[MANY PEOPLE TALKING AT ALLISON DINING HALL]
This is the sound of Allison dining hall, the dining hall cherubs eat at while in the program. The space, which includes a variety of food options, is undeniably busy. But hidden among the clanking of plates and jostling of ice into plastic cups are small moments of cherub friendship. For Scarlett Ashford, the volume of the dining hall didn’t deter her from an unexpected activity.
SCARLETT ASHFORD: Jiayue and I sort of bonded over the fact that we both like Asian dramas, so we’ve been watching C-dramas together in the dining hall at Allison. She’ll put her phone up on the pepper and salt shakers to, like, prop it up, and then we’ll just sit there and sort of giggle while we watch it.
Tessa Johnson found food as a bridge for people from vastly different places. Tessa is the only cherub from Missouri this year.
TESSA JOHNSON: I think that something that has been super fun has been talking to people about where we’re from, and I feel like we’ve done a lot of that in the dining hall, especially because I think so much of where you’re from and your culture is tied to what food you eat, and so we’ve kinda been talking about if this is similar or different to where we’re from and getting to show people pictures.
Discussions about the food served at Allison connected many cherubs, Sophia Ahmed said.
SOPHIA AHMED: I think it’s fun because we all tell each other, “Oh the dining hall is good today,” or “I would skip Allison today.”
Although not every cherub was watching movies in the dining hall, Scarlett got the sentiment.
SCARLETT ASHFORD: At least we can have this moment to just bond and strengthen our friendship through cheesy Asian dramas.
[CHERUBS AUDIO THEME MUSIC]
Reporting for Cherubs Audio, I’m Lucy Shirrell. See you next time.
Music provided by @prettyjohn1 on Pixabay.
