SYA ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT - 15 Minute Reflection Writing (in class)

  The Feeling of Delaware in Marseille

The sound of the waves crashing and then receding, only to crash again, is intertwined with ambient French chatter and a few other foreign languages, creating a calming background noise as I lie on the beach in Marseille. My head is lying in the crook of my arm, and I feel the warmth of the sun warming the hair on the arms I lie in, as well as on my crazy saltwater hair on my head. There is an occasional breeze, and the occasional tap on my shoulder from Kaiya, showing me an Instagram Reel that made her laugh. This occasional wind is not bothering me because it feels like a wave of relief from the heat, though the sand blowing with it does irritate my eyes a little behind my sunglasses. This occasional tap on my shoulder is not bothering me either, because it lets me share a moment of laughter with the girl lying next to me on her towel. These moments are my favorites. Just little pockets of joy and smiles shared between us on this beach in the south of France. You would think we would get sick of each other after being together almost 24/7 for two weeks. And, yes, there are many moments of walking in silence and sleeping in our separate beds back to back– because really, there is only so much to say that can last for two weeks. However, these small moments, shared over stupid videos and the comfort of shared peace on this beach, are moments I hope to remember forever, no matter the video or the amount of laughter. 

After I chuckle at the short clip, I lay my head back down on my arm, adjusting my head to ensure my sunglasses are not getting in the way and my AirPod is snug in my ear. The breeze blows by again, and my hair gets more tangled and sandy, but I am at peace, and Kaiya is giggling at her phone. I feel my lips smile and my skin bronze. However, I can’t help but feel a nagging sense of nostalgia. Memories from the beach in Delaware or my aunt’s beach house in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, slip into my consciousness. I don’t want to think about home now; I just want to smile at the video and lie on this beach with Kaiya. Though it is a nagging feeling, I can’t help but give into. 

My towel is soft against my skin, and the sounds of the beach are the same as they are back at home. The scent of the breeze vaguely resembles the Delaware air. The tapping on my shoulder feels the same as the fingers from my friends from home. The videos are different, and the face that shows them to me is a face I found from SYA, but the moments remind me so much of ones I’ve already experienced. 

This is an odd feeling to me. Experiencing something new yet so familiar and habitual. I hear a distant mumble of English from two friends a little further down the beach. This piques my attention, and I look up at them. Instead of looking at them and comparing them to Kaiya and me, I imagine them as my friends and I from home. These people are British, and their words are slightly different than the ones my friends and I use, and their accents are real, unlike the fake ones my friends and I sometimes slip into. They look quite different from my friends from home and I, but their interactions spark a feeling of familiarity and home to me. I think about the beach days in Delaware and New Jersey with my friends and family– so similar to what the British people and I are doing, yet an ocean apart. I’m unsure whether I'm at peace or unnerved by this feeling of remembering Delaware, as it's a place that few people care to be reminded of or even know exists. The breeze blows my hair again, and I am back in Marseille. But the lingering saltwater stuck to my skin feels distantly like the water from the Atlantic Ocean.