This year, among 90 cherubs, there were nine international students from China, the United Kingdom, Ukraine and South Korea. While every student experienced the same lectures, field trips, assignments and fun activities, they found different words to describe the program.
百感交集
For Sihan Liu, a student from Tibet, the program encompasses so many different things that he said it’s difficult to find the right word in English. Luckily, there’s one in Mandarin. According to Google Translate, the word “百感交集” means “a flood of mixed emotions.”
At cherubs, Liu said he tried to balance work, social life and sleeping. While sleeping was the hardest to accomplish, Liu said work and social life made the program’s slogan, “the best summer of your life,” come true.
“I feel the beauty of the friendship we have here,” Liu said. “I’ve never had such a friend group like I’ve found here.”
Liu said he succeeded in lectures and assignments, despite tight deadlines and preparation for future college applications.
“I had tons of opportunities and lectures during the program, and it helped me to hone my journalism skills.”
Суцвіття
Vlada Hordiichuk of Lutsk, Ukraine said she learned to not be afraid to make mistakes. As a student from Ukraine, she was worried the language barrier would put her behind other participants in the program. Yet, she was wrong.
“‘Суцвіття’ means ‘buds of flowers on the tree that bloom in the spring,’” Hordiichuk said. “Like different flowers in cуцвіття, cherubs come from various backgrounds. But when we are together, we form a beautiful bouquet that makes us create better stories.”
원
Sophie Lee of Daegu, South Korea, associates the program with the Korean word for “circle.” For the past four weeks, many of her evenings have been full of storytelling and listening to each other’s hardships and joys.
Lee said that these deep late-night conversations helped her to reflect on herself and get to know more cherubs around her.
“You can sit in a circle, look at each other’s faces and talk about stuff you normally wouldn’t talk about,” Lee said. “It shows how genuine the program is, how it can change you and how you can make lifelong friends.”
आभारी or grateful
Meher Sareen of London said she had always dreamed about getting into cherubs. She said she is grateful for the opportunity to meet people who are eager to hear her experience, but also to share theirs.
In Hindi, “आभारी” means being grateful for a physical thing. Sareen said people use the word in Indian culture to acknowledge people’s actions.
For the past four weeks, Sareen has been आभारी many times.
“In the second week, I got pretty sick, and my wonderful roommate and other friends took so much time and effort to make sure I was OK, even though we were all busy juggling so many stories,” Sareen said. “Knowing that their shoulders were there to lean on made such a difference.”
No matter where the cherubs came from, when they got in the program, they spoke a common language — one of friendship, diversity and passion.
