For my two months in Australia, I will be living in two residences. The first, and also my current one, is the Women's College. First, the word "college" in this sense is more like a dormitory. Second, as you have probably guessed, Women's College is a womens-only residence. I thought someone had not read that I was male; apparently, the college is willing to throw out its restrictions for guests because after all what are rules when you want money.
I came here with expectations to be in the stereotypical guy's heaven, surrounded by lots of beautiful women. I was excited (hurray!!!) and worried (will they think I'm sketchy?) at the same time. Well, the bevy of women I expected were nowhere to be seen; I arrived here on the first day of their winter break and only a handful of residents remained. In my first two weeks here, I ate and hung out by myself. Whenever I am in a new environment among a group of people that seem to know each other, I become introverted, quiet and shy (my pre-teen natural state). Last week, it all changed; a girl from Princeton came over to invite me to join her and others at a table.
I discovered around half of the handful of girls I saw regularly at meals were foreign students of the university; the other half were American students doing some project or research here like me. The foreign students are from Ningbo (China), Holland, Bangalore (India), and Syria. Besides yours truly, there were three other American students - a Caucasian girl from GA studying at Princeton, an Asian girl from PA studying at Penn State and a Caribbean girl from T&T studying at U of Arizona. The diversity made me realize how much I love being an American whenever I am abroad. Everywhere I have been abroad, Americans of all races just get along so well. The girls -the foreign students and the Americans - have been fun to talk with.
This week will be my final week at this college. They put me in a student room and because classes start back up on Monday, they are kicking me out this Friday. I move to Cromwell College. It's a co-ed college. :-(.
