She walked through the glass doors into the library building where the seminar room where the class would be held was and looked around at the new faces. She tried to calm herself as she felt her heartbeat pounding uncontrollably. When she came into contact with new people she always felt intensely nervous. She moved through the strangers and stood on one edge trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. She listened to the conversations around her, about the background and interests of her fellow students. A slim girl, a little taller than her, with straight long black hair and large black eyes was seen entering the waiting area and approaching her.

"Good morning Katerina." She greeted her and she returned the greeting with a warm smile and introduced the girl standing next to her. Her name was Stella and she was her dorm mate. They were the same height and she had sweet features with a warm smile making her comfortable being with her.

A short while later they decided to enter the class to get a good seat. They sat down and looked at the space around them. In the room there were white tables lined up together forming an oval void in the center. Quickly the room filled up and some were forced to stand. A middle-aged woman walked through the crowd, with dyed blonde hair and bright red lipstick. She was considerably shorter than most yet she stood out. She had an air of sophistication and her dress was reminiscent of English aristocracy. She stepped forward and sat in the center seat where she could see everyone. She waited for a moment so that silence could spread and introduced herself while giving the two young people sitting next to her the opportunity to hand out the pamphlets she took out of her bag.

"Not enough for everyone so you can share one per two people." 

When it reached her hands Lydia realized it was a medical article and in the top left corner was a photo of two skeletons sharing a rather intimate moment. She felt her cheeks flame but tried to ignore it. She heard several exclamations from those around her about this particular photo and saw the teacher smiling smugly. 

"This is the logo of the class and as you have understood in my class we will be dealing with medical articles written in English. I want you in these two semesters to become familiar with English terminology and be able to read them comfortably as well as write a decent abstract." She explained to them. 

She looked at her students and then asked if there were any of them who didn't know English well. She saw that no one raised their hand and continued. She gave them ten minutes to read the text and underline any unfamiliar words. Lydia started reading but soon realized that there was a lot of medical terminology and some of it was quite difficult for her even though English had become her second language after so many years of friendship with the Yang family.

She looked at Katerina's sheet and noticed that she was having just as much difficulty as her. So the lesson continued with the interpretation of unfamiliar words and the basic structure of medical articles. The teacher's only requirement was that they had a notebook with them so that they could write the unknown words in it rather than on the photocopy she would hand out. 

"Interesting!" Stella commented as she exited the classroom after the lesson was over. "It won't be the classic lesson we're all used to and love!"  

"So it seems!" Thodoris replied, a boy with very fluffy curly dark brown hair, a long face and intensely fleshy lips. 

They were joined by another girl with long straight brown hair, just as skinny as Katerina. They stopped talking and turned towards her.

"May I introduce Anastasia! We're from the same island." Katerina said and everyone in one voice greeted the new addition to their group. 

Lydia looked around at the new people in her life and inevitably compared them to her childhood friends and wondered what they were like. She wondered if they had also made new friends. They were certainly more social than she was  and always made easy acquaintances wherever they went. Unlike her who until last year her only company, except for Christmas and summer when they all got together, was her sister. And for that she was more distressed that she would see them all together again in four years probably, if they had not been estranged by then, as the saying goes that eyes that are not seen are soon forgotten, she reminded herself with a pessimistic mood.

"Will you come for a walk with us?" Stella asked her, snapping her out of her thoughts. She agreed and they soon made their way to the bus stop. 

They wandered around the city center talking and laughing. Stella was the most talkative of them all and seemed to have great chemistry with Theodore creating a fun duo. The two of them were leading the way, with Katerina and Anastasia following behind along with Lydia chit-chatting. They were different from each other and yet from the beginning she felt comfortable with them as if they had known each other for a long time. It was a beautiful feeling that pleasantly surprised her. 

“So you have seven other siblings!?" asked Katerina and Stella had heard their conversation, turned around and stopped abruptly making Lydia fall over. Theodore turned around too, looking at the girl as if she had just come from another planet.

Katerina looked at them innocently and replied shyly.

"Yes we are two sisters and then six more boys." 

"Does anyone else have that many siblings?" asked Theodore but the others nodded their heads to a no.

"I'm an only child." Anastasia commented and Stella replied the same. 

"I have a younger sister." Thodoris said and looked at Lydia. "You?" 

"An older sister. Three years. She's studying to be a teacher." She answered them and started walking for the others to follow her. 

They continued for a while without talking, enjoying the walk until they stopped at a cafeteria they liked, which already had a lot of students. They decided to sit at a table outside and continued their conversation. 

She looked at them once again and felt grateful that she had so quickly met people she seemed to fit in with from the beginning. 

That night she decided to get an internet connection for her house. She wanted to be able to write down her new experiences and send them to her friends. To be able to communicate with them and see them. She looked at their picture and wondered why she was starting to miss Christian more than the others. Why was she hoping he would send her a message? She wondered what he would have thought of her new company. Why wonder if he would have approved of them? Why hadn't he sent her a message to find out how she was doing in her new beginning? She sighed and hugged the couch’s cushion. She looked out of the window at the stars and wished herself a happy new beginning.