Dear Diary,

Can you believe it? It's end of 2021. Already? Ever since the end of 2019, it's been a haze. Time's flying by so quickly.

My exams got over on Wednesday. It's been a crazy 2 weeks.Been resting for a couple days. Went to mission to help jordan set up his birthday party. Then came back home for jo's. It was jo's and pav's graduation party. Around 40 people stomped into our house, at 7 pm. It was eventful to say the least. I had some very interesting conversations with our guests. I met a PHd candidate in philosophy ( julian's boyfriend ) who said he thought I hailed from Orange county. Lol, idk is that supposed to be judgy, or complement-y? I then got into a long conversation with julian about obscure languages around the world. He studies linguistics and is a total language geek, also happens to speak 6 languages. In between I spoke to a dozen other folks about random shit. I also met a girl called rupinder who hails from punjab. At some point, she started making drinks at the makeshift bar we made out of cindy's table. I gotta say, I have never tasted better mojitos, margaritas, and cocktails anywhere. I could easily say I drank worth of ~100 dollars of drinks from her (for free hehe). I kept up till 2 am, then went to sleep wearing ear plugs. I heard the rest of the folks danced till 3, then headed off to a bar.

Life has been a quite a ride since i got here. I have been a party shy person for as long as I can remember. Now I consider myself a super host given all the gods knows how many parties we hosted in our place.

Today Chi and Dan invited me for a traditional Chinese lunch. It was very delicious. I learnt that the Chinese food that I am used to has nothing to do with real Chinese food. Lol. I actually felt proud of myself that in the 4 months here I had made friends who have considered me important enough to cook food for. There were 3 vegetarian dishes, then shrimp and rice. Then yogurt and fruits for dessert. I tried everything even though I am a vegetarian. I was so overwhelmed by the effort that Chi had put into the prep, also just so honoured to be treated to an authentic home cooked foreign meal. It felt like the right thing to do to be respectful and show gratitude to their hospitality.

Life has been good overall. Last semester was kinda all over the place, there was a lot of self doubt and frustration in some classes. But also classes that I loved. I got introduced to AI in healthcare which I found fascinating. I am planning to do an independent project in my UXR course next semester continuing from HAI. I also feel very fortunate for the house and the family that I got here. The more I think about it, the more I feel I got incredibly lucky running into these girls. Everyone of them is unique in a way, and every day I learn to appreciate and learn something from their little habits. The universe brought us together in the most random fashion, and they have turned out to become one of the most defining aspects of my life here. No matter how bad my day is, I always look forward to going home to my housemates and hanging out with them. And I am so grateful for our home, it was not our first choice, but now my feelings couldn't be further away. It has the cosiest feeling in the whole world, and it is my home.

Even though I have been adulting for the past 3 years :P I now have a real ecosystem in it that didn’t stem out of my pre-adult life, that I built by myself. I have chores to do, bills to pay, I have made friends who invite me for dinner who have tidy homes of their own. Previously I would tell my family back home about everyone I met and everything I did over the day. But now I don't feel like I have to. There is a sanctity to my personal life and I can decide who I want to let in on what details. It feels very good to be discovering this part of myself.

Life's good for now. I am really looking forward to Christmas in my new home.

Love,

M

F's Dear Diary