This story is too good not to share, even if it's for the purposes of me having a coherent account of this particular encounter that I can look back on.
I won't be putting real names on this entry, just initials. Here goes.
It's been brought up here before, but I spent my junior year, 2012-2013, abroad as an exchange student in France. That same year, two other kids from my high school also went- a boy who went to Mexico and a boy who went to Argentina.
I have known the boy who went to Mexico (whom we will refer to as "C") since 6th grade. He's a friend of mine, and we were super excited to go through the exchange preparations together. Around June 2012, my host sister messaged me, so I updated C about it on chat. Here's what the conversation looked like...
I saw on my news feed that C became Facebook friends with somebody whose profile picture was probably very attractive so I went and checked out his profile. Let's call him B, and yes, he was C's host brother. And by "Awww, he looks cute!" I'm sure I meant something more along the lines of "Ugh why do you get a super gorgeous host brother I wish he was my host brother I kinda want to be in your place now weeehhhh."
I didn't know it until long after I had returned from exchange, but B ended up not going to Brazil due to complications in paperwork, sadly. However, that meant he and C became very close to the point they actually consider each other brothers.
Rewind back to our year abroad. B would turn up on C's photos, and yes, he was very cute. C is quite cute too, and I enjoyed stalking their photos like any curious fellow exchange student would do.
Around March 2013, C posted this on the page for all the kids from our district who were abroad.
The request happened to coincide with my weekend in Paris, which worked out very well. I made the sign, and with the help of my lovely Indian friend (whom I will be seeing in Mumbai in a matter of hours), got this picture taken.
I posted it on C's wall and noticed B liked it. At least then he knew I existed?? Lol. After that I didn't think much of it and was just glad to have helped C out.
The summer we returned from exchange, summer 2013, B paid a visit to C in our town. I really wanted to meet him, but for some reason couldn't. No matter, it wasn't a big deal.
Fast forward to after everyone had committed to what colleges they would go to. It was a day in May 2014, and I sat in English class in the morning. A friend of mine, J, went up to me and declared, "I know so many people going to Harvard this year." J then proceeded to name off people I already knew of, but the last thing he said was, "C's host brother-" and at that point I stopped him abruptly and asked, "WHAT? B??" And J replied, "Yeah!" I fretted and said "Why didn't I know about this? How did you know?" and J said, "I saw a picture he posted on Instagram." It was then I found out he was at that same visiting weekend during which I met Mariusz and other beautiful people, except at that time I had no idea he had even been accepted. Whaaaaat.
My head spun the rest of class as I contemplated this new development. I went on Facebook to creep on B's profile, and sure enough, there were pictures of him at Harvard. I went on his albums and found one whose name was the hashtag on the sign C asked people to make. I clicked on it and looked through, and was mildly surprised (and pleased) to find my picture there. Yet another thing I had to ask C about.
C was in my anatomy class, which I had after English, so once I saw him I immediately went up to him and asked about it. C said, "Yeah, he's going! And you know what, he's actually coming to visit in a month!"
Oooooooh.
I also asked C about the contest he asked us to help out with, and it turned out it wasn't C's, it was B's. C just wanted to help his host brother out, and he knew if people said it was for him they'd be less likely to help.
Oh, wow.
I became Facebook friends with B and we chatted a bit. He apparently already knew who I was too. I guess that made things less...bizarre...?
Fast forward even more to June 2014, two years after that Facebook conversation with C, to when I finally met him in person.
It was very exciting. He's a fantastic fellow, and we had so much to talk about. We spent some time jamming in my music room. His demeanor is very similar to mine, and it made me happy to be with someone with whom I have a lot in common. I mean, he's the closest thing I have to a Harvard student and a RI exchange student at once! He thanked me for helping him out with his picture contest; he ended up winning an iPad mini. We talked about the visiting weekend, and it turns out he spent some time with Mariusz as well. (HAHAHAHAHAHA WOOOW) Following the president's welcome at the theater (which I was attending too...), they walked together to the international students' reception. This was before I even officially met Mariusz.
(Dammit I knew I should have gone to that international reception I was feeling too lazy to try to find, who knows what other connections I might have discovered I had with kids there)
Yeah really, who knows. I'm sure there'll be more that I'll find out about once I get there. In the meantime, I'm trying to process how one college in Boston fostered already-existing connections between kids who grew up thousands and thousands of miles apart. Although long-haul flights and views across open ocean really don't make it feel that way, the world truly is a small and remarkable place.
