Read my "about me." Read it now.
Done?
So yeah, stories. I am an avid collector of them, and sometimes I deliberately manipulate my life to get myself into situations that will one day make a good story to tell. I especially love when things fall into place so perfectly that I couldn't have imagined them turning out any better, when things are so delightfully cliché they're terrible.
Which is how a lot of rom coms are!
That, and how my life tends to be sometimes in the company of guys I have met through being an exchange student. (I'm not gonna say with which program since I don't want this entry to be found on a search.) So let me tell you stories, involving three guys (whose names will be replaced with pseudonyms) with whom I have had (G to PG rated thanks) moments that should totally have happened in some cheesy movie.
Disclaimer: None of the aforementioned guys have ever been romantically involved with me. I'm too weird for that.
#1 Aussie Joe
Aussie Joe was indeed Australian. I'm using the name Joe because it's the most generic male name you can get.
I'll tell you now that I've had a thing for Australians for a really long time. So when I came to France as an exchange student, I was ecstatic to find that my group had Australians in it. In particular, a good-looking boy who will be known here as Aussie Joe.
He and I became very good friends. I couldn't have survived the beginning of my exchange without him. I spent my first full Saturday in France with him, roaming his city. (Another shameless link to my better and more well-written France blog) I did not mention in that blog entry, however, that at one point we needed to get someplace else, and to get there, we two rode his bike. That's right.
With him pedaling and navigating, I sat on the seat behind and held on to him as we careened through the streets and eventually into the French countryside, the wind whipping past us and the sun shining broadly. I was feeling complete bliss because I only thought such things were possible in movies.
#2 Shoop
Incidentally, I met Shoop a week after the last time I saw Aussie Joe. Shoop is French, though right now he is an exchange student in Australia (go figure). We met because the year I spent in France was the year he spent preparing for his exchange, so we were able to meet at events.
I was quite fond of him. He was the perfect height for me (Damn, I'm short), among other things I will not expound on.
Long story short, I ended up spending my last day in France with Shoop in Paris.
But okay not Paris, I was kidding. Paris Disneyland.
Disneyland is the place where dreams come true, right? So of course it would be so that I spent a day in Disneyland with a cute French boy!!
Too many movie moments to all list here, but here is one of my favorites.
On the train leaving Disneyland going back to Paris, we sat across from one another. It was my final evening in France, and at the end of the train ride I was going to say one last good-bye to a dear friend. I didn't wanna think about it.
But as is the case with trains, the train neared closer and closer to my stop, the stop before Shoop's. I thought he was asleep, but at one moment, he asked, "The next stop's yours, isn't it?"
I turned my face away from the line map and faced him, pretending tears weren't forming in my eyes as I replied, "Yes."
I did a crappy job pretending I wasn't about to cry because right then he told me, in the most soothing voice possible (AND IN FRENCH), "Aww, don't cry."
Well what else could I do? Like any over-dependent female protagonist in the rom coms, I broke down and started sobbing. And like the trusty male love interest should do, Shoop opened his arms to hug me, and for the sake of this blog entry I'll say I fell into them and he wrapped me in a tight embrace.
(Ew)
(But still. When is my life gonna be made into a movie?)
We stayed that way for a few moments, the other passengers in the crowded train probably feeling sympathy for the young lovers (no just kidding, but they could have thought that) about to undergo a brutal separation. You know how French is the language of love? Shoop consoled me in French, and I couldn't help but feel satisfaction at the fact that a portion of my last evening in France was spent in the arms of a French boy because I only thought such things were possible in movies.
#3 Y
Unlike the previous two, Y wasn't a Fraussie. He and I met during the year we spent preparing for our exchanges, and he spent his exchange in another European country. He's called Y for various reasons, one of which is that males have Y chromosomes and it's as about a generic name for a guy as you can get, next to Joe anyway.
Y and I became very good friends, and I wonder sometimes how I got that lucky. He's one of those guys who are super sweet, and all the girls love, who's EXREMELY good-looking, plays the guitar, sings, wants to be a doctor when he grows up, that kind of boy in high school romance movies that by some miracle ends up existing in real life.
Unfortunately, he and I don't get to see each other that often anymore since he lives rather far, but we still do care about each other. I wish I could see him more often than I do but life isn't fair and I have to deal with it.
