Ah, so this is what they call 'university'. Currently, I am enrolled in an engineering studies program, to learn about human technologies. So far, I have deemed it to be somewhat lacking in advancement. Apparently, humans are very much like my own people, they live in communities that are structured similarly to what I am used to back on Xa'an. I live in a shared dwelling complex called a 'dorm', which I understand is a shortened name for the structure. It is very...hm, gridlike. It does not flow very smoothly, and the builders clearly put no effort into making it beautiful. That is another thing I noticed about these humans. They live quickly, and son't take the time to appreciate small things. In my dwelling, I share the space with three other people. Their names are Luke, Sasha, and Ty. They are amiable enough. It seems that all four of us have been labeled 'exchange' students. I was set up as such to explain the reason why I am not familiar with the culture here, and it seems to be working just fine. I am curious as to where the other three of my 'roommates' hail from.



I've been on Earth for some time now--it took me quite a while to adjust to the people here, and their languages are extremely complex. I was able to learn quickly, however, and I feel that I am growing more comfortable here by the day. Earth days are so short, it amazes me how much they sleep. They think I'm an insomniac because I do not sleep every night here like they do. I don't tire nearly as much as they, and won't need to sleep for another several weeks at least. It's given me plenty of time to work on research for my classes here, though, since I can go all night working while everyone else here is asleep. My roommates should arrive soon, most of them have classes before I do, so it gives me a few Earth hours of silence to work while they are out. I've taken a liking to an Earth beverage called coffee, apparently whatever's in it makes humans able to work a little longer before tiring, but I haven't noticed any strong effect of it on myself.

What an odd planet. . . The sky here is blue, and the water is blue too! Where I come from, the sky is a deep, warm orange, and the water is red. Not to mention the people. Mine is a planet of empaths, you always know what the other person is feeling. Having to not let on when I know someone doesn't like me is incredibly difficult, when I'm used to emotions always being openly spoken about. I find it very confusing why people tend to hide when they're hurt or upset, it makes no sense to me. I sighed as I walked into the form. As different as they were, I had grown quite fond of earth.

Luke

Oh for the love of go- Oh dear. I'm using human expressions. I've been on earth way too long. . . I was currently in the library, and these stupid "gangsters" as they called themselves, wouldn't stop flirting with this female that was trying to study, and they were doing it rather loudly. I sighed and got up to leave. This was useless. I couldn't study in here with all of this noise. I rented my book out, and walked out of the library.

I was drawn from my thoughts when I recognized the footfalls of my roommate Luke leaving the library just as I passed by it's doors, so I waited for him to catch up and then fell in stride. "Hey Luke. What's up? People being disruptive in the library again?" I was unused to this kind of language, but I feel that I'm 'getting the hang of it', as they say here. Clearly, he was irritated about something, and usually he seems rather relaxed, though I know he dislikes foolishness.



I didn't have to look up to know that Sasha had just come in. She is rather interesting. She always has this sort of...presence. You could just feel it, and she seemed to know what everyone was thinking. I supposed she was just very intuitive, I know some humans are like that, but I hadn't come across any quite like her. Though she seemed strange to me, I rather liked her. She was thoughtful and understanding, and she wasn't loud, unless she was angry for some reason, but if she ever got angry, it was always with good reason. I looked up from my textbook. "How was your class, Sasha?" I asked her.

Sasha

I heard someone greet me, and I looked over to see Ty, one of my roommates. I had to say that out of all my roommates, Ty's company was the most relaxed. He didn't seem as though he stressed about much, and he was always calm and very welcoming. I smiled at him. "Hello, Ty. It was good, thank you. How are your studies coming along?" I asked as I sat my bag down and went to the kitchen. I had become sort of the designated cook for the four of us. You cannot imagine how hard it is to learn how to make food with completely new ingredients. Humans eat just about anything that's edible, and it's difficult to learn what goes with what. I have to admit, I quite like experimenting with the food here. Much to the boys dismay, they usually end up having to eat whatever concoction I've made. Sometimes it tastes absolutely amazing, and other times we have opted for what they call 'takeout'.

Luke

I looked up as I heard my roommate Romey speak to me. Ah, good old Romey. Damn, another human expression. And now I'm using their curses in my thoughts, but I digress. Romey was rather interesting to 'hang out' with. He seemed rather awkward, but then again I was too. "Yeah, some kids were trying bothering this poor girl that was trying to study, and they just wouldn't be quiet." I responded with a sigh. "But anyway, how's your day?" I asked, being sociable.

