Talk It Up

Great conversations are rare.

This whole trip, I've been spoiled with great conversations, but this past weekend was extra groovy.

The past two weeks had been miserable trudgings through the end-of-the year grinder. After working ten to fourteen hour days in solitude to finish my essays, I organized a Friday night dinner and movie for international and English students. We met at Weatherspoons, a chain-pub, then saw Angels and Demons. The movie stunk, but the outing was great. 

By now, four months after arriving, a lot of the thrills of England have worn off. English accents aren't cute but normal.  Pub culture isn't "WOW" but "hm."  I'm even looking the right "right" way when crossing streets.  Sad, sad, sad...

But bringing together international students doesn't get old.  Expecting only five to seven people, I was surprised when there was such a huge gathering that I had to throw tables together and steal chairs to make enough space in the pub. There were students from the US, Canada, Hong Kong, Bahamas, China, France, England, Thailand and Chile.  A veritable mix of 20-somethings. 

The conversations were fantastic.  Over the past four months, we had gotten to know one another.  We had bypassed the generic "where are you from what are you studying why choose Bristol?" questions.  And in the process of progressing from strangers to friends, something magical had happened.  I'm not sure where or why or how.  We didn't talk of geo-politics or global poverty or trade deficits.  Or at least not entirely.  The converstaions were not what I would call "profound."  Mostly, we talked of normal things -- movies, funny dorm-room experiences, pranks, school.  But suddenly, we had reached a sweet spot in social dynamics: just enough familiarity and difference to pull a water-into-wine trick by turning mundanity into greatness.  

But really, it's no trick at all.  A great conversation tight-rope walks between extremes: there's got to be a little discord to perpetuate discussion but enough agreeableness to prevent our hands from becoming fists.  A familiar international crowd satisfies those requirements.

On Saturday, I visited Susan Feuille, my LAS Leaders advisor, and her daughter Julie in Bath.

Susan is an absolute delight to be around.  We had tea, visited the Roman Baths, then went to a bona fide Italian diner.  

Again, the conversation topics were normal: LAS Leaders, campus crime, the economic crisis, celebrity sightings, why the woman at the table next to us kept turning around and lookin at us (we decided it was because Susan had once met Matt Damon).  These conversations were great for a slightly different reason.  I remember when Troy and I were traveling, it was sometimes a thrill to meet up with our friends along the way just to unload all our stories onto another person.  If an Atlantic Monthly article is right that human relationships are the only things that really matter in life, then it makes sense that experiences are only worth something if they can be spread through friend and family circles.

Traveling blends experiences with relationships -- what Michael Crichton identifies as the two ingredients to a worthwhile existence.  A good conversation mixes both ingredients, but a great one mixes something else.  Luck?  Atmosphere?  A good meal?  I'm not sure.  Whatever it is, that's a whole nother conversation.