The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 53, Ed. 1, Wednesday, April 24, 1991 Page: 3 of 8
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Cindy Rose
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Story by Gretchen Schultz v
w
hen Cindv Rose stcrmed off a
plane at the Abilene Regional Airport as a
. ircsnman sue had never been in Texas.
; Her new city looked vastly different from
; her hometown of Bowie Md. a suburb or
; Washington D.C.
- . Behind her stood a city of monuments
and memorials the hub of American
- (""-""-" suite iouu. uciore ncr lay me
y .;flatlands'of West Texas dotted with
mesquite trees. She was greeted by a brisk
summer wind and friendly Abilcnians
who spoke with unfamiliar drawls.
Although the sudden change of scenery
was a bit of a shock Cindy said the transi-
tion from big city to West Texas town was
"no big deal." Exploring the world and
meeting new people is the thing she likes
to do most. Everybody nt ACU was n
V stranger to her.
" One of the first people Cindy met was
her roommate Susan Stem still her room-
mate today. "Cindy and I have had our
ups and downs" Susan admitted "but
we've definitely had more ups than
downs." The first thing they did was cat
dinner in the Bean. "Since that minute
we've done almost everything together"
Susan said.
Susan senior accounting major from
mjtybbpflk remembers meeting Uvc lone-
wme freshman. "The firttthing I thought
about her was Oh my gosh she's so
skinny' " she laughed. Cindy seems as
fragile as a china doll awkwardly perched
on the edge of a bookshelf; her thin frame
and almost-shy smite make her appear
vulnerable to the slightest commotion. She
is a quiet person but for from introverted.
c
indy and Susan spent the summer
' after their freshman year working at a
Mount Rushmorc gift shop in the Black
Hills of South Dakota. About 2 million
tourists come from all over the world each
; jjcar to gci a glimpse of the gigantic
jmajestio faces of America's heroes
i George Washington Thomas Jefferson
Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln
Carved into the northeast side of the
J granite mountain. The four often arc cov
ered by on carly-moming haze.
Cindy said the camera-clad tourists
often asked her and Susan ridiculous and
sometimes unanswerable questions about
the 6.000-fect high mountain. One woman
asked Susan if she commuted to Mount
Rushmorc from Texas. Another woman
i (tuKtu vinujr wiia nit HUIWI5 uiu 11) pro-
! teel the president's faces from rain. "As if
we were supposed to climb up there and
; cover thcml" Cindy said.
; But the most annoying question visi-
tors asked was: "What time docs the fog
lift from the mountain?" Cindy said she
.and Susan eventually devised the perfect
j answer "We would look at our watches
! with absolute straight faces and say 'Usu-
' ully right between 10;45 and 1 1 a.m'"
Cindy explained.
t . . i
I
rasr.rfv -
iy
D
uring the spring semester of their
EJ "7 sophomore year Cindy and Susan went
even farther from home to study at the
University pi loutousc in southern
' France Some of their fondest memories
pf their four years us roommates arc of the
months they spent exploring the cafes
museums and castles of'Europe. "We real-
t jy got to Jcnow each other a lot better over
there" Susan explained. "You're thrown
into a culture where you have to think
iv t aoout wno you arc.
If Cindy and Susan arrived in Toulouse
without their mends without their fami-
lies and without the security of a large
'church. "'We had an adjusting period when
wc got over there" Susan explained. "We
didrt'l have our cars and we didn't have
other people to sec. We were together all
the time."
They remember trudging wearily
v through the streets of Toulouse carrying
f heavy bags laden with groceries their
is definitely not the same.
arms and hands red and aching by the time
they finally reached their apartment.
One of the first mistakes Cindy made
in France was melting her curling iron in a
European electrical outlet.
"I didn't know I needed an adapter"
she laughed.
Although the months in France were
difficult the two girls learned a lot about
each other and about themselves. "When
you first start learning a language and try-
ing to communicate you get very frustrat-
ed" Cindy said. "I couldn't even share
my thoughts and feelings with
Susan'
B
ut Cindy a French and English
major who also studies German soon fell
In Love with the French people ... and
their romantic language. She told a joke
she'd heard in France: "They say a person
who speaks three languages is trilingual a
person who speaks two languages is bilin-
gual and a person who speaks one lan-
guage is American." Cindy doesn't laugh
at the joke. It bothers her.
"The greatest thing in the world is to
be able to talk to people in their own lan-
guage" she said as though she should be
the one to change the European mindset
about Americans. "It gives you the chance
to get to know somepne you coulunot
have communicated with othcrvjCj"
But her view of France is not all rosy.
"The good things about France are incred-
ibly spectacular and the bad things are
incredibly awful. You can't get tepid any-
thing in France" Cindy says shaking her
head. "Like when you're standing on a
bus with three million people who don't
know the meaning of deodorant" she
paused leaned forward slightly looked
around to make sure nobody was listening
and giggled "and nobody rolls the
window down."
