Pleasant Encounter

Today the sun was as scorching as it had been for the past four days. I had my bags packed, ready to get some studying on for my test tomorrow only to find that the 8 story building was sleeping in this Sunday morning. I looked at the pink paper plastered on the glass as it read in black ink "2:00pm - 10:00pm." It was only 10:00 AM. A little bummed that my plan was ruined and my pumped up motivation had disappeared, I turned around and began walking back to my car, and texting a friend if she was available to take a walk at the mall or something.

On my trip back to my car, there was a young man walking with his backpack on. We made eye contact and smiled at each other. As if on instinct, I suddenly felt the need to let him know the library was closed. So, without even realizing it my mouth had already opened and the words were flying out of my mouth.

"Hi! Are you headed to the Library?" I said.
"Yeah. It's right around this building" said he, pointing at where I just came from.
"Oh, yeah. It's just that Davis  (library) is closed."
"What about the UL?"
"Hmmm, I haven't checked."

Next thing I know, we were both walking together to the UL and exchanging names and other information about each other.

Of course, the UL and every other building was closed too. We both were bummed now as we took in the realization that our schedule for the day was now ruined. But instead to retreating to our homes, we stayed on campus under the shade of a large tree and talked about our interests. Eventually, we grew tired of standing and decided to sit in the shade by the library and chatted a bit more.

I was quite surprised with myself and with how much we were talking to each other. It was very comfortable and not awkward at all, though I was doing most of the talking. But he said he liked to listen and was absolutely fine with me talking. He was an athlete and I was quite surprised when he told me he was interested in global studies because he liked to learn about cultures and history.

We feed birds, migrated to his dorm building and watched 300 in the lounge, and drank cold drinks. It was quite relaxing. Eventually we had to separate and although I just met him, I felt a bit lonely when we walked our separate ways. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant encounter. It reminded me of how things use to be. How I use to always talk to stranger and then end up being friends. How we would exchange stories and opinions. Interestingly, I like talking to strangers. I never know what they'll say, what I should expect, or what their reactions are, but things eventually fall into place and I get to see and hear perspectives I hadn't thought of, and see that sometimes in life there are more similarities than there are differences.