My friends in America

The definition of friend varies from context to context, country to country. In my country, friend is someone who is closed to me, who spend lots of time with me, who accompany me everywhere, and vice versa. In American context, however, anyone can be called friend. The American is quite easy in making friendship, but the relationship between the acquaintances is not closed. Having been told about this upon my arrival, I was little bit scared, scared that I would be lonely because I usually had friends beside me in my country while I totally by myself here. In fact, I think I am very lucky to have formed friendship with three wonderful girls, a Mongolian, a Mexican and an American, 2 of which are my suite-mates. There are several activities that we do together every day and week.

On normal weekdays, all of us would plan our mealtime together. Though we cannot always group together, the four of us, because of different class schedule, none of us ever eat lunch or dinner alone. It is funny that right after lunch, one would ask “So when is dinner?” Then another would joke that “How come? We just finish lunch, now you already think about dinner?”

Similarly, we do our self-study together even if we are not doing the same classes. After lunch, some of us would go to the library and do homework together until the appointed mealtime in the evening. Given to our talkative nature, we always try to find a study room so as not to bother other students, or rather so that we can talk. After dinner, we would go back to our dorm, chat a little bit, and start doing our homework again. The girl who lives across the hall would bring all her study material to our common room and then study time begins. It is good to study together like this, but sometimes we find ourselves talking more than studying. Nevertheless, we can be very serious in our study when any of us has test or quiz the next day.

In addition, we have what we called “addiction time” some time during our study time in the evening. It is done when we want to take a break from our study. Each of us has our own favourite snack, 2 of us like cigarettes, the American girl like peanut butter, and I like coke. They are our addictions, but we do not have them in our common room because the two girls have to smoke outside. So we have our regular place which we called “the smoker’s club” because it is where all smokers in our dorm spend time with their cigarettes. Once in a while, I call it “creeper’s club” for their lots of creepy people hanging out there.

Furthermore, when all of us are free from study, usually at the weekend, we have our family time. We call it “family time” because we view our group as a family rather than just normal friend. This is when we, the family members, spend time hanging out in our common room, chatting. Other international friends who know us say we are one of the most talkative people they have ever met. Yes, they are right. We can talk for hours on endless time. But there are also times when we just group together and have “Ramen noodle party”. Occasionally, one of us would try to find a good movie from the library to watch together for our family time.

Last but not least, we like to go off campus at the weekend. Almost every weekend, we are invited to join some parties of other international students from Saudi Arabia or Europe. We talk, play games, and dance in those parties. One of my friends from Mexico would demonstrate her dancing talent from Latin America. She dances beautifully. If we do not go to any party, we like to go the movies in a stadium near campus or eat out in a Mexican or Japanese restaurant somewhere in Evansville.

People who know us comment on our strong bond of friendship in spite of our differences in nationalities and cultures. We are also proud of this bond. Sadly, two of us will have to go back home after this fall semester. It is sad but that’s life. At least, in the time being, we are trying our best to enjoy each other companion as much as possible.