A New Friend?

A most interesting thing just happened to me. Whilst lazily walking from library to library, spending my Friday evening checking out books on the Vietnam War for an essay, I was suddenly approached by a stranger. Not five minutes sooner had I just past this man walking the opposite direction and I was quite surprised by how quickly he was able to catch back up to me. Anyways I stopped, thinking he may be lost and, as usual, thinking that I am the worst person to ask directions from on this campus, he said, a bit shyly, "You want be me friend?"

Before I could reply he went on, in sputtery English with a heavy Chinese accent, that he was a grad student from Taiwan and was very new to the area thus had no friends outside of his work. He was very nice and we talked for a short while before exchanging emails and parting ways. I'd like to meet more non-exchange students and this was a perfect opportunity. Perhaps we can talk about Taiwan a bit, as I'm hoping to stay there a few days while traveling through China in May.

It's really amazing how social everyone here is. I thought it was just the Singaporeans but I'm beginning to think that it's most of Asia. I met some girls both in my Aircraft Design and Aerodynamics classes, but unfortunately I dropped both and haven't seen them since. From the moment they sat next to me they were all smiles and very chatty, not even stopping the conversation when the lecture began! Yet more evidence to support why Singapore is dubbed the happiest country in Asia.