Meeting The College Crew
It was was my final day today in Kansas and my final day before I had to leave Sambo to head back across the seas. I can’t possibly describe just how much I’m going to miss him.
Our funny little Winfield Motel is run by an Indian couple who are people of very few words! Their English is a bit rusty and their Australian is even worse so even when they do speak, it’s pretty indecipherable! The husband keeps a very close eye on what’s going on in the breakfast room and when I say “room”, it’s really just a few tables and chairs gathered around the reception desk. The waffle-maker was on the blink this morning, much to the embarrassment of the proprietor, who was clearly disappointed when my charcoal-like waffle had to be scraped out of the machine with a blunt object. Put it this way, I don’t know if their Trip Advisor reviews will rave about their breakfasts!
We’d arranged to meet Leslie from Southwestern at 10am and were surprisingly punctual (must have been the Mustang). It was cute to be greeted with “Southwestern Welcomes Sam Jones!” written on the whiteboard out the front of the admissions office, which is like a little house, with a loungeroom and kitchen. All the decor is purple, to match in with the college team colours. In fact everything at Southwestern is purple, including the flowers in the gardens. The staff all clothe themselves with various shades of purple and Leslie even has a whole range of purple jewellery, which she proudly showed off! The house was also full of statues of black cats (the Jinx) adorned with purple bows. We were invited to sit down and watch The View while we waited for Leslie & the whole thing was pretty relaxed!
Most of our day was then spent with the effervescent Leslie, who led us around every nook and cranny of the College, organising post boxes, ID cards, meal allowances, laptops and room keys, introducing us to everyone along the way! We met the head and assistant soccer coaches who promised Sam he’d be hurting from their upcoming rigorous training schedule! They train at 5am, 3pm and again after dinner, EVERY day for the first few weeks! I was worn out just hearing about it! His attitude (as strange as it is) was bring it on!
We also met the computer geeks and their big, fluffy dog Geoffrey that took a shine to me and just wanted to lick my legs (just like Rocky). I was not as enamoured with Geoffrey as he was with me, unfortunately!
We realised as we met people around the campus that Sam, the Boy From Oz, was almost a household name around the place! Everyone seemed to know he was coming!
By the time lunchtime rolled around, our tummies were rumbling. We’d heard about a great little cafe just a street over from College that was a popular Southwestern haunt and everyone had raved about the food. Ross had even had it recommended to him when he’d come to Kansas earlier in the year. We had to check it out! The College Hill Cafe was in a really cute old house, with stained glass windows and lots of timber, where they apparently have live, unplugged music once a week and yes… delicious food. Sam couldn’t get enough and had some peanut butter sheet cake ‘to go!’
Next it was off to Walmart (so American!) for a few things we forgot yesterday. Walmart is like Woolies and Big W rolled into one, selling groceries and then everything else you could possibly think of, including the kitchen sink! They even had an optometrist and Pizza Hut inside! It was fun getting Sam stocked up. I think we got enough toilet paper to last him until he graduates.
Now we were stocked up, it was time to unpack. Sam has to share a room with one of his team mates and then 4 of them share the Brady Bunch bathroom between their two rooms. We put sheets on the bed, hung the funky new shower curtain (Sam had wanted to buy a leopard skin and pink one as a joke but we decided to stay on the safe side with a blue & green striped number, just in case they took him the wrong way). Sam hung all his clothes and did a fantastic job! All those years hanging boardies at Wicks has paid off! Once we’d plugged in the lamp, put the books in the shelf and plumped up the pillows it was already looking much cosier and more homely (well as homely as a dorm can get!)
Although I’d had a lump hovering in my throat all day, I’d thought I’d done a pretty good job of staying quite composed. It was only when the lady in the housing office had said “oh my goodness, Australia is SO far away! Are you sad?”, that I blubbered like a baby and said of course I was! She and Leslie gave me a big group hug and they reassured me, telling me I’d be OK and that they understood because they too were mums (or actually “moms”!)
Our last night together was as fun as ever and we dined at the (non) palatial Wendy’s, which was just a burger joint but I had thought it was a proper restaurant. Sam had wondered why I was getting all dressed up! The burger buns had double mounds and looked just like bums so we spent the night joking about the ‘nice buns!’
Southwestern has a program for the international students where they assign you with a host family. This family sort of takes you under its wing and supports you any way they can. Sam’s host parents are Maureen and Ken, who live just up the road in Winfield. Maureen made a special trip to College today just to meet Sam and I and she was just so kind-hearted and lovely. She and her husband had a function to go to tonight, but because I’m leaving in the morning, she invited Sam and I to her place afterwards. She and Ken designed their own home and it is gorgeous, with a beautiful patio overooking the golf course and even its own tornado shelter (which Ken assured me, after living a long time in Kansas, he’d never had to use. Thank goodness for that!) Ken confessed to having a very keen, green thumb and evidence of that was on display in their amazing garden, complete with fairy lights in the trees! It certainly felt like home and they welcomed us with open arms into the family, showing us photos of all their kids and grandkids, and assuring Sam he could ring them anytime if he needed anything at all (even a lift anywhere!) Maureen told Sam he’d be welcome to hang out with friends at their home too if he felt the need to get away from the dorm for a while (as luxurious as the dorm is of course). They invited him to their son’s birthday party on Sunday but unfortunately he’ll be at “Freshman Builder Camp” in Oklahoma by then! They were just really nice people and I’m stoked I got to meet them before I left.
We bid Maureen and Ken goodnight, both of us avoiding the elephant in the car. Finally we had a good cry when we got back to the hotel and lots of cuddles, which I savoured. I know we can still talk and Skype but there’s nothing quite like a big bear hug from your boy. We set the alarm for 5am (don’t want to risk any more of that standby jazz!) and tried not to think about tomorrow.