"It is going well. Better than the day that the girl in the library is having, at any rate." I reply to him. I feel like someone ought to at least help the girl out--if I've learned anything about humans here, they do not live harmoniously with each other. It is very chaotic and unpredictable here, and I fear that the men harassing that she-human may go to greater lengths to get what they want if no one does anything to stop them. Perhaps I shall visit the library myself later and see if I can catch them 'in the act' as they say, of being disruptive. I think it would do everyone a favor if it stopped.
"In any case, I have found my studies to be interesting, and I think I am learning much in my language class for English. It is a challenging language, but I will master it." I struggled mostly with longer words and words that had a lot of synonyms, but I am pleased that I can understand what I hear and be able to reply fairly accurately.



"They're coming along very well, thank you. You left early this morning, so I took the liberty of doing some cleanup in my free time to spare you the trouble of having to it when you got back, and I think we both know that the other two aren't exactly neat-freaks.The dishes in the dishwasher are clean." I replied to Sasha with an amused smirk. Luke was usually too busy cramming or complaining about not being able to focus on his studying to care about tiding up the place, and Romey, well, he was usually fairly shy and mostly kept to his room while he was here except for meals. He has a strange mask hanging on his wall in there that looks almost Native-American in style, and has these massive antler-like structures that makes me think it's supposed to represent a moose-head or something. But it's a strange design--If I was told that it wasn't supposed to be a moose-head, I'm not sure what on Earth it could be. Meaning that I'd also guess that it might be alien. I know some alien races once visited Earth in a similar way that I am, and it's entirely possible that they left some things behind with them when they left. Maybe Romey was one of those few interesting humans that actually believes aliens exist. I find those people have some funny ideas about us, they're always interesting to talk to.

Sasha

"Ah, thank you very much." I replied with much gratitude in my voice. I hated doing the dishes with a passion, so this was easily the kindest thing anyone has done for me all day. "And yes, I'm going to have to give both of them lectures about their rooms. Luke's looks like a tornado ran through it, and Romey's isn't much better. You can barely see the floor in either's." I had the duty of opening the windows in the dorm whenever it was a nice out, so I often had to trudge through the battlefields that those two called bedrooms. I opened the dishwasher and started putting them up.

Luke

"English makes no sense. . . Words can mean three different things. For instance, you have two, too, and to. They're all pronounced the same way, but mean different things. My English professor is always yelling at me because I mix up spellings a lot." I replied as we walked. I got into the elevator to go to the floor of our dorm and waited for Romey to get on too before I pressed the button. Strange thing, elevators. I always had the nagging paranoia that the cables that hold the thing were going to snap and I would fall to my death.

I nodded, I had that same problem, too. "Yeah, it is really confusing sometimes. Especially the grammar, since it has so many rules and exceptions to those rules depending on the context. I am just glad that engineering is much simpler by comparison, so I do not have to spend as much time studying that." I laughed and scratched the back of my head sheepishly. I need to start studying contractions, I feel like my speech isn't very efficient yet. I followed Luke back to the dorm, where Ty and Sasha had already arrived. "Hello." I greeted them once we were inside.



"Well, I hope you've already prepared those lectures. Here they come." I replied to her as the door opened yet again to reveal the other two males that lived in the dorm. "Hello, Romey. Good classes?" I inquired politely. Romey was usually quiet, but he could be really vicious, even physically violent, if he was angry. I'd never personally seen one of his outbursts, but I'd heard stories that he got into trouble on his first day here at the school for sending a third-year to the hospital for making a rude comment to one of the professors. He seems to have a very strong sense of justice. I appreciate his sentiments, but I think he should be a bit more careful.

Sasha

I looked over as they came in, and narrowed my eyes a little. I'd wait for them to get done with talking to Ty first, but I was already plotting the lectures in my head. I sensed some irritation from Luke, so I decided that I'd keep the lecture gentle(ish). I crossed my arms and leaned in the doorway as I listened to their conversation.

Luke

"What am I? Chopped liver?" I asked Ty good naturedly. I looked over at Sasha and felt an internal alarm bell go off. She looked like she was planning one of her lectures. I sighed and decided to try and sneak off to my room before she got the chance.

"Yeah, good classes." I replied to Ty, then saw the look on Sasha's face. If I still had my own ears, they definitely would be drooping right now. She was kind of frightening when she was irritated. She'd probably gone into my room today to open the window and saw the mess on my floor. But it was my room, right? I should be able to keep it tidy or messy or whatever I wanted. It's not like she had to open the windows, she could ask us to do it for her...I sighed audibly and I waved her off.
"I know, I know, my room's a mess again. I'll just go clean it if it bothers you that much, you don't need to yell at me." I told her, then made my escape, trying to make it look like I wasn't actually fleeing her dagger-stare. I shut my door behind me.



