SMKRific

I found this bit on my computer, I think I started it when I was in Costa Rica. Just trying to record the memories before they faded away.

Intro

They say God has a sense of humour. They are right, although they are usually referring to something cheesy like the platypus. I have found, however, that our lives are often comedies to those around and above us. Even the drama that runs like a ribbon through the comedy serves its purpose by making the light moments lighter, by giving them something to be contrasted against and by allowing the characters a depth not simply found in ordinary comedic chatter. This is not an idea I have always had but rather something that has grown upon me to this point. But it does have a beginning in my mind and that beginning is Newbold.

Now, as there is only a small minority of people in the world who will hear the word Newbold and go "ah yes, I remember it fondly" a short introduction is in order. Newbold is a very small college run by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Binfield, Bracknel, Berkshire, England. With less than 300 students and a location that even most Brits could not pinpoint it is quite quaint in one sense of the word. On the other hand it is only a short train ride from London and its small student body regularly hails from at least 5 continents and dozens of countries. Suffice to say it has an atmosphere all it’s own and is an excellent place to spend your college years.

Yes, I know that last bit sounds a bit like a shameless plug and maybe it is. Anyway, it is the school I had decided to spend my sophomore year of college at and the original reason, any guesses? Travel. I had planned on going ever sense I had heard my dad’s stories of his summer there as a little girl. I would go no matter what, even when my boyfriend was unable to attend.

I had a few acquaintances that I found were going but for the most part it was very much my first time being in a completely new place having to forge a new path. Being fairly outgoing I was not that worried about the situation I found myself in. I had a friend who would be in Edinburgh for the Fringe (if you don’t know the fringe check out the website Fringe.org) so I could head up there my first weekend and start the year not completely unknown. But when I returned to my empty dorm room I was homesick for the first time in my life. I missed my friends and family and the regular contact I had become used to. I cried, and then I moved on, or so I thought. I would not allow a little homesickness to ruin a year in England.

I don’t know how this melencholy would have affected me had the next two weeks not gone quite as they did. Had my Newbold family not sprouted so serriptiously from the framework I wonder how I would have handled a return of the original melencholy. But it was not allowed to return because that very night a little voice started a family.

The Rise of the SMKRS

The great machine of term orientation required of me my first night at Newbold. It was some random information session whose information no sooner entered one ear than it left through the other. As I ate my pastry afterwards and my mind wandered through the tasks I needed to accomplish before classes started my glance briefly caught a small girl in a hoody and scarf and my only thought was, "she looks shy." Now done with my pastry and resolute in my desire to head into town for a few supplies I moved to leave and was stopped by a small voice. Not a physical voice, but the inner voice that speaks to your mind at random times with thoughts not wholy yours. Its comment was short, simple and direct, "talk to her." Who? The shy girl standing by the tree? Sure, why not. And so started a simple conversation and then a simple invitation to my trip to town and a final multilayered gift of a ride to ASDA (British Walmart) with Rali, the shy girl, and her father.

That night turned into lunches in the cafeteria with several other cordial encounters throughout the week. By the time Cream Tea had arrived the following Saturday we were awaiting its arrival with cardgames and banter in her room. Our plans for weekend travels to places near and far already beginning to take shape. Far from shy, Rali was opinionated and passionate, just my type of friend. As we transitioned to tea we conversed about things from the trivial details of school to deep and confusing religeous subjects. Somewhere as we chose our tea and treats and headed into the gardin we picked up a vagabond. We knew this vagabond in part having broken bread with him in the cafeteria during the past week. And so the two became three as our conversations continued from angels and demons to first-person roleplaying. Had our vagabond risen when he should have, instead of sleeping untill noon, he would have been off in London instead of having tea with Rali and Me. And so we stole our vagabond for the entire afternoon and into the evening as Widge, the Pidgeon, joined our flock. Each of us without anyone a week prior now had two mejore amigos to share a pot of tea with and our first trip into London.