(dis)association

yesterday i looked out the window and saw a boy wearing only a brown sweatshirt in the freezing weather, lugging all his duffel bags into the porter's lodge. i thought nothing of it at first, and it was only after he disappeared through the Plodge's tiny doors that i realized it was a Brown sweatshirt.

i've now lost that special status as being the only Brown student at Cambridge; there are at least six others here for the spring semester. it was the most bizarre experience, meeting them last night. many of them actually recognized me from class/Keeney/the career development center, and me, them. just imagine. about fifteen Americans suddenly descending upon Cambridge...and there i was, gushing about Ratty food and the merits of pass/fail. hearing them complain about the separate hot and cold faucets, and the readings expected of them before term officially starts was like hearing echoes of myself from last October awash over me. it was quite a disorientating experience.

but they're under a separate program specially for international exchange students. although a lot of them are studying English, they have different supervisors and aren't integrated with the Pembroke englishers. i confess to feeling a bit left out of it all, but i'm happy with being treated as a real Cambridge student who gets to live and take classes with the 2nd years. (but these spring semester guys have their own special tours and dinners organized by the international programmes office!) part of me wonders what it would've been like to be part of them...a whole pack of ivy-leaguers exploring town and collectively coming to grips with Cambridge's idiosyncracies.

it would have been nice to be held by the hand and told where to go and what to do - to be seen as a "study abroad" student (read - slightly clueless, very jetlagged). but i have the nicest Pembroke advisors and friends so i can't complain!

anyway i write this to affirm my difference :). i don't think i'll be seeing much of them since they're all in this exchange student bubble. i just had to write about this encounter of the familiar, in a place that was once so unfamiliar but is slowly becoming comfy. i know i dreaded coming back and was so stressed about the academics, but now that i'm back, things don't seem so bad at all.