Accents—Lucas Yammine
Anyone who has ever stepped foot into the Amex Café will recognize Lucas Yammine. The undergraduate senior is in his eighth and final semester at AUP and has previously appeared on the Peacock Plume to talk about style and as a participant in of one of our series, Tattoos of AUP. I had the pleasure of interviewing Lucas, who has often been labeled the "hot Amex bartender" or the "hot student advisor," in more depth, at his weekend workplace, Doppio, in the 18th arrondissement. Everyone sees Lucas, but do they really know him?
Previously a philosophy student at a university in Lyon for a semester, Lucas grew up in Paris in the French educational system. He switched over to AUP after he realized, despite his vivid interest in philosophy, the career paths available to philosophy degree-holders were not to his liking. Now majoring in Global Communications, Lucas expresses regret in his major declaration as he hopes to become an entrepreneur after his time in college. Ironically, he also claims to have been anti-technology, particularly social media, in his late-teen years, which made it difficult for him to communicate with his then-girlfriend.
Image Credit: Elizabeth Nguyen Son
Contrary to the rumor mill, Lucas is not a fan of one-night-stands but has not been in a relationship since he began his journey at AUP due to some bad experiences in his past. "Dating is serious in a way, you know? You offer a big part of your time to someone else. That's sometimes hard for me to do right away. I'd rather wait. I'm not against it, I'm just kind of testing the waters. I consider myself pretty laid back relationship-wise though."
"I try to fight the reputation I have at AUP, but sometimes I guess I deserve it in a way... When I first heard that, it wasn't very pleasant to hear. People are quick to judge and 95% of the time, these are people who have never really tried to get to know me. I have always been respectful to all the girls I've been involved with. At the end of the day, I don't really care. It used to affect me, but it doesn't anymore. It's never totally false when something like that happens. I guess I earned it—must be the case."
"I figured out [my smile] was kind of effective back in seconde but actually, I hate my smile, so I was very surprised that people love it because my teeth are huge."
* 'seconde' is the equivalent to tenth grade in the American high school systemLucas discloses that he does not really enjoy clubbing as much as people may think. To him, it is all good fun but nothing truly valuable comes out of it. He supports his friend Arafat Adekunle (who goes by the brand name Infamous Harpy) at Hobo every Thursday night, however, points out that he's already done a lot of clubbing in the past, especially last year and that it "didn't treat [him] so well".
"It's not my scene. People mutually don't give a fuck about each other."
"I'm an only child. It forces you to go to people. Friends are family when you're an only child. You put a lot of trust in your friends, and when they disappoint you it really fucking hurts because you feel like you lost a member of a family." However, when asked if he still felt the same way about friends being like family, he admits, "No, you can get easily disappointed. Just don't put too much trust in friends. At the end of the day, the only person you can fully trust is yourself. Friends are there to complement your life, not to compensate anything. If your life is already fucked up, what are your friends going to do? Are you going to complain to them about your whole life? No one wants to be with someone like that."
Lucas opens up about his mom who recently recovered from an illness, and how this experience has changed him, "Last year was very hard. What's really hard is that I grew up thinking my mom is a role model and the most amazing person ever, which she still is, but was really hard to watch her go through it. It kind of hurts to say out loud but it made me question whether my mom will always be that beautiful, strong mom I've known all my life. Both of my grandfathers are dead; my paternal grandfather died when I was about 14-15 years old and I saw my father cry for the first time in my life. My parents have had a very successful marriage and took excellent care of me. They allowed me to be very independent at an early age and I really can't complain about my youth. Seeing your parents devastated or ill, especially when you have an awesome relationship with them, makes you want to take more responsibility and be the pillar of the family, which is why I decided to work a lot more this year."
"I don't think anyone knows about my anxiety. Why should they know? I don't consider myself important at all."
Lucas says he tends to internalize a lot of his feelings, which made him irrational causing a lot of anxiety. He recalls his mom singing to him as a child when he would cry a lot. "[She] created a song that would just chill me out. More effective than anti-depressants. It was so reassuring to hear her voice; she would sing and I'd be like ok, it's chill time!"
Image Credit: Elizabeth Nguyen Son
"I have a really good relationship with both of my parents. I'm not particularly closer to one or the other but the kind of relationships I have with each of them are very different. My mom and I can spend all morning talking about what's going on in each other's lives. She took psychology so it's very therapeutic. She's the best—she listens so much, which really taught me how to, in turn, listen to other people. As for my dad, he likes to see me being in action. He's a really cool guy and has warm vibes—very Lebanese in that way. Once you get to know what he's like, he's really easy to get along with."
The fear of taking responsibilities up a notch has been starting to escalate as Lucas's time at AUP will come to a close in just a few more months, however, he's excited to begin a new chapter in his life, "real life." Reflecting on the beginning of his journey here, he notes, "Americans don't like sarcasm, so if I had to give my pre-AUP-self some advice it would be to go out of my way to talk to people because before I was stigmatized as a fuckboy, player, or whatever, I was portrayed as an asshole who was full of himself. I realized that whatever I do, I can't avoid negativity from others."
As Lucas finishes his final year at AUP, he regards his time here with fondness and an excitement to accomplish his future endeavors. À bientot, Lulu!
Accents is a new cross-platform series featuring interviews with AUP students, friends, and alumni.