P.S. Thank you, social media.
I won't be putting real names on this entry, just initials. Here goes.
It's been brought up here before, but I spent my junior year, 2012-2013, abroad as an exchange student in France. That same year, two other kids from my high school also went- a boy who went to Mexico and a boy who went to Argentina.
I have known the boy who went to Mexico (whom we will refer to as "C") since 6th grade. He's a friend of mine, and we were super excited to go through the exchange preparations together. Around June 2012, my host sister messaged me, so I updated C about it on chat. Here's what the conversation looked like...
I didn't know it until long after I had returned from exchange, but B ended up not going to Brazil due to complications in paperwork, sadly. However, that meant he and C became very close to the point they actually consider each other brothers.
Rewind back to our year abroad. B would turn up on C's photos, and yes, he was very cute. C is quite cute too, and I enjoyed stalking their photos like any curious fellow exchange student would do.
Around March 2013, C posted this on the page for all the kids from our district who were abroad.
The request happened to coincide with my weekend in Paris, which worked out very well. I made the sign, and with the help of my lovely Indian friend (whom I will be seeing in Mumbai in a matter of hours), got this picture taken.
I posted it on C's wall and noticed B liked it. At least then he knew I existed?? Lol. After that I didn't think much of it and was just glad to have helped C out.
The summer we returned from exchange, summer 2013, B paid a visit to C in our town. I really wanted to meet him, but for some reason couldn't. No matter, it wasn't a big deal.
Fast forward to after everyone had committed to what colleges they would go to. It was a day in May 2014, and I sat in English class in the morning. A friend of mine, J, went up to me and declared, "I know so many people going to Harvard this year." J then proceeded to name off people I already knew of, but the last thing he said was, "C's host brother-" and at that point I stopped him abruptly and asked, "WHAT? B??" And J replied, "Yeah!" I fretted and said "Why didn't I know about this? How did you know?" and J said, "I saw a picture he posted on Instagram." It was then I found out he was at that same visiting weekend during which I met Mariusz and other beautiful people, except at that time I had no idea he had even been accepted. Whaaaaat.
My head spun the rest of class as I contemplated this new development. I went on Facebook to creep on B's profile, and sure enough, there were pictures of him at Harvard. I went on his albums and found one whose name was the hashtag on the sign C asked people to make. I clicked on it and looked through, and was mildly surprised (and pleased) to find my picture there. Yet another thing I had to ask C about.
C was in my anatomy class, which I had after English, so once I saw him I immediately went up to him and asked about it. C said, "Yeah, he's going! And you know what, he's actually coming to visit in a month!"
Oooooooh.
I also asked C about the contest he asked us to help out with, and it turned out it wasn't C's, it was B's. C just wanted to help his host brother out, and he knew if people said it was for him they'd be less likely to help.
Oh, wow.
I became Facebook friends with B and we chatted a bit. He apparently already knew who I was too. I guess that made things less...bizarre...?
Fast forward even more to June 2014, two years after that Facebook conversation with C, to when I finally met him in person.
It was very exciting. He's a fantastic fellow, and we had so much to talk about. We spent some time jamming in my music room. His demeanor is very similar to mine, and it made me happy to be with someone with whom I have a lot in common. I mean, he's the closest thing I have to a Harvard student and a RI exchange student at once! He thanked me for helping him out with his picture contest; he ended up winning an iPad mini. We talked about the visiting weekend, and it turns out he spent some time with Mariusz as well. (HAHAHAHAHAHA WOOOW) Following the president's welcome at the theater (which I was attending too...), they walked together to the international students' reception. This was before I even officially met Mariusz.
(Dammit I knew I should have gone to that international reception I was feeling too lazy to try to find, who knows what other connections I might have discovered I had with kids there)
Yeah really, who knows. I'm sure there'll be more that I'll find out about once I get there. In the meantime, I'm trying to process how one college in Boston fostered already-existing connections between kids who grew up thousands and thousands of miles apart. Although long-haul flights and views across open ocean really don't make it feel that way, the world truly is a small and remarkable place.
P.S. Thank you, social media.
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