Chronicles of a Nigerian International Student (Part 2)

.... I fell! I was in class still thinking about what had happened minutes ago, so embarrassing! I would never forget this event in years to come. I felt that was the beginning of me grasping a little of what my mother meant when she said. "America is, everybody for themselves, if you are lucky to have a family, it's every family for their selves " she said. Just like an initiation ceremony, my mother continued with a series of "In America we... People in America do ......., and that is America for you" chants, she rendered.

"Hello everyone, this is Math 1000, welcome" A black, short, "big boned" woman said standing in front of the room. This class was a mix of white, Black/ African American, Asians and what I referred to as 'Spanish' people. The class was moderate in size, but compared to the classes I had seen at UNIPORT in Portharcourt, it was small and very intimate. There were individual chairs-table, which in my opinion was just another sign of individuality that America forces you to be. Hence my confusion as to why the chairs-table were so close to each other, that I thought if I leaned back to relax in my chair I would headbutt the person behind me. This sitting situation was just the beginning of the awkwardness of the situation. It was very quiet in the room; a sort of quietness that is very loud. Loud with the sounds of judging eyes wondering curiously, dissecting.



"Welcome to your first session. I'm sure most of you are Freshman (term used to describe first year students) and Sophomores. My name is Mrs Cathryn, i'll like you to introduce yourselves, to me, and tell me what your majors you are taking," she said.
 Oh God! Why????! I don't want to introduce myself again and have yesterday repeat it itself, where I had spent half my day convincing teachers after introducing myself, that it was okay to call me Miss Precious, instead of struggling to pronounce my last Onyegbula, while stopping every time to make sure they got a confirmation from me to make sure they pronounced it correctly. Even though they were not pronouncing my name right, I had to assure them that they were, my eyes pleading for them to move on from my name. I swear it was like they gained some diversity or eccentric points whenever they said my name.

"My name is Shay Williams, I'm Italian, Greek, Spanish and I have some Indian in me too, cause my grandma is Indian. I'm a freshman and in my second semester.".. the girl beside me said. Umm these people make me want to research my roots just so I could come up with  five different places that i'm from. Why do they feel the need to state all the places they think they are from.
Oh 'lawd, I'm in for a ride'.. Oh America

The introduction performance, prove to be an icebreaker, and students in the class were talking allot more than I thought was appropriate in the presence of the professor, but the professor seemed to enjoy it or maybe she was indulging the students, either way they were all having a grand jolly conversation. Students were laughing at everything I didn't think was funny, so I plastered an emotionless smile on my face, before I become the only one that gets an F for not responding to the professors' jokes.  I remained quiet fixated on attending my first ASA - African Student Association meeting. I finally get to meet some people I can relate to, but I knew that even with Africans it is not a bed of roses, but I was nervously excited!