Thursday, May 2, 2024
/public-file/1720/Ultra/Image_jpg.jpg
/public-file/1721/Ultra/Image_jpg.jpg
/public-file/1722/Ultra/Image_jpg.jpg
/public-file/1723/Ultra/Image_jpg.jpg
+ 2
Liz and I met on our exchange in Slovakia and her friendship was one of the highlights of my year there. We used to take the train to each other’s towns to meet up on the weekends to have all sorts of adventures, playing squash (badly) or just walking around finding whatever uniquely Slovak details we could. She was unbelievably funny, and my biggest memory of our time together was that we were always laughing – either at jokes about what we were observing, or stories that she had from her big family, or pranks or silly things that we did to pass the time. It can be hard to be away from home at that age, but Liz was a constant support to me, and I hope I was to her too. We swapped English language books, or clothes when we were sick of what had come in our suitcases, and so many stories of our families or friends back home. She always spoke so fiercely lovingly of her family and of their importance in her life.
I remember visiting her in Zabokreky and sharing pieces from our care packages from home, and being delighted and also horrified by the differences in the foods we would get - like American smarties or Canadian kraft dinner, things that were familiar but not quite right. When her host parents were out we indulged in kicking off the traditional Slovak house slippers and Liz wore her shoes in the house and I went barefoot and we talked about how that was how we did it at home and why each of our preferences was objectively the right way to do it. She visited me in Mikulas for a weekend after Christmas, about 4 months into our time there, and confessed in a whisper at lunch one day that she was starting to like cabbage and didn't know how to admit it after we all made such a fuss about how weird it was when we first arrived. She also told me about the ski trip she had taken to the Alps with her host family and her awe at the big mountains there, and I wondered if that experience was part of what motivated her seeking a summer job in Glacier National Park years later. I was so happy when she took that job since it gave me the opportunity to drive down for a weekend and visit her, and we immediately started laughing and reminiscing like no time had passed since our exchange year.
We hadn’t been in touch in the last few years, and I regret that I never acted on reconnecting with her. The photos that were shared on social media as tributes to her show me how much of her personality from 17 was still present at 37. Her sense of humour shines through and the bridge between who she was as a teenager and who was as an adult is so clear to see, in the absolute best possible way. My sincerest condolences to her family and friends.
