Humans of the Swarthmorean: Nicole Liu
Nicole Liu at the Swarthmore Train Station. Photo: Shail Modi
I was born in Hong Kong. I grew up in Shenzhen, which is a city in mainland China right next to Hong Kong. I grew up traveling back and forth between the two cities, because I was getting my Mandarin education in Shenzhen, but I was getting my English education in Hong Kong. I’m not a stranger to crossing borders.
When I was 15, I had the great privilege, with the support of my parents, to go to school in Boston, which was close to where my American relatives were. There was this whole annual dance where I would go to school in Boston for a year, then come back home to Hong Kong or Shenzhen in the summer.
The first time I visited Swarthmore, I was on a college tour with my dad. I had a very tightly packed schedule. The first thing we did was grab a bite at Hobbs and then hike up the hill. At first, we didn’t know how to get on Magill Walk, and we didn’t want to step on the grass or anything, because it looked so well-maintained. It felt like we were walking the wrong way. So, we had this sort of confusion about how to reach Parrish, where the campus tour started. It seemed like Swarthmore was itself a big train station. At the time, we were just kind of travelers stumbling, trying to figure out where the actual paths were. We were munching on Hobbs BLTs and looking up and down the grass lawn. That kind of set the tone for me.
I’m a big fan of bus stops, train stations, and airports. I don’t know why, but I’m at my most inspired and productive when I’m forced to be “on the go.” For me, the town center of Swarthmore is, solidly, the train station. Because that’s the midpoint between the college campus and the many stores and restaurants that the Swarthmore township offers.
I feel like, as a student, you automatically enter into a different relationship with a college town. Which is not to say that Swarthmore’s wider community doesn’t have its own flavors, its own richness independent of the college. But, as a student, you sort of expect it to be this auxiliary component to your existence here. It’s like: How can I, as someone who probably will only live in Swarthmore for four years, offer any meaningful discussion that contributes to the wider Swarthmore community?
Is Swarthmore College just an enlarged version of a train stop in my life? If we’re going to be sappy about it.
This piece was edited by Madelon Basil, a Swarthmore College junior interning at the Swarthmorean this spring. This internship is funded by the college’s Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility.
