It has become a tradition for me to write a sappy blog post about Asia House's women's hall at the end of the year. And by a tradition, I mean I wrote one last year, so why not write one this year? I won't get to write one next year, so that makes this one twice as sappy.
One thing they like to say about Program Houses is that there's a great community. Asia House does have a good community, but what I want to talk about right now is the community that women's hall managed to have. It's hard to sum up if you didn't experience it, but I'll try anyway.
First of all, the bathroom. I read when I brush my teeth. It's just about the only time I get to read for fun, and if I don't get some time to spend with my YA novels, I go insane. By the end of year, no one looked at me like I was crazy.
Okay, not the greatest story. Let's try another one about the bathroom. I've had some awesome conversations in there. And by awesome I do not mean conversations like, "Your hair looks nice today," "Thanks, so does yours." I mean conversations about things like the meaning of life. I ran into people in the bathroom and we talked. At great length. When you wake up every morning and wander in there, with about five minutes to spare before you have to be in your class in the physics building, you gain a certain kinship with everyone.
Then there's my room. I had what we called a super double. There was a common room, and then my roommate and I each had our own rooms off of it. This meant that our room was the best room on the hall and the hangout spot. We had, among other events, a Canadian-themed birthday party for one of the girls on our hall, complete with a rousing version of "O, Canada!" and (once she'd left) an equally rousing version of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
Also, on more than one occasion, I walked into my room to find people in there studying or hanging out, even though neither my roommate nor I was present. There was another birthday that both my roommate and I missed altogether, despite the fact that it had happened in our room. She was on her way home at the time, and I was lost in Cleveland. And then there was the habit of not knocking that almost everyone developed. This made pretending I wasn't in the room somewhat difficult, and also led to me finding offerings of old bananas left on my desk.
Then, abruptly, the year ended. Everyone went home, except the few of us who were staying for Commencement. We suddenly found ourselves separated, split up into different dorms. It was a very odd experience for me. I actually had to use my cell phone to get in touch with people. Of course, the dregs of women's hall still managed to hang out frequently, and still had as amusing times as ever, complete with video chats to some of our separated members. We had such enlightening exchanges as this:
My little pan-seared pork dumpling.
Ew ew ew ew. I am not pan-seared!
It's been a good year.
