When Abroad Friends Become Home Friends

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Taken from Sam’s instagram, @sstinchcomb, in front of Church of the Savior on Blood in St. Petersburg, Russia. Photo Credit: @sstinchcomb

When you go abroad, the friendships you make are everlasting. As the weeks dwindle by, you forget that this isn’t your home school, that these aren’t the faces you will see every day once you are back in the States. You say your goodbyes and you laugh and cry over the memories you make. Some of the friends you make will be your “Best Friend” on Snapchat, or the person that keeps liking your Instagram posts and tweets. And sometimes, they are the people you run into at the bars when you are leaving.

While abroad in Denmark, I like to think I made a lot of good friends: one of them happens to go to school only 10 minutes away (she was also my roommate abroad, so that’s pretty cool/lucky of us). Before we boarded our planes, we told each other that everything would be fine, as we would be able to hang out all the time. We didn’t realize that Senior Year was going to be hectic as it has. So, hanging out hasn’t been the easiest of tasks. However, the few times that we have met up, have been the best. I knew that if I really wanted to see her, I could just hop on the College Town Shuttle and go to her campus and vice versa. I can see her when I want to and we can act like we have been the best of friends for years. Sometimes though, it’s seeing the people you least expect to see that hold the biggest surprises.

To buffer this story, I must say that I am 21, so me going to bars is totally fine and legal. Now that that is out of the way, a few weeks ago, my friends and I went out to clubs. It was my roommate’s birthday so, you know, we had to. As many frequenters of The Greene Turtle know, they close at around 1:30am. So, as my friend and I were walking towards the steps as the last song was playing, I looked to my left and saw a familiar face. Standing in front of me was the girl, Sam, who I roomed with during my Russia excursion. I don’t think I had smiled as widely as I did that night in a long time. It was the type of smile that makes your cheeks hurt for hours after. Silly me had forgotten that she was from Towson. We hugged and couldn’t believe that we had run into each other and then I left because my group of friends was leaving to go to Subway.

It happened in just a few moments, but those few moments felt like a lifetime. It made me think of Denmark and Russia all over again. I remembered getting ready with Sam in our hotel room before the opera our class saw, I remembered sitting next to her in class sometimes and complaining about the books we had to read, I remember how we were put in a group together during the very first class and the awkward conversations we had. It was one of those split second encounters that make you want to go back in time with that person so you could have more moments with them. It reminded me that these people you meet and get to know abroad are there for life; that the friends you make abroad are just as significant and important as the friends you make while at college. Friendships like that just don’t go away.

 

Featured Image: Taken from Sam’s instagram, @sstinchcomb, in front of Church of the Savior on Blood in St. Petersburg, Russia. Photo Credit: @sstinchcomb

Danielle Brundage is a senior with an English Literature major and creative writing minor. She has spent several months traveling around Scandinavia and is interested in the mythology and folklore or the world.

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