“I used to find her cold as a person initially. I thought she was not friendly at all. We both genuinely believed we had nothing in common. However today, we are the closest of friends.
It all started when one night, we were having supper at a mutual friend’s place. Suddenly, I started having an acute back pain and couldn’t move. She called for an ambulance immediately and accompanied me to the hospital. As I was all new to France, my French was very poor I must say. So she was the one acting as the translator relaying information between the medical department and myself to let me know what the situation was like. She was very fluent in both English and French. My other friends also stayed at the hospital that night to support me. They all slept on chairs.
After this event, as we both took the same classes, we began to spend more time together. It didn’t take us long to realise that our first impression was totally wrong. In fact, we had many things in common. Our love for chocolate and our similar sense of humour were examples of that. But most importantly, we both had the same values concerning friendship and family. We became really close and the awesome moments we spent on campus will remain as one of the most memorable ones of our lifetime. When will we eat instant noodles at 2 a.m again together?
It didn’t take us long to realise that our first impression was totally wrong. In fact, we had many things in common.
We even spent one week together in my homeland, Norway. She stayed at my place and gelled really well with my family. My parents are actually from Chile, so she had the opportunity to get to know about the Chilean culture as well during her trip. I would of course love to visit her country as well soon. To be honest, I had never heard of Mauritius before I met her, super bad in Geography! It really intrigued me to learn from her that there are so many cultures in such a tiny island. For example, she is herself a Mauritian with ancestors from China. Also, I had no idea that the people there learn French, English and Creole. That’s really fascinating.
University life is now over and we don’t see each other as often as we used to. We live so far away from each other that it is difficult to meet up. But we are connected and we do stay in touch on a regular basis. Next year, I am getting married and will embark on a new journey and I sincerely hope she will be able to make it.”
