The beginning
of my semester, like many students, was rocky and unexpected.
On top of
unanticipated homesickness, I experienced nightly anxiety attacks and lack of
sleep from the time change the first week abroad. After the first weekend spent
here, I received a phone call from my parents which set a rough opening scene
for my whole semester.
A perpetrator
broke into the home of my best friend’s brother and shot him before leaving. He
was in critical condition from multiple shot wounds.
After hearing
the news, my mother immediately thought about my mental state and wellbeing,
concerned about how I would process the news. At about this time, I met my
Meet-A-Family.
I, along with two
other Western Kentucky University
students, Susan Creech and Rebekah Huffman, have had the joy of calling
Reverend John and Christine Bruce our English “Mum” and Dad this semester.
Established in 1983 and now celebrating 30 years of success, the
Meet-A-Family program of Harlaxton
College was made so
visiting American students had the chance to meet and build relationships with
local families in Grantham. It’s also designed to involve students in the
community and give them a sense of British identity while spending their
semester abroad.
Before I met
John and Christine, my mother let them know of her worry for me after the news.
A mother and father themselves, John and Christine immediately reached out and
invited me and my other semester sisters to their home before the Meet-A-Family
program officially started.
Although
meeting for the first time in the midst of a stressful and gloomy event, they
opened their home and allowed us to be our goofy, American selves in their cozy
family room from week to week. Being in a home rather than a grand manor during
those hard first weeks impacted my time at Harlaxton immensely. If I didn’t
have my Meet-A-Family to find my home away from home, I would have crumbled.
Each week
since the beginning Susan, Rebekah and I have gone to John and Christine’s home
every Wednesday night, shared a lovely home cooked meal and watched a film to
finish the night.
It’s almost
habit now, anticipating John’s message to schedule the specific time he would
pick us up from the Manor via FaceBook. It was the one thing we could always
rely on each week as our lives were filled with homework, homesickness and
travel.
John and
Christine, although wise from age, are young at heart. Now retired, they both
have more time to pour into students each semester and influence and be
influenced by each set of students that come to Harlaxton semester after
semester. John’s youthful personality and Christine’s lovely tenderness are
genuinely welcoming and make it easy for one to feel right at home as soon as
you walk through their front door.
The
Meet-A-Family program has impacted my life by teaching me more about British
culture, more about the difference in generations, and the importance of
relationships. John and Christine have taught me much more than I could have
learned in a classroom during my time abroad, and they helped me cope with a
rough beginning of the semester.
From our family outings to the town in which
they grew up, to walking around the church they were married in, to them
allowing us to play with their loveable dog, Katie, my times with John and
Christine will never be forgotten. I can now say that I have a Mum and a Dad in
England,
and that’s all thanks to Harlaxton’s Meet-A-Family program.
From left to
right: Reverend John Bruce, Susan Creech, Katie Greiner, Rebekah Huffman and
Christine Bruce enjoying a family outing to John and Christine’s native
Spalding, England.
-Katie Greiner
