People I know

I got to become acquainted with all kinds of different people. First year of school, I lived in a dorm called Morrison Tower and they placed me on the fourth floor, which apparently was the “international” floor, because they had put everyone on that floor as part of a program. The program asks whether you’d be interested in getting to know people from abroad, and the international kids whether they want to participate when you sign up for dorms. I’m pretty sure I only checked it because I didn’t want to read what it was, but neither did I want to miss out on it despite not reading. 

Pretty much anyone living on that floor is either a language, East Asian studies, business, or engineering major. I shared a three-bed room with a local Ohioan named Laura, and So-young, who’s Korean but spent her life growing up in indonesia. Next door was my best friend Jisoo at the time, who’s been living in Ohio for a while. Down the hall, Wooseung, Luke and a few others always make jjajangmyeon past midnight. We’d stay up in the study room, but mostly not studying. Sometimes drinking, and RA Dom would always let it go. 

The first few months, I remember going out on most Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There’s always a thing somewhere, a party, a meeting, a study, a rush event, a bar, a performance. We had this thing at Ohio State called “freshman forgiveness”, which meant you could fail three classes, retake them, without affecting your GPA. I used all three. My GPA after the first semester was 1.3+, which put me on probation. It would put me under some pressure, but not enough for me to stop spending time on all the other things that had nothing to do with grades. 

I went to a few bible studies, decided it wasn’t my thing. The Chinese student organizations were more or less reminding me of the exact things I ran all the way to Ohio from. I knew very little about other south-east Asian neighbors, so I kept an open mind. I tried to rush for a sorority, also not my thing. Freshman year, I tried everything. The things I didn’t want to try, and the things I did want to try, the things I don’t regret trying, and the things I do. I spent most of my time with people on my floor. I went to a few house parties, but I quickly realized it’s not possible for me to have any sensible conversations with anyone, so it became more of just a binge drinking to destress thing, and “oh my god, she did not” kind of gossip thing. 

Sophomore year, I decided to follow one thread I found my freshman year and declare psychology as a minor. After I finished all the minor classes, I realized i’d like to keep learning about all these brain abnormalities, and participate in debates involving weather serial killers are sane or not and therefore should be sentenced to the same standards as a sane person or not. Jeffrey Dahmer was indeed a very interesting case, in the way that the whole time he was serving the military, he didn’t commit a single murder. I wanted to know more about people, myself, and others. I also moved into a studio right off High Street, across from the Student Union. I started dancing, or more like, picking it up again. In retrospect, it’s a very random and seems out of place hobby, but I actually have a lot to say about this.

ChatGPT 翻译：

我开始认识各种各样不同的人。大学第一年我住在一个叫 Morrison Tower 的宿舍楼里，他们把我分到了四楼，显然那是所谓的“国际楼层”，因为他们把所有人都安排在这个楼层作为一个项目的一部分。这个项目在你申请宿舍时会问你是否有兴趣认识来自国外的人，也会问国际学生是否想参与。我基本可以确定我当时只是随手勾选了那个选项，因为我不想仔细读内容，但也不想因为没看而错过什么。

基本上住在那个楼层的人要么是语言专业、东亚研究、商科或者工程。我和一个俄亥俄本地人 Laura、还有 So-young 一起住一个三人间，So-young 是韩国人，但她一直在印尼长大。隔壁住的是当时我最好的朋友 Jisoo，她在俄亥俄已经住了一段时间了。走廊那头，Wooseung、Luke 还有其他几个人总是在半夜之后做炸酱面。我们会一起待在学习室里，但基本不学习。有时候会喝点酒，宿舍管理员 Dom 总是睁一只眼闭一只眼。

头几个月我记得几乎每个星期四、五、六、日我都会出去。总有活动在某个地方：聚会、会议、学习小组、兄弟会活动、酒吧、表演。我们俄亥俄州立大学有个政策叫“freshman forgiveness（大一免责）”，意思是你可以挂三门课，之后重修，这三门不会计入 GPA。我把这三次机会全用掉了。我第一学期的 GPA 是 1.3+，直接被留校察看了。这确实给我带来一些压力，但也没多大到让我放弃所有那些跟成绩无关的事。

我去过几次查经班，后来觉得那不是我的路子。中国学生组织多少让我想起了我一路逃到俄亥俄州就是为了逃离的那种氛围。我对其他东南亚邻国了解很少，所以保持开放态度。我试过加入女生联谊会，但也发现不适合我。大一那年，我什么都尝试了——我不想试的，我想试的，我不后悔试的，我后悔试的。我大部分时间都跟自己楼层上的人混在一起。我去过几次 house party，但很快意识到我不可能和任何人展开一场有意义的对话，所以这些聚会就逐渐变成了纯粹的“喝烂一场来解压”和“天哪你知道她居然做了那种事”的八卦场所。

大二那年，我决定跟着我大一时发现的一个兴趣方向走，申报了心理学作为辅修。在我修完所有辅修课之后，我发现我还想继续了解各种脑部异常，参与诸如“连环杀手是否属于理性人、是否应当以理性人标准判刑”的辩论。Jeffrey Dahmer 就是个非常有意思的例子，他在服兵役那几年完全没有杀过人。我想更多地了解人，了解我自己，也了解别人。我还搬到了 High Street 靠近学生活动中心对面的一个 studio。开始跳舞，或者说，是重新开始跳舞。现在回想起来，这个兴趣非常随机，看起来跟我整个人生轨迹格格不入，但其实我有很多话想说。