By Angelica Recierdo, inside columnist

At a school with almost 20 percent international students, it’s almost impossible as a Husky not to find yourself at one time or another as the only American in the group. When that time inevitable comes, here are the 10 things that will happen:

1.You’re alone in thinking that meeting at 9 p.m. means meeting at 9 p.m.

2. The sound of people speaking different languages during phone calls will turn into white noise.

3. “Going out” probably means going to a club, not a bar.

4. Get used to blank faces when you say common English phrases like “to kill two birds with one stone.”

5. Their travel list will be much more extensive than yours.

6. Eating at a restaurant will take hours (especially if they’re European).

7. You have to be even more on point with your knowledge of world affairs.

8. They’ll judge where you shop for clothes.

9. Bring on the hugs and kisses.

10. You now have endless promises of places to stay all over the world.

Seemingly all at once, you take on the roles of translator, tour guide and token American. Befriending the international kids makes you an advocate for the accented, a quasi-UN delegate if you will. Common ice breakers and table talk include “what’s your favorite airline?” or “wanna compare passports?” Every simple topic of discussion that you wouldn’t really talk about with your American friends – mom’s home cooking, what was high school like, favorite childhood toys – suddenly becomes the most fascinating tidbits of information with different global perspectives.

They will be some of the most interesting and beautiful people you’ll ever meet based on their rich experiences and their openness to life. You’ll laugh at the funny observations they make about American culture and in turn laugh at them for saying things like “queue” instead of “line” or “plaster” instead of “Band-Aid.” It’s kind of like having a young child in your life; you gain a fresh and charming perspective on things. They’re usually vivacious people with strong views on current events, the arts, food, etc. They’re the passionate ones with a taste for strange foods from strange lands with the stories to match.

Picture a round table in a kitchen in some studio apartment. Circling it is a Russian, a Spaniard, a Filipino, a Greek, a Moroccan and a German. No one sounds the same and broken English is fluttering intermittently between laughs and clinking glasses of wine. This group stays there for hours, phones in pockets or bags where they belong. There is so much to say and share and speak about that hands are flailing and a couple gets up to dance. Another person is re-enacting their hike up Mt. Kilimanjaro and another is reminiscing about that time they fell out of a gondola in Venice. Soon all of them are up and they stay up until the T shuts down and people stumble home with flushed cheeks and full bellies. Nights like these are filled with moments that blur time zones and borders. Nights like these make the world a better place.

-Angelica Recierdo can be reached at [email protected]

Photo courtesy 09_29_Lena_03, Creative Commons