Alternate titles for this entry: The Les Mis fan in me wants to squeal with delight / Don't bother trying to pronounce this entry's name
I said in my first blog entry here that " My life is a series of surprises and unlikely situations." And then I said in this entry that "sometimes I deliberately manipulate my life to get myself into situations that will one day make a good story to tell."
(I also said somewhere that I'm Oregonian and a fan of recycling, so I took those quotes and used them to start this entry because I'm too lazy to think of any other way.)
The thing is, though, this incident was entirely serendipitous, and there was minimal deliberate manipulation on my part. Thus making the second citation half true.
Because this right here is a really good story to tell.
(cue whimsical sparkle music as the ancient book of fairy tales opens to the "ONCE UPON A TIME" page)
Once upon a time, in a time known as my junior year, I found myself in two cities.
Parthenay, a small French town lost in the middle of the countryside.
Katowice, an industrial Polish city nothing like Parthenay.
I was a student at the high school in Parthenay, which happened to be sister schools with a bilingual Polish-French high school in Katowice. Thus, I was lucky enough to be able to participate in a week-long class trip to Katowice. (read more about it here!)
During that trip, the other French kids and I were hosted by students from that high school. I was hosted by a girl named Natalia.
Natalia and I became the best of friends, having many dreams and passions in common. She's become a true sister to me, and with her as my guide I fell in love with her country too. (Not to mention, it's the country of one of my favorite historical figures, Frederic Chopin.)
I left Katowice at the end of the week reluctantly, tears rolling down my face. But I knew one day I would have to go back.
Natalia and I kept in touch. We applied to the same college, but unfortunately, my life didn't turn out to be the fairy tale I was hoping it would continue being when I ended up accepted and she, not. Our reunion would just have to be delayed.
Once part of the class of 2018 group on Facebook, I did what any kid would do - take a look at some of my new classmates. On the page, I found a file; it was a list of the students and their hometowns. Most of the list was for the American students, though there was a section for international students by country. My primary concerns were France and the Philippines, so I checked to see if there were people from there. Then I remembered that Poland should be a concern too because kocham Polskę, and it was right underneath the Philippines.
There was one name.
His hometown was listed as Katowice.
Not Warsaw, not Krakow, but Katowice. I had a mini heart attack and immediately typed the name into the search bar.
We had a mutual friend- it was Natalia. And, he was gorgeous.
Well that changed things.
I added the Polish boy (whose name is Mariusz) as a friend and demanded to know more from Natalia, wondering why she hadn't told me about him. So she gave me the scoop, since it turns out they've both known each other for years and went to the same middle school.
They were awarded the laureate awards for certain subjects and got to spend a day in the local theme park as a prize. She told me once how they were on a swing set and he started talking to her about centrifugal force. I found that adorable, and this whole turn of events insane.
Mariusz and I eventually established contact, and I found out he was going to be at the admitted students' visiting weekend just like me. However, I didn't know how I could possibly meet up with him when he wouldn't have a cell phone to communicate with, being an international kid. I decided that if it was meant to be, fate would let me run into him, somewhere in that huge campus, one kid out of the 1,300 of my future classmates who showed up.
Obviously, I'm writing this because fate was in my favor.
On Sunday, I had originally planned to attend an open dance rehearsal with my host after I was done socializing with the Philippine Forum. However, I learned that in the lecture hall right next door, the pre-medical society was having an informational meeting. I changed my mind last minute and decided to go to that. So I stayed in that building.
The meeting lasted around an hour. After it was over, I stuck around so I could talk to some of the members. I waited patiently for my turn, and looked around the room from the bottom of the lecture hall. I froze when my gaze reached the top of the steps.
He was standing right there.
I sprinted up the stairs towards him and asked, breathless from running and excitement, "Are you Mariusz?" (It occurred to me too late that I actually know how to ask that in Polish. Oops.)
He recognized me immediately and greeted me, "Yes, and you're Amanda!" We shook hands and I just went for a hug because I was having a hard time controlling myself ahehaheaehh.
It turned out he was there because he wanted to attend a certain organization (VFG)'s meeting, and it was to take place right after the pre-med society's in the same room. For once, changing plans was the best decision I could make.
I said in my first blog entry here that " My life is a series of surprises and unlikely situations." And then I said in this entry that "sometimes I deliberately manipulate my life to get myself into situations that will one day make a good story to tell."
(I also said somewhere that I'm Oregonian and a fan of recycling, so I took those quotes and used them to start this entry because I'm too lazy to think of any other way.)
