strangers are friends we haven't met yet

truer statements have not been made.  not too long ago, I volunteered at a camp for young adults with Down syndrome and it was one of the greatest things I have ever had the privilege of experience.  I freaking LOVE CAMP PALS, and you can read about that event on my photography/travel blog but here's a little side story to that.  

after a long/packed/super ahhhmaaayyyzzzing  week of basically being the hype man for my camper, I was so pooped.  being my cheap self though, I was going to spend an extra day chilling in the airport to get a cheaper flight + avoid paying for a hotel.  I may be the youngest, poorest, weirdest, yet cultured, traveler out there.  Maybe.  it was okay though, because I was kind of looking forward to just chilling by myself after a week of early mornings, late nights, and constantly having to be happy about everything while having a person glued to my side 24/7.  really, chilling in the airport didn't seem like it could get better. BUT IT DID.  I didn't end up staying at the airport, because another counselor who was from Colombia was staying in hotel and even though we didn't really know each other, she said I could stay with her.  free hotel, chilling with someone from South America?! I'm in.

we walked to this famous bagel shop/cafe and walked around downtown, because hey how many opportunities are we going to have here in Ithaca??  it started to torrential downpour during our walk so we sprinted across streets and ducked under ledges while looking for cool places to go.  eventually we walked all the way to Ithaca Falls, which was beautiful and amazing because I love waterfalls (TLC was so wrong!) but also I kinda think it's weird that Ithaca has so many waterfalls.  I'm pretty sure I saw at least 5 during our week.  I pretty much ate it when I was walking on the rocks, but as I sat their with my jeans soaking, and the wind blowing all the water in my face, I was like 'woah this is pretty much the most spontaneous thing I could be doing right now: chasing waterfalls in a city I don't know with a Colombian girl I barely knew.'  these are the things stories are made from.  this is what life is about.

in an attempted to dry off, we walked back up this insanely vertical hill to the Cornell campus to get a good view of the city, and back down to fill out craving for boba.  at this point, I was completely drenched in sweat so the drying thing definitely did not work.  we chatted about how there's definitely not enough boba in the world, and about how life was like where we were from.  she told me about the busy, crowded streets of Bogota and I told her about living in a small town + college life in the US.  

it's really crazy how the world works.  people who live extremely different lives with different goals can end up in the same place as you at the same time, and have way more in common with you than your best friend.  late into the night, we walked back through downtown Ithaca when all the cute string lights were on and made it to Starbucks to try the newest drinks.  anyone can bond over Starbucks; it's a universal language.  I learned about holiday traditions in her home country, and I explained how Thanksgiving is slowing becoming overtaken by Black Friday.  She told me about how her grandfather was an immigrant from Spain, and I said that my family came from Vietnam.  We talked about the world and how we both wanted to explore as much of it as we could.  Even though people say politics is a subject to avoid (especially between countries), we both discuss our view points, and like almost everything we talked about, we had so much in common.  We both talked about our big crazy family gatherings, and how insane but fun they were.  I could really talk to her forever.  Less than 12 hours ago, I barely knew her name.

at 4am the next morning, as I rode the hotel shuttle to the airport, it hit me that I would probably never see her again.  realizing that made me kinda sad + pissed that I wasn't rich enough to spend more time in New York or fly to Bogota.  but also being awake that early in the morning just kind of makes me really philosophical and shiz.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that our lives are only so long, we only get so many opportunities, and we can only meet so many people -- so we should try to make our experiences and interactions as meaningful as we can.  we shouldn't be afraid to talk to people who don't speak the same language or come from different walks of life.  we should be open to making new friends even if the time we have with someone is only 12 hours.