Coming from a small town there was little diversity.  Therefore, living in North Residence at the U of R has been a great experience academically, leisurely, and educationally for me.  At the end of August 2007, I moved into 4-bedroom apartment.  Marie, a friend of mine from Annaheim, and I were the first to arrive to our  “home” for the year.  For the next week, the other two bedrooms were left empty and we wondered who if anyone would be moving in?  The following week, another girl moved in with us.  She was a student from Siast.  Therefore, we did not see much of her because she was gone everyday from 8:00am. Until 4:30pm and when she was home she spent most hours in her room doing homework, or chatting on the phone with her friends.  However, when she was out of her room we got along well.  Almost a month had gone by and still the fourth bedroom was empty.  Each day we discussed who it is going to be, all three of us were very anxious and curious to meet our new roommate.  In contrast, I also started to like the fact that our last roommate did not move in because I then got my own bathroom.  In addition, we also had more space in the fridge, freezer, and cupboards.  Furthermore, the three of us got along really well and we thought a fourth may not?  The last week of September, I walked into the apartment and I realized the fourth bedroom door was open, immediately I had to see who it was.  It was a Korean girl.  Thus, I assumed she could not speak English so I waved to her and said very slowly, “Hi my name is Deanna.”  She looked at me funny and replied by saying, “Hi, I’m Ellie.”  At this moment, I still thought she only knew the basics to English language so I continued to speak really slow and clear as she continued to look at me strange.  Soon after a short conversation, I realized she had been here last year and could speak English fluently.  Ever since, I know not to judge people by their race in regards to which language they can speak.  Turns out Ellie and I have became close friends and have a lot in common.  Specifically, she likes to joke around, try new things, and keep our apartment very organized and clean, just like me.  Now we joke around about our first impressions, how different we thought we would be,  and how polite we used to be to each other.

 Our roommate that went to Siast moved out at the end of December, due to her practicum in a different town for the following semester.  Thus, we became, once again, very anxious and curious to meet our new roommate.  She was a girl named Saara, from Finland.  Once again, she could speak our language perfect.  She also has a lifestyle and interests that are very similar to ours, so all four of us get along great! Now, the only thing I am not looking forward to about this semester ending is that I will no longer be living with these great roommates that became close friends.

I do have to mention the two cons about living in residence:  1.   I feel I can never get away from university life I think about my homework constantly.  2.  I miss having a yard, lawn, and a window to open.  However, I think no matter where I live in a city I will not have the yard I had living on a farm. 

First there were 2me-and-marie.jpgthen there were 4 marie-birthday-2.jpg…3051.jpg…and back to 4 (I will post a picture soon of the new 4 of us here)