<p>And no, I’m not counting your wife or husband.</p>
<p>I was recently talking with some folks and chatting about ollege and the TYPES of people we met there for the first time. As it was a diverse group from several different schools the answers were interesting. One person had never met a Jew. Many had never met anyone black. Me, from a good liberal/Democratic neigborhood throught Republicans existed only on TV and was shocked to meet some 18 year olds who actually believed that stuff. (This was during the Nixon years.) Another friend at an Ivy League school was shocked to meet wealthy people for the first time–follks with so much money that when she innocently asked “How much money DO you have?” the honest answer back was “Gee, I’m not sure. Inever needed to know.” </p>
<p>What type of person did you meet at school for the first time?</p>
<p>People who had gone to prep school.
Sophisticated kids from Manhattan whose fathers owned art galleries.
Wordly Europeans who smoked clove cigarettes.
People who were a million times smarter than me.
People who were a million times smarter than me AND drop-dead gorgeous at the same time.</p>
<p>People who sounded that they were a million times smarter than me.
People who sniffed questionable substances.
People who belonged to both of the abovementioned categories and ended up failing a few classes and flunking out.</p>
<p>Exceedingly wealthy folks- heir to the Ferrari auto fortune, daughter of the former dictator of The Philippines, who went around campus with bodyguards since she had been targeted by the Symbianese Liberation Army, and Meg Whitman. Lots of preppies, who were not previously part of my experience, coming from a NJ public high school. </p>
<p>Many kids a lot smarter than me. Friends who were struggling with coming out.<br>
A person affected by her mother’s use of thalidomide during pregnancy. A hemophiliac who was the son of the author of Nicolas and Alexandra.</p>
<p>I met my first transvestite in college. He looked prettier as a girl than he did as a guy. He was able to pull it off and a lot of guys would hit on her. I remember one time when she got tired of this one guy hitting on her, she used her “normal” baritone and scared the guy away. </p>
<p>It was also weird when she asked if she could borrow a pair of my shoes… :D</p>
<p>I also attended a catholic college (I was brought up protestant) and met my first “sister”. Talk about preconceived ideas… I was expecting a nun in a penguin outfit and instead got a nun in a college tshirt, jeans and birkenstock sandals… ;)</p>
<p>Refugees. It so happened a number of my profs were Eastern European refugees who found their way to Canada (where I went to university), and had incredible stories to tell of their escapes.</p>
<p>Quebecois revolutionaries.</p>
<p>Hockey fanatics. </p>
<p>Bulimics. </p>
<p>A thesis adviser who became addicted to cocaine and ended up homeless.</p>
<p>A stalker. A dangerously obsessed one who scared me to death and who was responsible for my moving numerous times after graduation.</p>
<p>People who made the best hash brownies ever.</p>
<p>I am a senior now and the only thing I can think of is rich"er" people-- I had met them before but they had always been the odd men out, not the norm, and I am in a distinctly different place in the hierarchy of wealth in Ann Arbor than I was at home. At home I was right in the middle, always someone above, always someone below-- we have pro athlete mansions in my hometown and several trailer parks, too. But in A2, I am closer to the bottom rung. There was definitely an element of culture shock when I first got to campus that never fully wore off. In one of my first lectures, my professor asked us to raise our hands if we went to public high school, and about half the hall raised their hands and the girl next to me, who had gone to private, actually GASPED. I felt like I was on mars-- both because only half the class raised their hands (I’d only ever known four people who went to private school), and because so many people seemed shocked that there were so many public school students. Some of the things people say here are just nuts, and I’ve met people who think I am “destitute” and have flat out told me because it never occurred to them that I didn’t feel that way. It’s really, really strange. And not entirely unlike CC! :P</p>
<p>I am not sure if I can really think of anything else that I hadn’t encountered before. I wonder if that’s more reflective of changing times or if I just lived in a very diverse area before college. Maybe both? While it may be more likely that I encountered an openly gay person before college than some of you folks, there have always been democrats, republicans, and foreigners, haven’t there?</p>
<p>Religious zealots “Brother Jed” and “Sister Cindy” who told me I was going to hell because I had short hair. Gee, can’t a girl just walk to her English class without being pointed out by a couple of crazies! I did have super-short blonde spiky hair but it was the early 80’s - I loved Billy Idol!</p>
<p>An obviously mentally ill pathological liar who harmed herself on a regular basis. She once smashed her face against a tree and was very bloodied and bruised and reported to the police that she’d been assaulted. Upon investigation, the police found the she had harmed herself.</p>
<p>I met a lesbian for the first time. A girl who lived in my dorm had a thing for one of my good friends who also lived in my dorm. It’s the first time I met an openly gay person.</p>
<p>Hari Krishna folks (remember them?). I had never seen anyone like this before. They were regulars daily at our college gate.</p>
<p>Funny…I also MET (really) for the first time someone I graduated from high school with. My HS class had over a thousand folks in it. I got to college and actually met someone I had NEVER set eyes on in high school.</p>
<p>I led a sheltered life, I guess. Met during my first semester: girls who were open about the birth control pills in their cubbies in the sorority bathroom, people who smoked dope and didn’t lie about it (though they did use the code “Hey, I’m going outside, to like…take the dog out for a walk…”), bulimics, and - topping it all, someone who solved the panty-line problem under her formal by (gasp) not wearing any.
OK, there was a pledge in the house next door from internationally famous family except I didn’t know names or how to recognize a Lotus. I just thought he was cute (short, but cute)</p>
<p>Booklady- can’t recall the Middle Eastern Prince, unless you mean the tennis champion and prince of East Pakistan- him, I definitely remember. I’m '77- what year are you? </p>
<p>I did meet John Nash- used to study where he hung out- 3rd floor reading room of the library. I would always say hello and he responded. </p>
<p>Also, met a person from Poland, which despite my heritage, I had never previously met.</p>
<p>Also met a concentration camp survivor, who was the parent of one of my friends. I remember seeing the tattoo and everything my dad, who liberated a camp, and my history lessons taught me took on a real face- the impact was amazing, scary, yet inspirational.</p>
<p>A Jewish person, a bunch of uber-rich guys from the United Arab Emirates, several anoxerics, black kids who brought whistles to the dances, a professor with a truly patrician manner… It wasn’t until law school that I met an identifiable preppie. When she told me she went to private school, I immediately assumed it was a Catholic school. Nobody else I knew was forced to go to private school and wear a uniform :)</p>
I also met a Middle Eastern prince.</p>