In case you were curious, the phrase above is none other than an afternoon greeting in Japanese, and how appropriate, it being 5:00 on a rather amusing Friday afternoon. The Japanese language breezes in and out of my mind from time to time, reminiscent of my elementary school education (Japanese lessons were incorporated into our daily schedule). Learning the language did not seem out of the ordinary to me at the time, but looking back, strikes me as pretty unique. It's funny the specifics you remember from childhood... I mean, hey, I can still count up to 100 in Japanese...sweet.
My name is Sarah Escherich, I am a junior advertising major (hopefully on the creative track) and human rights minor at none other than Southern Methodist University in lovely Dallas, Texas. Originally from San Clemente, California, I may be a long way from home, missing the ocean and my hiking trails, but Dally, as I like to call it, has become my unexpected home-away-from-home. I have been called many things as a foreigner to the great state of Texas, hippie, gypsy, and Shlarah being my most common titles. Granted, my chosen mode of transportation is a sea-foam-green beach cruiser, complete with dangle-y handlebar covers, and tires currently in need of inflation, but I didn't expect the hippie card to be pulled on me so suddenly. I may be quite a bit more liberally inclined than the average SMU student, consider myself to harbor an open mind, and enjoy Austin's music festivals...okay so I may, in fact, be a new-age hippie, but labeling and stereotypes are not my cup of tea.
At home, I am a surfer, a surf instructor, an employee of Girl in the Curl Surf Shop, a dedicated volleyball player, a hiking enthusiast, a beach bum. While I am here, I enjoy perusing the funkyness of Dallas that has yet to be explored by the masses (shout-out to Dolly Python, Lula B's, South Side on Lamar, Crooked Tree, and Art is Art... my personal favs). I like to cruise around town on my bike, especially along the Katy trail, and explore every detour that I can find. I love sitting on the grass at the big park off of McFarlin and watching the water spout thing-a-ma-jig in the pond sway back and forth. I am a big fan of the Meadows dance program (secretly wish I could dance) and I try to attend every single performance, my lovely dancing friends can attest to that. I love stumbling upon a piece of spare charcoal in the studios at Meadows and "sketching" on whatever I can find. These are things that may make me different from some, but at the same time similar to others.
To quote one of my best friends, Zoe Weintraub, who is currently studying abroad in Paris, "as people (and as individuals) we tend to look for distinctions, differences, our own exceptional qualities that make us stand out from the rest instead of 'chercher les memes chose' looking for the same things, the things that unite us, the commonalities."
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