Jamie smiled good-humoredly. “So what was Danyar like?”
“Oh you know,” She began playing with Jamie’s keys, “it’s nice to be home. See my family. Eat Danyarian food again. You know, though,” Bridgett fell into step with Jamie as he finished tying his shoes and headed down the hallway. “as much as Danyarian customs are second nature to me, I kept feeling restricted.”
“Oh?” Jamie prompted her. He held his hand out and she handed him his keys.
“On one hand it’s nice that everyone is so focused during work time. And there’s just an ethic of helping people with their studies. But then scholars don’t go drinking. Don’t have fun.”
Jamie smiled slightly, knowing that he was not someone ‘who had fun.’
“I guess that means you’re glad to be back.” Jamie commented.
“Of course I am! I missed my best friend of all time plus one.” She hopped-spun around to face Jamie. Bridgett had such an careless happiness. Jamie instinctively grabbed her, afraid about her proximity to the stairs. Then smiled.
“I missed you too, Bridgett.” He let her go and she raced down the stairs. Jamie quickened his pace to follow.
Jamie was breathless as they spilled out into lobby. Bridgett spun around, musing, “it’s so nice to not have constant restrictions on your behavior.”
“I’m sure. When did you get back in?”
“Just today. I only stopped to put my luggage in my room before I came to see you.”
Bridgett let a heavy sigh, and took a more subdued position next to Jamie, hooking her arm into his.
“So did people really help you with your research?” Jamie inquired.
“Oh yeah. Like parts I have trouble with. Like statistics. I, of course, lend my vast knowledge of human behavior. Although the need for social studies seems a little less widespread.”
“But I thought that your people were xenophobic. Or tended to be xenophobic. Aren’t your studies exactly what they try to avoid?” Jamie queried.
“ Yeah,” Bridgett admitted making a ‘it’s complicated’ noise, “I get the sense that most of my colleagues are fascinated by my studies, but they wouldn’t want to actually interact with the people I interview. Also they all want to believe that anything different people do differently is inferior to the way we do things back home.” Bridgett was about to continue on the same line of thought, but burst into a new conversation, “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I’ve restructured my thesis.”
“Well it has been almost six months. I thought you would.”
“Shut up. Anyway, instead of focusing on the big wide world of cultural differences and mechanisms for acceptance, I’ve narrowed it down to how cultures share technical knowledge. I was thinking about actual applications, and while it’s true that a broad study could serve as the foundation for future research, I really want to feel my legacy. I’m thinking how cultural boundaries affect the spread of information, which I think is a selective process. So it could be really fascinating to see what types of knowledge are more readily passed around-“
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