A family among strangers

During the Student Voices travels, we ate out a lot. The first big night out was at Swanky Bubbles from Jenn's birthday. The meal was served family style. We ordered a bunch of food to share and the dishes were brought out as soon as they were prepared in the kitchen. It was excellent see people try new foods and sharing dishes, as if at home among family.

When going to other restaurants, we often found dishes to large for individuals. This is something I find in American restaurants everywhere. I suppose Americans just eat too large of portions, but I am one of those who is never able to finish a dish either. We found it easiest to continue this family style dining. At each restaurant, we'd order enough dishes for all of us and share, making sure to have vegetarian dishes and different styles of food for each person's taste. I believe we all had a few new things and learned a lot about each other from this.

It was not just the dining, however, but much more of our trip which created a temporary family while spending 12 days together. We shared rooms, checked in on each other, spent the evenings relaxing together, teased each other and fought over seats in the van. By the end of the trip, I felt very comfortable around each person; such that if we were to spend more time together, we would even learn each other's secrets.