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THIS IS MY FRIEND ELLIE AND SHE DROVE ME HERE!!!



Nothing takes the edge off arriving alone in a new city than being picked up at the airport by your best friend. You should have seen the glee of our reunion by the luggage claim. You would think it had been two years since we last saw each other instead of two weeks.Meeting Ellie made coming into this adventure feel a little more like coming home.

Ellie and I met our Freshman year at Bard. She lived across the hall from me, and the sign on her door warning of her guinea pigs drew me in. She let me hold them and the tentative friendship began to form. The friendship became less tentative after I ran across the hall to the sound of screaming. Ellie, my dear city girl, was being terrorized by a stink bug, something she had no context for. 

A large part of the foundation of our friendship is making fun of each other for where we’re from. I tease her about being a bio major who’s terrified of nature, and she teases me for not knowing how sidewalks and public transportation work. The other part is built on the fact that she’s the kind of friend who picks me up at the airport, and I wrote an essay to get her out of a parking ticket. Ellie’s one of the best people I’ve ever known, and a large part of why I’m here in Chicago now. 

“Chicago has two seasons: winter and construction.”
-Ellie

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