couldn’t resist.

In the past two weeks, I’ve seen a bunch of alumna friends, some who live in the area Philadelphia area and some who don’t (New York). I have spent time with my friends at Bryn Mawr and I have also seen friends from home (Kuwait).

And I absolutely love that.

For the first few months (for the first couple years even!) I’ve had trouble navigating a really tough line – how to maintain the friendships I have with my friends from home, people who’ve graduated, staying in the present, etc. It’s difficult. As soon as I am in one place, I focus all my social energy, which is usually very quickly exhausted, on the people in that location. Which means that when it comes to non-immediate socializing, whether online or phone calls, it usually goes a little like this:

me, always

It reminds me of a reading I am doing for my Anthropology Senior Seminar about studying expatriate Japanese housewives who are living in America. The ethnographer talks about how they don’t have a set community center or designated social space, because “they are often seemed to be less interested in building relationships in their temporary homes abroad than in painting their social ties back home”. (Kurotani 206) Me, I am facing the opposite. I am aware that Bryn Mawr is temporary home, and I want to be present here, but its difficult because I know that it a temporary home.

I think every summer break, every time another class graduates, I am always worried about if I’ll remain in touch with people, if I’ll still manage to save some time to see them again. Particularly if they move to another state, country, etc.

Because then you lose someone who you’ve spent all year working in the library with…

You miss the friend who would jolt you awake in class…

You’re not around the the one who completed your weird dance duo…

shoutout to ID’15 and our thesis dance

And no matter how much you promise to communicate, whether with friends that have graduated from Bryn Mawr already, or friends who went to school with you at home and who you’re no longer in touch with, it usually falls a little short.

you’ll try janice, but it’ll be hard.

So that’s why I am very glad that I got to do that last weekend. Even though I’ve always been a little scared of New York (subways, crowds and buildings, oh my!), it’s great that it has become a somewhat impromptu meeting space for all my friends.

this is what I’ve always been scared of

And I genuinely can’t wait until I can make more visits there this year and do my best to the people in my life.

ALL OF THE LOVE TO EVERYONE.

PS: Bonus photo of ID’15

see, she has a normal-looking, pretty photo, but then she tells me to pose with the napkin.