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Alfie P.

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Like any good story, this one starts with a call to an Uber. I should end the story right there and let you do the math. However, this Uber story doesn’t involve alcohol, drama or a dateline story that ends in my death from climbing into a car with a stranger. As I recently turned twenty-one and have started the lengthy process of growing up and becoming an adult, I made a trip to the DMV to get my new license. This is where Alfie comes in as he was my driver that Uber gave me. I decided to turn the tables on my driver and had a great conversation for seven minutes while also making a new friend. What more could you ask for?

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Amber

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I met Amber through a mutual friend in Boulder and got to know her over a night of playing scrabble, drinking beer and eating burgers at Mountain Sun. My initial impression of her was that she was one of the most poised and eloquent people I had ever met that equally embodied grace and kindness. A week later we were both invited to celebrate our mutual friends families birthday at the Gold Hill restaurant in Gold Hill, Colorado. We ended up sitting next to each other at the massive dinning table in the log cabin and before digging into our food and listening to live music, we talked life.

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Trent C.

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While in Hanoi, Vietnam I had a morning off from work and decided to meander around the city and see where my feet took me with no conscious plans in mind other than writing and enjoying the day. My feet ended up taking me through the twisted streets of the Old Quarter and up a floor to the balcony of a vegan restaurant where I sat perched outside writing and drinking a blended green  juice. Wanting to capture the moment, I went back inside and asked the first person I saw (there were only four people there) if it would be okay if he took a picture for me. Here enters Trent. Trent was one of two bearded men in the restaurant (the other one was wearing plaid) and had he been there a moment too late or soon, I would have gone with the other lumberjack. I’m so glad Trent was there when he was. We soon discovered that we were one of the same and had kindred souls. I have never had a conversation with anyone ever where we immediately were thinking and conversing on the same wavelength. It was inspiring and a unicorn moment to say the least. After realising that Trent was a fascinating and compelling person after a hot minute, I asked if I could intentionally interview him.

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Tom F.

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On an early Friday morning, I sat down next to Tom in row twenty-one on an average day 10,000 plus feet in the air. As I was heading out on a work trip over the winter break, I decided that there was no better place to make a friend than on an airplane. Yes, I am that annoying person on an airplane that you hope and pray that you don’t sit next to because you just want to get through the flight. Like most people, you didn’t come on an airplane to make friends. I may be worse than sitting next to a crying baby. I wasn’t even initially sitting next to Tom, but after my other seat mates stopped conversing to me and went back to knitting and playing bejeweled, I decided to mingle around the plane.

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Walt J

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You know when someone shows up to Vietnam in cowboy boots, blue jeans, a leather hat and button down shirt, they are a Republican…I mean a character and are going to have great stories. That first impression remained true as I got to know Grandpa Walt the last two weeks traveling through Vietnam with him, his daughter and granddaughter who is adopted from Vietnam. Grandpa Walt is the kind of person that wakes up at six in the morning every day to go walking just because he can and would feel to stagnant if he wasn’t moving. Everyday he carried his go pro with him while photographing every moment with his other fancy camera. He sees life through a lense, literally and figuratively that is his own unique brand of Grandpa Walt.

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Keane A.

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A year ago I didn’t know who Keane was. We had both been members of the Resident Hall Association and were familiar with each other through the weekly meetings and gatherings in Williams Village, but genuinely didn’t know each other. The last month of school something sparked between us and we became best friends faster than you can say hashtag Be Boulder. We bonded over our quirky love for Hilary Duff, laying out in the sun on the field in Williams Village and complaining about people who complain about life. Over the summer our friendship continued to grow as we stayed in touch despite both of our busy schedules. We mostly bonded over the fact that our families were smothering us. True story. As we came back to Boulder this semester, we have remained steady friends with regular lunches and occasional weekend shennanigans.

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Gabe R.

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Goob. I mean, Gabe. I met Gabe the fall of my first year at college through the Resident Hall Association and Williams Village Program board. Aka the two places where all the nerds and people who feel like they need to do something with their college experience other than study and party go to gather. His presence alone is a massive ball of contagious, positive energy that echoes off everyone around him. It’s easy to be happy around Gabe and his sincere goofiness. He doesn’t take life too seriously while also being completely serious that he is having the time of his life at all moments. It’s a beautiful energy to be around.

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Xia A.D.R.

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The first thing you should know about Xia (Chi-a) that you would never know unless you were fortunate enough to spend time in her enlightening presence is that this girl has style and pizazz beyond your wildest dreams. She is a cluster of energy, intelligence and whimsical fun that we often think we have to lose as we stop playing in the leaves and dressing up as princesses. Somehow she has bypassed this false ideology in the world that we have to grow up in order to show as an intelligent being and has merged all sides.

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