I made a new friend today.
He is from Venezuela, lives in Buenos Aires, and does digital marketing as I do.
Seeing as I didn’t purchase a ticket ahead of time, I decided to arrive at the museum an hour before it opened to ensure that I could get in without having to wait in a long line.
During that hour, it rained heavily.
Comfortable under my umbrella, I observed the man in line next to me. He stood quietly, drenched in his hoodie, with no jacket or umbrella to keep him dry.
In an attempt to do a good deed, I offered to let him stand under my umbrella.
And that marked the beginning of a new friendship. I talked to him for about an hour, waiting in line for the museum to open.
But there was a catch—he didn’t speak any English, and I didn’t speak any Spanish. We had to use a translator app on my phone to communicate.
Patiently, one message at a time, we talked about where we had been and where we were going. We asked questions, we joked, and we learned the details of each other’s life.
Meanwhile a bride and groom were getting wedding photos in front of the Louvre Pyramid as heavy rain poured down.
“It’s a bad omen that they are getting married in the rain,” my friend said to me.
I laughed and replied, “Yeah, you might be right.”
A friendly Australian woman and her son stood in front of us. We chatted for a bit with them.
In front of the Australians was a woman from California.
After only 15 minutes of knowing each other, this unsuspecting assortment of people and I bonded together over our shared mission: to get inside the Louvre. In our eyes, we were the most devoted and most deserving, standing in the rain, an hour before the museum even opened.
After 90 minutes in the rain, the museum finally let us enter. We celebrated as a group.
Once I was inside, amongst thousands of people and paintings and sculptures and artifacts, I realized that the most interesting thing I would see on this day was not in the museum.
But, in fact, it was outside. A group of people from all over the world, keeping each other company, passing the time.
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I made a new friend today.
He is from Venezuela, lives in Buenos Aires, and does digital marketing as I do.
Seeing as I didn’t purchase a ticket ahead of time, I decided to arrive at the museum an hour before it opened to ensure that I could get in without having to wait in a long line.
During that hour, it rained heavily.
Comfortable under my umbrella, I observed the man in line next to me. He stood quietly, drenched in his hoodie, with no jacket or umbrella to keep him dry.
In an attempt to do a good deed, I offered to let him stand under my umbrella.
And that marked the beginning of a new friendship. I talked to him for about an hour, waiting in line for the museum to open.
But there was a catch—he didn’t speak any English, and I didn’t speak any Spanish. We had to use a translator app on my phone to communicate.
Patiently, one message at a time, we talked about where we had been and where we were going. We asked questions, we joked, and we learned the details of each other’s life.
Meanwhile a bride and groom were getting wedding photos in front of the Louvre Pyramid as heavy rain poured down.
“It’s a bad omen that they are getting married in the rain,” my friend said to me.
I laughed and replied, “Yeah, you might be right.”
A friendly Australian woman and her son stood in front of us. We chatted for a bit with them.
In front of the Australians was a woman from California.
After only 15 minutes of knowing each other, this unsuspecting assortment of people and I bonded together over our shared mission: to get inside the Louvre. In our eyes, we were the most devoted and most deserving, standing in the rain, an hour before the museum even opened.
After 90 minutes in the rain, the museum finally let us enter. We celebrated as a group.
Once I was inside, amongst thousands of people and paintings and sculptures and artifacts, I realized that the most interesting thing I would see on this day was not in the museum.
But, in fact, it was outside. A group of people from all over the world, keeping each other company, passing the time.
