45 Jen, Small Town to Big City

J: Hey Yang Chen, isn't your college reunion coming up soon?

Y: 没错，一想到要和多年没见面的同学相聚，我激动得连觉都睡不着了。

J:  You know we have a saying, "The friends you make in college are the friends you have for life."  And today we're going to meet Jennifer and Sharrin.  They are roommates in my building.  But after talking to them I found out just how unique their roommate relationship is.    

Y: Unique? 好朋友又成为roommates，分租一个公寓。这有什么特别之处呢？

J: Well, I know it doesn't sound very unique. But wait until you hear their story.

JENNIFER: OK, My name is Jennifer and I live in Washington D.C. in a neighborhood called Mt. Pleasant.  And I live with one other woman, Sharrin, in that apartment.

Sharrin: My name is Sharrin and I'm 26 years old.

Jennifer: And I'm 25.

Y: Sharrin今年26岁，Jennifer今年25岁。 她们和你住在一个公寓楼。那她们俩到底是怎么认识的？

J: Well, they told me they first met their freshman year of college.  They were in some freshman tutorial writing class together that all freshmen had to take.  

Y: 虽然她们是同一个年级，不过她们不一定每天都上同样的课吧？

J: Exactly.  In the States, it's a little different than in China. The real closeness comes from living in the same dormitory or dorm for short.  Next, let's hear again from Sharrin. 

SHARRIN: We first met when we were going to college together.  We met our freshman year. And uh we had a freshman tutorial class together that all freshmen had to take to practice writing.  And so we met through that class and we also lived in the same dorm.  And so we hung a lot through that and we just stayed friends all four years of college. 

Y: 说了半天，她们在大学一年级就认识，然后成为室友，毕业后还是朋友，现在还住同一个公寓。我还是不知道这种关系有什么特别之处？

J: The unique part comes after college.  Without talking about it together, Yang Chen, both women independently decided to join the Peace Corps.

Y:  真的？

J: Yeah, isn't that amazing?

Y: Wow, 她们两并没有商量，但是各自决定要加入和平队。

J: I know, but that's not all...

Y: 还有啊？

J: They were sent to the same country. Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa

SHARRIN: And after college we both decided independently to join the Peace Corp.  And we ended up in the same country in Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa.  So we were there for about a year.  

Y: Wow, 真是越来越有意思了。她们不但分别决定要加入和平队，而且还被派到同一个国家，西非的科特迪瓦。

J: But wait, there's more.  After a year in Cote d'Ivoire they also lived together for three months in France!

Y: 两个人一起在法国住了三个月？你想想看，如果能和自己最好的朋友一起周游世界，那该多好啊！

SHARRIN: After Cote d'Ivoire we traveled to France and we lived together there for about 3 months.  And then we moved back to the States and we both lived with our families ... I think we were home for a few months and then we both decided to move to Washington DC.  And we're roommates now.   
 
Y:  太不可思议了。这简直就是命运总是能把她们带到一起。  那现在Jennifer 和 Sharrin生活在华盛顿市的Mt. Pleasant这个居民区。她们对这一带有什么感受呢？

J: Jennifer is from the Midwest and both she and Sharrin went to school in a very small town.  So, Jennifer really likes the small town community feel of Mt. Pleasant.  
 
JENNIFER: It's a neighborhood I really like. The neighborhood has a different feel.  It has a community feel in a larger city, which is really nice to have that smaller town feel. I'm from the Midwest and I went to school in a town of 9,000 and that included 1,300 of the population from the college.  So, it is a small town. 

Y:  Jennifer在中西部的小城镇长大，所以她很怀念那种小城镇的感觉。Mt. Pleasant正好满足了她的这种需要。 

J: And it's even nicer with Jennifer and Sharrin as neighbors!  Thanks for joining us today on American Cafe!