I chuckled as Romey left, then turned my head to look at Luke.
"No, but I think Sasha is thinking about turning you both into chopped liver," I joked, "based on her expression, anyway." Sasha was sort of motherly in a way, though I'm not sure yet if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Regardless, it was definitely amusing to watch the three of them interact. Luke was like the defiant older son and Romey was akin to the sweet younger brother that just followed his older brother around and tried to emulate him.

Sasha

"Thank you!" I called after Romey, before turning to look at Luke. "Well? Are you going to stick around for the lecture, or go clean your room too?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips as I stared at him.

Luke

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "I'm going, I'm going. . ." I replied as I went off to my room. Sometimes I really wanted to smack her. Yes, she may be the only girl in the dorm. No, that does not make her our mother.

Glad to have escaped the impending lecture, I turned on some music, though I still am finding human music difficult to get used to, I found that it made doing chores like this go by faster, and got to work on the mess which was my room. I found though that when everything was put away, that's when I started losing things that I needed to find. Ah well.



I closed my book, got up, and stretched.
"I'll be right back." I told Sasha, then went into my own room to put my textbook away. Afterwards, I grabbed a pen from my small bedside table and marked off another day on the calendar that hung on my door. After putting that back, I made my way back to the main room.
"Now, is there anything I can help with?" I offered.

Sasha

I looked at Ty and shook my head. "Thanks, but I think I've got everything under control." I said before I started getting things out to cook dinner. I had put the dishes away, and I figured that before the day was over there would be yet another pile of dishes to be washed, but oh well.

Luke

As I cleaned my room, I decided to try and remember some of the things I had read in my book. I was studying human medicine, and there was quite a lot to remember. I seemed to be getting the hang of it though. I sighed and tried to clean as fast as I could.

The music helped me focus, and I soon had everything put away, so I took out my books to study for a little bit before we were all called in for dinner. I wondered what Sasha was going to make this time, she usually had something new to try every few days or so, and was always experimenting. Sometimes it did not turn out as well as she hoped, but it did not seem to dissuade her. She seemed to have fun with it regardless.



"All right then, let me know if you change your mind." I replied to her. I knew she always preferred to have some space when she was trying to focus on something, though I always tried to offer any help I could give anyway. It was just polite. So instead, I took this opportunity to do some of my laundery. It wasn't going to clean itself. I'd always found that to be particularly strange about humans. Their obsession with clothing. Especially for the women.

Sasha

After a long and tedious search for a recipe from this website called 'Pinterest' I finally found something I thought looked good, that I had the ingredients to make. Hopefully this one wouldn't turn out badly. . . I tended to get a bit flustered and angry whenever I messed up on something, and Luke always exploited these opprotunities to torture me and get revenge for my nagging him.

Luke

The smell of food reached its way to my room soft as I finished cleaning. I made my way to the kitchen to see what she was making, and it looked like she was making something I'd seen before. . . I think it's called Lasagna? "Oh no, you're putting it in the oven. Make sure it doesn't turn out like last weeks cake catastrophe, please." I said, teasing her lightly and earning a death glare.

Glad for a chance to escape the fate of being forced into 'cleaning', I left my room the moment I smelled food.
"Thank you, Sasha." I told her quietly. Luke always seemed to make fun of her--and everyone else--whenever he could, so I always tried to make sure her efforts were appreciated, regardless. Though, I had never been the pickiest of eaters myself, so I suppose I didn't feel that there was as much to complain about, perhaps...



"I'm sure it will be just fine, as it usually is." I observed to Luke pointedly. Sure, Sasha had her bad days, but it wasn't all the time. Besides, she certainly didn't have to cook for us. He should be a little more grateful that she wasn't making him pay for his own food.

Sasha

"You're welcome, Romey. And thank you, Ty. At least some people can show gratitude and appreciation." I said with a pointed glare at Luke. "If my food is so bad, you can cook for yourself from now on."

Luke

I internally panicked. I couldn't cook at all on this planet. I didn't know anything about the technology, or the way they prepared food. I had two choices. I could tell Sasha to not be so sensitive and that I was joking and never eat again, or I could apologize and still get fed. One sacrificed my pride, but food is honestly more important. I sighed "Sorry, Sasha."