BUT ONE DAY
November 2nd, to be precise. That day, I had an SAT subject test planned for the morning, and a visit to Y's town that afternoon. So of course, just in case he was free, I told him. And he said he couldn't, since he had play practice that morning and was going to some college fair in the afternoon. There went any hopes of seeing him that day.
Or so I thought.
I got to the testing center in the town next to mine early that morning. I only had one other girl for company at that instant, so she and I chatted with each other while waiting for the other testers to arrive.
The next tester to arrive was a boy. He opened the door, and out of polite habit, I greeted him with a jovial, "Hello!" and for some reason, when he greeted me hello back, he seemed to recognize me.
We made eye contact and stared at each other. My jaw dropped when it registered who it was and my heart pounded wildly at this unexpected and strange turn of events.
Yeah, it was Y.
I yelled expletives at him and asked what he was doing there far from home in a testing center when he said he had play practice. He sounded confused as he said "Oh wait, play practice was yesterday...."
( ✓ Sometimes air-headed sexy dork)
He took his seat at another table, and once the test was ready to start, the administering lady asked everyone to take out their #2 pencils. It turned out Y didn't have one. So I lent him one and he thanked me sincerely.
(I'm amused by the fact that it's ME of all people who ended up lending him a pencil, because I've had to save his unorganized ass many times in the past. Though I don't know what's dumber, me having not recognized him, or him forgetting his pencil... ✓ Girl lending cute boy crucial test taking device in a super important test)
We took our respective listening tests and probably aced them, since like me, he took the test for the language spoken in his host country. Unfortunately, he had to leave after the first test, so I only had the rest of my five minute break to spend time with him and catch up a little. I left the testing room to go off with him and accompany him to the school's exit. We said good-bye, and in a somewhat sad tone of voice he said, "Take care, Amanda."
( ✓ Sweet reunion abruptly interrupted and cut short by uncontrollable circumstances)
The rest of that morning I was still reeling from the shock of what had happened, because I only thought that such unlikely coincidences were possible in movies.
I think along with one day being on the cover of TIME magazine, I'll make it one of my lofty goals to have a movie based on the story of my life. Or at least a movie having scenes based on real events that have happened in my life.
Done?
So yeah, stories. I am an avid collector of them, and sometimes I deliberately manipulate my life to get myself into situations that will one day make a good story to tell. I especially love when things fall into place so perfectly that I couldn't have imagined them turning out any better, when things are so delightfully cliché they're terrible.
Which is how a lot of rom coms are!
That, and how my life tends to be sometimes in the company of guys I have met through being an exchange student. (I'm not gonna say with which program since I don't want this entry to be found on a search.) So let me tell you stories, involving three guys (whose names will be replaced with pseudonyms) with whom I have had (G to PG rated thanks) moments that should totally have happened in some cheesy movie.
Disclaimer: None of the aforementioned guys have ever been romantically involved with me. I'm too weird for that.
#1 Aussie Joe
Aussie Joe was indeed Australian. I'm using the name Joe because it's the most generic male name you can get.
I'll tell you now that I've had a thing for Australians for a really long time. So when I came to France as an exchange student, I was ecstatic to find that my group had Australians in it. In particular, a good-looking boy who will be known here as Aussie Joe.
He and I became very good friends. I couldn't have survived the beginning of my exchange without him. I spent my first full Saturday in France with him, roaming his city. (Another shameless link to my better and more well-written France blog) I did not mention in that blog entry, however, that at one point we needed to get someplace else, and to get there, we two rode his bike. That's right.
With him pedaling and navigating, I sat on the seat behind and held on to him as we careened through the streets and eventually into the French countryside, the wind whipping past us and the sun shining broadly. I was feeling complete bliss because I only thought such things were possible in movies.
#2 Shoop
Incidentally, I met Shoop a week after the last time I saw Aussie Joe. Shoop is French, though right now he is an exchange student in Australia (go figure). We met because the year I spent in France was the year he spent preparing for his exchange, so we were able to meet at events.
I was quite fond of him. He was the perfect height for me (Damn, I'm short), among other things I will not expound on.
Long story short, I ended up spending my last day in France with Shoop in Paris.
But okay not Paris, I was kidding. Paris Disneyland.
Disneyland is the place where dreams come true, right? So of course it would be so that I spent a day in Disneyland with a cute French boy!!
