Amis

What I love in French is the way we speak about friends. There are two words for 'friend' : copain(copine) and ami(amie). Well, there are technically four words due to the masculine and feminine versions of both, mais bon. Two words. Copains are the people you know, you like, your friends, but they don't play a particularly huge part in your life. But they're great to have. Amis are the people close to you, the people around you that you love very strongly. I guess you'd describe them as your 'best' friends, but more as the group of best friends that you have... in Australia, I'd say that my dance family, or my clarity group, are some of my 'amies', for example. But there are also your 'meilleur(e)(s) ami(e)(s)', or 'best friends'. (The 'e' and 's' are there because of the whole male/female/plural thing). This are the people that you could never let go, ever, and they are an integral part of you that you couldn't stand to lose.



I find it hard to have meilleur(e)s ami(e)s in Australia. I have ami(e)s, that is for sure, but most of them have a meilleur(e) ami(e), who is not me. I guess my sister is my meilleure amie over there.



Over here, however, I have somehow managed to find three people that make my life amazing (and my host family, but I'll talk about them another time). These are Marie-Anne, Michele, and Florian.



Marie-Anne (otherwise known as Kiki)
This girl is INSANE. She is unique and special and I absolutely love her. I don't care what anyone says, she's amazing. Kiki has this joy for life that just shines out of her and it definately shows when she laughs. When she laughs, you do too- it's contagious- and also very... interesting... you start off my laughing at her (in a loving way) but end up laughing with her. Apparently when I first met her I had an expression on my face as if to say... oh crap... she's MAD! But we talked and she wowed me with her amazing flute-playing skills, and I'm proud to say that she is without a doubt a meilleure amie.



Michele (Mimi)
Oh Michele, what can I say about you? You always bring a smile to my face and you always let me hug you. Your explanations when I don't understand a word can be highly amusing but always make sense. She's the one ready to help me when I'm about to kill myself because I don't understand l'Odysee or philo or maths or Spanish or or or... Mimi was one of the first people in my class to really be friendly to me, not to her gain, but because she's just adorable like that. And she is always there to discuss our nutty philo teacher (Devil: Do that! It's good! Angel: Don't do that! It's not good!) or to hurry up Marie-Anne and Henri and discuss the possibility of throwing water/mashed potato on them. Je t'aime TROP FORTE Mimi.



Florian
When I first met him, I didn't know what to think. He was the dark silent one that never said a word in class, but I got to know him because of the ever-awesome Flora and Salome, and we both took the bus which meant that there was someone that I was able to hang with and annoy =) As I got to know him though, I realised that Florian is one of the most awesome people I have ever met in my life and my year wouldn't be the same without him.

And I have a lot of other awesome amis that I've made, French, Kiwi, Aussie... from everywhere. Thanks. You guys made my year.

Closeness has nothing to do with distance.