The thing is, though, this incident was entirely serendipitous, and there was minimal deliberate manipulation on my part. Thus making the second citation half true.
Because this right here is a really good story to tell.
(cue whimsical sparkle music as the ancient book of fairy tales opens to the "ONCE UPON A TIME" page)
Once upon a time, in a time known as my junior year, I found myself in two cities.
Parthenay, a small French town lost in the middle of the countryside.
Katowice, an industrial Polish city nothing like Parthenay.
I was a student at the high school in Parthenay, which happened to be sister schools with a bilingual Polish-French high school in Katowice. Thus, I was lucky enough to be able to participate in a week-long class trip to Katowice. (read more about it here!)
During that trip, the other French kids and I were hosted by students from that high school. I was hosted by a girl named Natalia.
Natalia and I became the best of friends, having many dreams and passions in common. She's become a true sister to me, and with her as my guide I fell in love with her country too. (Not to mention, it's the country of one of my favorite historical figures, Frederic Chopin.)
I left Katowice at the end of the week reluctantly, tears rolling down my face. But I knew one day I would have to go back.
Natalia and I kept in touch. We applied to the same college, but unfortunately, my life didn't turn out to be the fairy tale I was hoping it would continue being when I ended up accepted and she, not. Our reunion would just have to be delayed.
Once part of the class of 2018 group on Facebook, I did what any kid would do - take a look at some of my new classmates. On the page, I found a file; it was a list of the students and their hometowns. Most of the list was for the American students, though there was a section for international students by country. My primary concerns were France and the Philippines, so I checked to see if there were people from there. Then I remembered that Poland should be a concern too because kocham Polskę, and it was right underneath the Philippines.
There was one name.
His hometown was listed as Katowice.
Not Warsaw, not Krakow, but Katowice. I had a mini heart attack and immediately typed the name into the search bar.
We had a mutual friend- it was Natalia. And, he was gorgeous.
Well that changed things.
I added the Polish boy (whose name is Mariusz) as a friend and demanded to know more from Natalia, wondering why she hadn't told me about him. So she gave me the scoop, since it turns out they've both known each other for years and went to the same middle school.
They were awarded the laureate awards for certain subjects and got to spend a day in the local theme park as a prize. She told me once how they were on a swing set and he started talking to her about centrifugal force. I found that adorable, and this whole turn of events insane.
Mariusz and I eventually established contact, and I found out he was going to be at the admitted students' visiting weekend just like me. However, I didn't know how I could possibly meet up with him when he wouldn't have a cell phone to communicate with, being an international kid. I decided that if it was meant to be, fate would let me run into him, somewhere in that huge campus, one kid out of the 1,300 of my future classmates who showed up.
Obviously, I'm writing this because fate was in my favor.
On Sunday, I had originally planned to attend an open dance rehearsal with my host after I was done socializing with the Philippine Forum. However, I learned that in the lecture hall right next door, the pre-medical society was having an informational meeting. I changed my mind last minute and decided to go to that. So I stayed in that building.
The meeting lasted around an hour. After it was over, I stuck around so I could talk to some of the members. I waited patiently for my turn, and looked around the room from the bottom of the lecture hall. I froze when my gaze reached the top of the steps.
He was standing right there.
I sprinted up the stairs towards him and asked, breathless from running and excitement, "Are you Mariusz?" (It occurred to me too late that I actually know how to ask that in Polish. Oops.)
He recognized me immediately and greeted me, "Yes, and you're Amanda!" We shook hands and I just went for a hug because I was having a hard time controlling myself ahehaheaehh.
 |
| The lecture hall we were in. Pretty big. |
I got to spend a couple of hours with him, and I was extremely happy to be able to talk to somebody from Katowice about the wonderful city I spent a week in. I was especially content to speak with somebody who knew Natalia personally, considering how much I miss her.
 |
| A little collage I did of the first time I met Natalia and the first time I met Mariusz. Strangely enough, I was wearing the same jacket. God I love Polish people. |
When Natalia and I both applied to the world's top school, I thought of three scenarios: best case, in which we'd both be accepted; middle case, in which just one of us would be accepted; and worst case, neither of us. I could not have seen "me being accepted and hot boy from same city" as being a plausible scenario.
It's strange to think our paths could have crossed a lot sooner, but life has a funny way of working sometimes. And hey, Harvard's a pretty cool place to meet!
(cue "It's A Small World" music)
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