Too many movie moments to all list here, but here is one of my favorites.
On the train leaving Disneyland going back to Paris, we sat across from one another. It was my final evening in France, and at the end of the train ride I was going to say one last good-bye to a dear friend. I didn't wanna think about it.
But as is the case with trains, the train neared closer and closer to my stop, the stop before Shoop's. I thought he was asleep, but at one moment, he asked, "The next stop's yours, isn't it?"
I turned my face away from the line map and faced him, pretending tears weren't forming in my eyes as I replied, "Yes."
I did a crappy job pretending I wasn't about to cry because right then he told me, in the most soothing voice possible (AND IN FRENCH), "Aww, don't cry."
Well what else could I do? Like any over-dependent female protagonist in the rom coms, I broke down and started sobbing. And like the trusty male love interest should do, Shoop opened his arms to hug me, and for the sake of this blog entry I'll say I fell into them and he wrapped me in a tight embrace.
(Ew)
(But still. When is my life gonna be made into a movie?)
We stayed that way for a few moments, the other passengers in the crowded train probably feeling sympathy for the young lovers (no just kidding, but they could have thought that) about to undergo a brutal separation. You know how French is the language of love? Shoop consoled me in French, and I couldn't help but feel satisfaction at the fact that a portion of my last evening in France was spent in the arms of a French boy because I only thought such things were possible in movies.
#3 Y
Unlike the previous two, Y wasn't a Fraussie. He and I met during the year we spent preparing for our exchanges, and he spent his exchange in another European country. He's called Y for various reasons, one of which is that males have Y chromosomes and it's as about a generic name for a guy as you can get, next to Joe anyway.
Y and I became very good friends, and I wonder sometimes how I got that lucky. He's one of those guys who are super sweet, and all the girls love, who's EXREMELY good-looking, plays the guitar, sings, wants to be a doctor when he grows up, that kind of boy in high school romance movies that by some miracle ends up existing in real life.
Unfortunately, he and I don't get to see each other that often anymore since he lives rather far, but we still do care about each other. I wish I could see him more often than I do but life isn't fair and I have to deal with it.
BUT ONE DAY
November 2nd, to be precise. That day, I had an SAT subject test planned for the morning, and a visit to Y's town that afternoon. So of course, just in case he was free, I told him. And he said he couldn't, since he had play practice that morning and was going to some college fair in the afternoon. There went any hopes of seeing him that day.
Or so I thought.
I got to the testing center in the town next to mine early that morning. I only had one other girl for company at that instant, so she and I chatted with each other while waiting for the other testers to arrive.
The next tester to arrive was a boy. He opened the door, and out of polite habit, I greeted him with a jovial, "Hello!" and for some reason, when he greeted me hello back, he seemed to recognize me.
We made eye contact and stared at each other. My jaw dropped when it registered who it was and my heart pounded wildly at this unexpected and strange turn of events.
Yeah, it was Y.
I yelled expletives at him and asked what he was doing there far from home in a testing center when he said he had play practice. He sounded confused as he said "Oh wait, play practice was yesterday...."
( ✓ Sometimes air-headed sexy dork)
He took his seat at another table, and once the test was ready to start, the administering lady asked everyone to take out their #2 pencils. It turned out Y didn't have one. So I lent him one and he thanked me sincerely.
(I'm amused by the fact that it's ME of all people who ended up lending him a pencil, because I've had to save his unorganized ass many times in the past. Though I don't know what's dumber, me having not recognized him, or him forgetting his pencil... ✓ Girl lending cute boy crucial test taking device in a super important test)
We took our respective listening tests and probably aced them, since like me, he took the test for the language spoken in his host country. Unfortunately, he had to leave after the first test, so I only had the rest of my five minute break to spend time with him and catch up a little. I left the testing room to go off with him and accompany him to the school's exit. We said good-bye, and in a somewhat sad tone of voice he said, "Take care, Amanda."
( ✓ Sweet reunion abruptly interrupted and cut short by uncontrollable circumstances)
The rest of that morning I was still reeling from the shock of what had happened, because I only thought that such unlikely coincidences were possible in movies.
I think along with one day being on the cover of TIME magazine, I'll make it one of my lofty goals to have a movie based on the story of my life. Or at least a movie having scenes based on real events that have happened in my life.
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