Yesterday we had a farewell party to send off my dear friends Luciana and Simon, who are the first two people I met in I-house.

Summer in I-house seems to be more exciting than semesters; every night people had different things to do. I visited museums, had ice creams, watched movies, watched baseball games (plus fireworks), visited Silicon Valley, with my group of friends. At the same time, I was taking 5 classes, twice the workload recommended to summer students. Nonetheless, I believe what I learnt from my summer friends are much more than what I learnt in class, although the classes themselves were very enriching and of course I made some friends in my summer cohort as well. We had Budapest food in Mission St, at a small restaurant called “Paprika” (which was actually owned by a Czech), had house parties, and numerous project hangouts as well.

It feels kind of surreal to write about my summer 2018 in November 2018; human memories have the potential to be selective: we remember the happiness and forget the pain. It was hard to say goodbye at the end of summer, but to be honest I don’t remember much of that now. Maybe it’s because I am making plans to visit Luciana in Sao Paulo next March, I haven’t been traveling since December 2017, so it’s a good time to utilize my last days in college and to see/experience more of the world.

As to Germany, I do sincerely believe that one day I will be there, one way or another. I love the German language and culture, and as previous posts from last summer showed I struggled to figure out where German fit in my identity. Although I haven’t finished my German studies major yet, I do think that as a 22 year-old, I spent a serious chunk of my time immersing in it. For better or for worse, I am no longer who I was without German.

That’s my long Spiel to persuade myself that seemingly random parts of a puzzle will find their ways to fit together.

I guess the more I hangout with my friends the more I realize how small and limited my worldview is, and how shallow my understanding of friendship. I could never imagine not seeing someone for more than 3 months and somehow still call each other “great friends”. In a world of scarcity, both of time and resources, probably I have to give in and accept that some relationships are transcending. It is not a lesson that I want to learn at 22 years old.