Thought of the day: You can give them a fucking lesson sometimes!
I am so fucking bored of this residential accommodation! Or maybe I fucking hated it.
This is my first time that I am sharing this online. My ghost readers, bear with me as I vent some personal emotions via this blog.
First, I never liked the housing accommodation. I think the procedures of placing international students in halls together with the Americans aren’t doing any good. The university's initial intention of having a "mixed" hall, probably, was for easy socialization. Damn, that fucking idea isn’t working well for foreign students!
Truth is, I tried my best to communicate with my hallmates by saying “hello” or “hi” whenever we get to rub elbows along hallways. You bet, that was it. No real interaction has been going on in my more than two months of stay. Most of them would just stare at you without a single word or a friendly gesture. My point is, socialization could never happen in the halls, but outside the halls. I have American friends I met in social gatherings but no single American soul from my hall. Sad. Very sad!
That is the reality. Is it because they are too young to know that friendship can be multi-cultural too? Or do they have many friends they do not want to entertain one more.
What is the problem with this? Here: I am physically and emotionally torn. Physically, in the sense that I sometimes starve to death because these idiots won't vacate the kitchen area! Could they just give others the chance to use the fuckin' kitchen?
Most of the time, I just resort to fastfood or run to that fucking expensive canteen. I am not eating what I want. If you cannot get it, here's a simple translation: I am not eating properly, since the fuckin' kitchen - a shared place for 10 students or maybe more - is not "Asian friendly".
I am a Filipino and I want to fry and use spices for my dishes. In my situation now, eating good food is like dreaming for the impossible. How can I cook something local in a hall with students who cannot even sustain the smell of garlic or onions? God, I don’t have the intention of killing hallmates via a spice aroma I even considered perfect.
Truly, I miss my home. My room in Brookings is supposed to be my home away from home. But I am emotionally distracted perhaps for the fact that I always think of how not to disturb hall mates and where I could eat on a late weekend after an overtime from work. I am distracted because this fucking university canteens are very expensive, huh, $8 for just a burger, fries and a soup! Needless to say, these types of food are not even satisfying to my palate!
That is the problem with these canteens, they seldom (or they don’t) cater to Southeast Asian students. Maybe because there seems to be only a few of us here. Or maybe because majority of the students are Europeans and Americans and that SDSU canteens are not ready to shell out money for Asian cuisines.
Where can I find rice served not in small cups?
I am not saying I do not eat American food. I do. But I look for something else too.
This isn’t my first time to be so far away from my country. I studied in Europe for two years too, and, I tell you, international students are taken care of, whatever degree you are in. Students are housed in a room with a kitchen inside. Even before students arrive, the university has a room already reserved for them. Students don’t have to worry where they should stay. University personnel are ever ready to help them feel at ease.
What I am so impressed about my stay in Europe was the fact that the university would assume that every new foreign student that would come to study are “first timers” – meaning, they haven’t been to Europe since and that they don’t have families close by. Or maybe the university was just too good to research about the students’ profile, to say the least. This way, the university has to make sure students would experience their best stay in a place too many miles away from home. Houses and halls are open all year round, yes, including long holidays because the administration officials are aware students have nowhere to go. Besides, international students are housed in a building intended for them. I thought when I reserved my room in the Wecota Annex, I would enjoy the same benefits. I was wrong!
I hope this state university would change its plan on international students in terms of housing accommodation. I admit, this university has lots of foreign students. But many of them have stayed here in the United States for years already; perhaps have studied in some other states before coming to Brookings. Others have families and relatives that they could run to, talk to, when in too much distress.
What about for someone like me who've never been here in the US before, someone with no close kins to lean on when I feel so sick? Someone who doesn’t know where to run to when I ran out of essentials? Maybe there are many students like me, out there, who just don’t know how to let their sentiments out.
I've heard stories from other international friends about fuckin' situations they were into when, at one point, they were housed in these student halls. However, they have relocated already to a better home after a short time of discomfort.
Yes, I already talked to the personnel assigned for the students' housing accommodations (I think that was October, when I was starting to feel so uneasy of things). She said that I would be placed in the wait list after I presented my case. That is another problem, they don't have enough apartments available for students. I hope the waiting won’t be too long. Oh, please....
This university must take care of their international students, because we are the ones who would promote the university to the world. We are the best ads that they can have. We share the good things we experience through word of mouth and if we feel good in here, we'll never hesitate to give them a praise.
But, as I am looking at my state of emotions now, I don't think I will be promoting this university to my friends. Not until the university changes their rules. Not until I get to have my own apartment somewhere!
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