a bunch of us went into Vancouver to watch the fireworks. I guess every year there is a fireworks competition in the city. Saturday was the Italians' turn to present their show of lights and music. There I was, sitting on a park at the edge of the water, the city lights reflecting in the harbour, surrounded by new friends from all over the world. The fireworks show played the song "Paradise" by Coldplay as the sky was lit up by dazzling fireworks. At that moment, I certainly felt like I was in paradise!

But, all good things must come to an end.