R
reluctantly Cindy came back to
the states but she has not forgotten the
faces she left behind. "When you've made
friends with a French person you
know you've made a friend for life" she
said.
Last summer she worked for 10 weeks
at the Smithsonian Institute in Washing-
ton D.C poring over meticulous histori-
cal research much of it written in French
for the National Museum of American
History Archives Center. But she said
most of her work at the Smithsonian
involved organizing 52000 historical pic-
tures on stereoscopic viewing cards.
Cindy said the experience was worth-
while but she would much rather spend
her time working with people. In fact her
brother Andrew a freshman physics
major says Cindy will go out of her way
to meet people. "She's so funny" he
smiled. "In an airport she'll look for
people who speak a language she knows
and hunt them down."
He told a story about a time Cindy
managed to get tickets for a tour of the
U.S. Supreme Court building which nor-
mally is reserved for foreigners.
While waiting in line for the tour
Cindy introduced herself to a French fami-
ly and began conversing in French with
their teen-age daughter. "She doesn't have
trouble talking to total strangers" he said.
Susan laughs as she thinks about her
roommate's social calendar "She's had
some kind of a lunch date every day this
semester" she marvels adding that her
concern for other people is the quality she
admires most in Cindy
When she was in France Cindy
befriended a German girl Sandra who
was working as a nanny for a French fam-
ily. Sandra was a little shy and was having
trouble making friends in France. Cindy
began inviting her to their apartment to
play games and asking her to go with
them on weekend excursions to Spain.
"Cindy is one of the most good-hearted
people I know" Susan insists "She
always looks at the good side of people
and never puts anybody ubovc anyone
else." Andrew says "If you know her you
have to like her."
this Rose
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p
crhaps her abilitv to make friends
with anyone Is a gift that enables her to
traipse off to foreign countries by herself.
She believes God always will provide for
her. "People arc people and they're going
to take care of you one way or another"
she said. "One of the things I learned in
Toulouse is that there's always going
to be a connection especially in the
church. You can't get away frorn Chris-
tianity." though her family and friends don't com-
pletely understand her relentless desire to
see the world they marvel at her per-
sistence. Andrew said his sister is amaz-
ing. "If there's something she wants to do
she docs it" he said.
Dr. James Culp longtime friend of the
Rose family and professor of English
agrees. "Cindy's going to do what Cjndy
needs to do. She's very independent very
brave" he said with amazement "far
more brave than I wquld be' at her age."
f .
S
he said her family alwavs has been
close. "They're my best friends in the
world" she said proudly They always ate
dinner together and often traveled togeth
by any
er. "I think I inherited my wanderlust from
my father" she laughed.
Cindy the oldest of three children
doesn't squabble with Andrew or her sis-
ter Leslyn the way other siblings do.
Cindy keeps pictures of them on the night-
stand next to her bed. "I see other fami-
lies and some of them just arcn'(
friends" Andrew said. "We like being .
with each other."
Leslyn is a sophomore at Harding Uni-
versity in Searcy Ark. "We talk on the
phone about once a week" Cindy laughs.
lBut somehow I always end up paying
for Leslyn to tell me all about her
boyfriends."
She shrugs when she Is asked about the
men in her life. She refers to most of them
as very good friends
She says she's not looking to settle
down just yet; "I'm not going to be in the
same place for more than six months at a
time."
Cindy and Susan's bedroom today
looks almost the same as the room they
shared in Gardner dorm three years ago.
Their twin beds clothed in slightly differ-
ent shades of blue sit side by side always
neatly made.
Their desks are buried under tidy
stacks of textbooks typewriters and per-
sonal computer equipment. Nothing in the
room is out of place. But they think other-
wise. "Our room is really a mess" Susan
said apologetically.
On the walls hang a menagerie of '
rename
.S3
Wendy HombakerOptimWposters that serve as decorations and as
reminders of the places they've been ;
together: London Paris and Toulouse "
The posters serve as a daily reminder
of Cindy's greatest desire to return iq.'
France "I don't want to be one of those
people who just say they want to go to...
Europe" she said with some frustration jjl
really want to go." ;.B
xr
ml nlthnnoh shf jlrun'l knnii)
where where she will live or how she'll !;
support herself Cindy said she'd be will-
ing to work at McDonald's until she grits
to do what she really wants to do: worK J
for the American Embassy in France "i i
don't care if they don't pay me a cent" t
she said. ;
SheisgoingonaMaymcstcrtourof I
Europe with Dr. Preston Harper and will
study German at the GoCthe-Institut in! J
Mannheim Germany next spring. She :
also talks of spending the summer in Alas-
ka. " :
But she says the memories of France
still call her to return. "I can't think of. ;
anything J want o do more" she sale) with
a sparkle of determination in her eye.'Vjf'd
really like to sec what the rest of the world
is up to." . . I
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 53, Ed. 1, Wednesday, April 24, 1991, newspaper, April 24, 1991; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth96245/m1/3/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.