My first real post since I have left our greatest nation.

Hello everyone,

It is now fall break for a week. This is the only real break I get so I'm taking this opportunity to write about Notre Dame. My English gets worse and worse the further down you go. I have had to watch my English to be prim and proper for two months and I am SICK of it.

It's been two months now that I have been in America. More specifically the University of Notre Dame, in tiny South Bend, Indiana. My conclusion? Not taking into account future job prospects, I am going to take this plunge and say that my university experience is most definitely better than yours, that is if you are attending a uni outside America. (Just being brutally honest k, no offense intended. :) Also, I am eager for someone to prove me wrong!)

Coming to Notre Dame was a very big risk. Nobody including me knew anything about this uni. If you remember, I gave up LSE to come here. And I am so glad I did, for these reasons.

Notre Dame is a very, very, wealthy uni. Endowment is around U$ 6 billion i think. When I first came here I got so many free stuffs: shirt, food, etc. Everyday I get to eat 5 star quality buffet meals twice a day. My aunt and uncle came to visit me and they were stunned by the enormous variety of food available in our dining halls. What I eat twice a day is equal or better to what you get for buffet breakfast in Hilton.

Also one of my reasons for not wanting to come here was that it was a Catholic uni. In most of our points of view, religious schools are not really good schools. But my point of view has changed. I am thoroughly enjoying the Catholic environment here. I can't explain it but there feels almost tangibly a certain kind of bond with others here, even whilst not actively acknowleding that we are all Catholic. And perhaps the biggest Catholic influence is in the system of our residence halls. I was initially put off by the fact that we have single sex residence halls whilst other unis had coed ones. Again, I've changed my mind. Though single sex, opposite sex are welcomed to come and go at any time except for after 12 midnight. Which i found out is good, because u can have the safety of knowing that there will be no girls around then, which means there is total privacy. this means that when u get sick of opposite sex u know that 12 oclock is just a few hours away. so good catholic system. and because of this boys always want to go to girls dorms and vice versa like a little tiddly wink adventure. but if u are lovers and u just cannot separate with your signifcant other who is not of the same sex u can hang out together in the 24 hour lounge downstairs which every dorm has. About my dorm which is Dillon, I am realy grateful I got into this dorm. We are one of the oldest and most beautiful dorms with very beautiful architecture and the widest hallways. (btw, right now I am warming up my water and my frozen Subway on our room's radiator) our toilets have just been newly renovated. Ahhh....extreme piece of mind. Everything is white in color as should be. no stains. everyone who comes to visit toilet leaves asking, "Is Dillon a new dorm" . Yes that is how powerful the impact of Dillon's toilets, which people stupidly say bathroom here eventhough they are not going to take a bath. I stay on third floor and am glad as there is least traffic here so you can leave your door open and not have the entire uni peek into your room. another catholic pro is that there is mass available in every dorm, every night. so skipping sunday mass for me is practically non-existent as going to mass is just three floors down.

Reflection on post: Wow. I am so proud of my English. It's gotten a lot better since I came to an English country.