student U

One the students I was really excited about working with this semester was a kid I'll call U, a student from Colombia. He approached me after the first class last Tuesday and mentioned that he was brand-new to Michigan and to the US, that he would be studying at our university for four years, and that he might need a little extra--extra conferences, extra time spent working on papers.

I said I would be happy to, and I meant it. As great as my other students are, it's always cool to work with students who have a, let's say, less traditional background. And in a strictly selfish way, I have found that non-native speakers are good for me to have in my class. They remind me to speak a little slower and maybe less Elliot Reid, to make fewer cultural [ahem, Rick Astley] references, to rely less on my traditional hey!-what-am-I-talking-about-anyway-oops-kicked-the-trash-can-there-who-knows-mumble-mumble delivery that emerges at the end of a long afternoon and SERIOUSLY WHO NEEDS A TRASH CAN RIGHT HERE, AT THE FAR END OF THE WHITE BOARD.

U was missing on Thursday, and I learned that he dropped. Who knows why. But I sort of missed him on Thursday, and then today I saw him, crossing campus. It was--is--raining and gray, and the only bright spots of color on campus came from the umbrellas. I was on my way to my one o'clock class; I stepped in a giant puddle and soaked my hems, and I was thinking about this, and also my complete lack of anything resembling a Michigan friend-friend, the sort that I could call up on a night like tonight and drink a big beer with and say Hey! We made it through the second week and I didn't even smear white board marker on my shirt. And then I came up on U, who was walking all by himself in the middle of the sidewalk. Around him--and me--everyone was walking in a pair. They were sharing umbrellas. They were making phone calls. They were talking about the weekend. It must have been Walk With Your Buddy Day today, because only U and I were walking alone.

I passed him, and I couldn't help but look over my shoulder once I was a few yards ahead of him. He was still walking with his head down, and I wished right then that he was still in my class, that I could smile and ask him some stupid question about his narrative essay. I wished that I could just say, Hey, I realize that it's not the same, it's not even close to the same, I am not so stupid to think that moving from one Great Lake state to another is the same as moving to the United States from Colombia--but if it helps any, I don't know anyone here either, and I walk around this big campus all by myself every day, and you know, I just wanted to let you know that.

But I didn't.