My really good Russian friend, Irina, had a friend from Georgia visiting her this past weekend for Spring Break. Inga is very cheerful, positive, and polite. She comes from a small town from Georgia completely surrounded by nature. As a result, it was amusing to see her react to Boston’s cute compact city life.

I met Sabrina in the Bahamas after a cruise trip there from Fort Lauderdale. My friends and I wanted to explore the local scenery of the city of Nassau. Upon doing so, we met Sabrina. She was great and showed us all the things a tourist guide could not. She took us a restaurant that had tasty food that was a hybrid of African and European cultures. In addition, she taught us a couple of slang words in Creole, which was so awesome. I don’t have a picture of her unfortunately.

Lestel was one of my best friends in the fourth grade. I recently facebooked her name to see what would result and I luckily found her. It was strange reconnecting with a long lost friend from so many years ago. But at the same time, there was something nostalgic about the experience. Apparently, Lestel moved back to Nicaragua to work on NGO projects near her hometown. Her favorite place is Corn Island, a place Lestel calls “pure”. The island itself is unspoiled and untouched by tourism.

I met Medet through some of my MIT friends from Kazakhstan. He attends Harvard University and is originally from Kyrgzstan. Like people from most of the countries bordering Kyrgzstan, Medet speaks Russian. When I asked him to share one interesting thing about his country, he talked about the custom of “bride kidnapping”. Apparently, it’s an ancient marriage tradition involving a man, who abducts the woman he chooses to marry. Typically, the man and his friends rent a car, stake out the woman’s movements, grab her off the street, and send her to the groom’s home. This tradition has been illegal for several years; however, the law against it is rarely enforced.

"Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan" film by Petr Lom

During freshman year, I met Beatriz, who attends Boston University. She was born in Panama City but moved to the States when she was six. She loves photography and invites me to must-see exhibitions through Boston. Although I haven’t seen her as much as I used to, mostly due to school work and lack of time, I believe upon graduation she intends to travel the world and document her adventures.

I met Sahara in middle school in art class. We were both creative free spirit types with a passion for drawing. She is also half white and half Egyptian. Her father is from Egypt. I’ve visited Sahara at her home and met her father, who is very easy going and open.

Sahara to the left, her father to the right

Sarah is a CMS MIT alum. I met her while recruiting her for a panel session sponsored by MIT Media and Entertainment Society and the CMS Undergraduate Program. She can speak both Farsi and Dari, the Iranian and Afghan languages, respectively. After graduating, Sarah worked in the development industry in Afghanistan in the last several years and has produced works ranging from projects, writings, and research papers on the country. I think the most interesting case study she wrote concerned the development of a women’s radio production which had to accede to male-centric norms in Afghan radio production to avoid being labelled unprofessional.

I went out to some bars with friends a couple nights ago. Through a mutual friend, I met Catalina who is from San Jose, Costa Rica but is living in Miami. Catalina is a very sweet girl. She’s loquacious and full of energy. In the middle of the night, she jumped onto a table in the bar and started dancing to a favorite song of hers. The dance lasted until the bartender asked her to get down.

Ivan is a cool guy with a strange sense of humor. I’ve known him since middle school. But at the beginning of high school, he returned to Serbia and we have been in distant contact since then. I think one of the coolest things about Ivan, and probably Serbian people in general, are their accents. Whenever Ivan talked, I remember I would also think of James Bond. And for some reason, whenever we had conversations, I would always feel extra cool and go into a sort of secret agent mode.

Last week, I flew to Dallas for a Samsung internship interview. During the company’s interview orientation, I met Sandra, who was actually born in Skopje, Macedonia. She currently attends University of Pennsylvania and is studying management. After the interviews, we hung out in a nearby park and visited the metropolitan area. In the picture below, I think she was showing me an ethnic Macedonian dance move.