Life as a College Student Pt. II

So, here we go. On to moving day. Now, to be honest, I didn't know what to expect. I have essentially been living by myself for the past 6 years - I say this only because, since my parents were always at work and my brother was rarely ever home while he was still living in Davis, and since I didn't have much of a social life since then, I have spent a lot of time by myself, alone with my thoughts. Knowing that I was about to share a suite with four complete strangers was a fact that proceeded to scare the crap out of me, once I started thinking about it.

But, there I was – after weeks of preparing my psyche for the move, I was moving into Cuarto Castilian North, Room 334B. Now, in all honesty, because I didn't know what to expect, the part of my brain that controlled enthusiasm completely shut down. Now, I don't know whether that was because of a defense mechanism to expectations of immediate friction between my suitemates, or because my parents were there with me during the move in. But, that's what went down. I was tres' uncomfortable for the first couple hours I was there. Don't get me wrong - I love my parents, of course. It's just that they have a way of getting under my skin that only a parent can.

When they left, though, I begun to establish a rapport with the men I had met only a few hours before. I knew their names, as I had stared at them on my room assignment sheet for the past month. I met Shota Suto first, my roommate. He was an exchange student from Japan, who was fairly fluent in English. My first impression of him was that he was fairly shy, a little out of place. Boy, was I wrong ... but, I'll get to that later. I then met Steven Howard and Ziv Simon - I wasn't exactly sure how to gauge them either, but I guess, considering the situation, and the fact that my parents were there put me in a negative mood to begin with, I went with the most negative view of the both of them: "oh, great, I'm gonna have to live with a couple of nerds. NERDS!!!" Granted, I was dead wrong there, too. And, again, I'll get to that later. Then, I met Matt Stauffer and his older brother from Redondo Beach, California. My first impression? "Hmm ... he doesn't seem too dorky." ... I wasn't dead wrong about that ... again, I'll get to that later.

Anyway, like I said, I established a rapport with the men in my suite. Soon, I began to feel comfortable around my suitemates. Got to know a bit about them, as I did throughout my stay here. Let's take Steve, for example. Dude's a music major, down with hard rock and opera. Hmm ... interesting, isn't it? Not usually the two genres of music liked by the same person. Likes his "Family Guy", as do the rest of us. It's something we all bonded with. Anyway, he can get on my nerves every once in a while, but his heart's always in the right place ... I think. Then, there's Ziv. Econ major, likes his video games - I'll usually see him either doing his math homework or playing video games. He's just cool to talk to, and he's pretty funny sometimes. He's Jewish, and Steve seems to enjoy ripping on him because of it. You know, kinda like a "South Park" Cartman-Kyle relationship, but, you know, without the anti-semitism.

There's Matt - he's the youngest. He's cool, though - Another "Family Guy" Afficionado, and a Ping-Pong whiz. I'd see him at the ping-pong tables almost every day. The guy's just chill, too - kinda rolls with whatever. A quality I like, I must say. He's got this online T-Shirt company (plug alert!), "Fat Guy Shirts". He even wrote an ad for it in Rolling Stone Magazine. Don't believe me? Check out the November 3rd issue with Bono on the cover, pg. 111. Anyway, good stuff. I'd like one, myself.

Then, there's Shota, my roommate. He's cool - and, about that shy thing? Yeah, he's more of a ladies' man than the rest of us combined. He's rarely in our room, and when he is, he's either sleeping, or chillin' at his computer. I don't talk to him much, but he is a funny guy.

So, anyway, from there, it was on to getting to know the people in my building, and getting ready for classes. And, for that, wait for my next installment. I'm ending this one ... now.