Meeting My International Best Friend at DePaul!
I’m a homebody from a little farm town in Illinois–no, seriously, I worked on a farm in high school–and I was shocked when I found out how many people travel far and wide to come to college. In my freshmen year at DePaul, I met people from all over: Kenya, Malaysia, India, Ukraine, Egypt, Pakistan. Quickly, I realized that I was way closer to home than I ever imagined.
However, this story is one specifically about my Canadian friend, Kairus, and it all began at an admitted student event! The event was for film students and our mock class was an animation course. As a writer, I was terrible at it. Kairus sat next to me in the class and we hit it off immediately because I had no idea what I was doing and she thought that was funny. Kairus was from Canada which was fascinating to me and I was from America which was fascinating to her for very different reasons. We laughed… and laughed… and laughed. Then, Kairus returned to Canada.
As you might have anticipated, me and Kairie weren’t separated for long! (I will be calling her Kairie from now on because we’re closer friends at this point in the story.) We were reunited at orientation! I remember seeing a cool brown suitcase in my room and wishing it was hers. Little did I know… it was hers! Miraculously, Kairie was randomly placed in my room! We stayed up for hours discussing the differences between Canada and The United States. She laughed at my Chicago accent. I laughed at her Ontario accent. Yet again, I was amazed by how well we got along.
Fast forward to my freshman year at DePaul—I already had a great friend on my very first day of class! We signed up for classes together and chatted all the way to the CDM building everyday. We went to the movies, ate pizza dinner, and played board games on the dorm floor. Her family even brought me Canadian snacks to try! We celebrated our one year friendiversary at the green river on St. Patrick’s Day and still, to this day, she teaches me Canadian words I have never heard of.
My all time favorite event that me and Kairie have gone to together was the Chicago Blackhawks vs. Toronto Maple Leafs game: my hockey team vs. her hockey team. We switched jerseys for the game, so no matter which team won, we would both win. We sat right behind the Maple Leaf’s coach and we were even on TV together, front and center, while both our families watched the game! It was the full circle moment. I thought about how we’d gone from strangers sitting next to each other in a mock class to such close friends who could now be seen on Disney+ eating nachos together.
So, that’s how I met my international best friend here at DePaul! If you’re thinking about coming to DePaul too, here’s my challenge for you: go to events, strike up conversations with the people around you, and don’t be afraid to embrace being terrible at that mock class. You’ll definitely see those faces again—and who knows, you might even meet your own international best friend!
~Tessa