Inseparable Nomads

Adam Decker can only be described as a musical nomad. Like the bride and groom he aspires to work to live rather than live to work. It was his enthusiasm for electronic music that eventually brought him to meet Andrew at a dance festival in Toronto, Canada. Although from Cortland, New York, Adam went to Ithaca College and currently resides in Raleigh, North Carolina. Decker is a musical whirlwind and sings for several different bands, notably The Fault Line.

Alex and Andrew met through a mutual friend during Andrew’s sophomore year at college. At the time, Weber was studing Computer Science. His eclectic style and musical knowledge brought him and Andrew close and they maintained a strong friendship in subsequent years. Alex resides in New York City pursuing a career as a social dynamics coach.

Charlie and Andrew met through a group of mutual friends Sophomore year at Ithaca College. They lived together throughout both Junior and Senior years and have many fond memories of the adventures and trials college has put them through. Charlie is from Champagne-Urbana, Illinois and is currently a Physics major at Ithaca College. Charlie plans to move west for graduate school in order to continue his condensed matter studies.

Dave has been one of Andrew’s closest friends since the day they met – back in the summer of 2005 for freshman orientation at Ithaca College. They have stayed close throughout the years even living together during sophomore and junior years. Dave graduated with a Computer Science degree and currently writes software in Chicago, Illinois. Dave is one of the most educated and intellectual people a person could have the opportunity to meet, and his humility and kindness are unmatched.

Jason graduated from Ithaca College in 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. He and Andrew met through Alex Weber during a memorable Ithaca Summer. Jason happens to be one of Shelby’s best friends as well. Andrew and Jason have remained good friends despite Alex’s relocation and continue to create fond memories as Andrew’s graduation nears. Jason can be found working in Ithaca and is a champion of entertainment – he maintains a complete media center with his boyfriend David in downtown Ithaca.

Like Charlie, Mike met Andrew through a group of friends in his Sophomore year dorm at Ithaca College. Since then they have shared many adventures and lived together Junior and Senior years. They even made their first skydive together during the fall of 2007. Mike is a Senior Sociology major at Ithaca College and expects to return to his hometown of Brooklyn, New York after graduating.

Angela and Shelby became good friends their freshman year of high school when they both joined Massena Central’s stellar track team. From that point on they spent a large amount of time with each other going on adventures and analyzing everything. They both attended Ithaca College and although they had planned on being “independent” and lived apart their freshman year, they moved in together their sophomore year and lived together until Angela graduated in 2006. Traveling has been a mutual passion and to date they have traveled to Australia with the Ithaca Walkabout Downunder program in 2004, to New Zealand in 2004 on their spring break, to Newfoundland in the summer of 2007 and around Italy and Paris in 2008, along with various roadtrips and random adventures.

Angela currently resides in Binghamton, NY where she is studying at Binghamton University for her doctorate in History.

Shelby and Mallyn met way back in Mrs. Post’s 5th grade class, and after a run-down on how to properly use Mallyn’s colored pencils, have been best friends ever since. During their junior high years they spent a large portion of their time in their own made-up world plotting little schemes and driving their mothers crazy. Although Shelby transferred to a different local school for high school and eventually moved away for college, they have remained best friends for nearly 15 years.

Mallyn currently resides in Potsdam, NY with her boyfriend, Eric.

Natalia and Shelby recently met in January 2009 when Shelby flew down to Bogota to meet Andrew’s family. Although they don’t have much of a history together so far, Shelby is very excited to finally have a little sister (Shelby is an only child) to create memories and share advice with!

Natalia currently lives in Bogota, Colombia with her and Andrew’s parents. She is a senior in high school and will be graduating in June 2009. She has been accepted into New York University will be spending her first year, 2009-2010, abroad in Paris, France!

Heather and Shelby met their freshman year at Massena Central High School. Shelby was new to the school district and her and Heather became friends when Shelby was invited to eat lunch at her table. After spending a night at Heather’s place and getting to know her friends, Shelby spent quite a large portion of her high school years in her neighborhood. Heather and Shelby have been through many ups and downs together and remain good friends to this day.

Heather currently lives and works in Houston, Texas.

Alison and Shelby met while they were attending Ithaca College during Shelby’s junior year and became friends quickly after meeting. Alison is a very compassionate, understanding person who became Shelby’s confidante during difficult times. Alison and Shelby have had many fun experiences during their college years, including living together during the spring semester of 2007. They have also shared several adventures such as a road-trip to Montreal and Alison was one of the few American friends to visit Shelby in 2008 while she was living in France.

Alison currently lives in Ithaca, NY with her boyfriend, Josh and her kitty, Fives.

Maria and Shelby were lucky enough to both be randomly assigned assistanceships at Lycee Lesage during the scholastic year of 2007-2008. Although Maria speaks Spanish and little English and Shelby speaks English and little Spanish, they found mutual ground with their backgrounds of French as a second language. During the months they spent together in France they helped each other improve their French since they realized right away that they had a lot to talk about. Maria grew up in Toledo, Spain and has spent most of her adult life in Madrid studying Italian and French at University. Maria and her gracious family invited Shelby into their homes and showed her a traditional Spanish New Year for 2008. Those memories and many others will forever be cherished.

Maria accepted the offer to continue being a Spanish Assistant at Lycee Lesage again for the scholastic year of 2008-2009 and will be living in Vannes, France until May 2009.