It's a Small World After All

Hawaii people are always pretty proud to describe the place as a "melting pot" of cultures. But when it comes to diversity, Sydney makes Hawaii feel about as exotic as, say, Indiana. For example, while talking to a group of students during orientation this week I looked around and this little United Nations of sorts, and counted people from the Czech Republic, the Maldives, Korea and Columbia. It was pretty tough to play the "I'm cool 'cause I'm from Hawaii" card in a crowd like that. That said, one thing that definitely gets me some street cred among the international crowd is that it's Obama's hometown, which is far better than the usual "Have you ever seen Dog the Bounty Hunter?" question I usually get.


The University of Sydney was established in 1850, which makes it a toddler by many American university standards, but an old fart in Australia. To be precise, it's the oldest university in the country. The campus itself is relatively small given the school's enrollment numbers — more than 49,000 students within a 177-acre campus. While the buildings are a mix of modern architecture and historic structures, the heart of the campus is the Main Quadrangle. Its Gothic stylings is something you'd expect from an Ivy League school somewhere in the northeast, giving the place a real academic feel. Yikes, I'm already starting to bore myself, so enough with the technical stuff.

Now, not to keep ragging on the Japanese (see, it's a bit more acceptable since I'm sorta one of them), but I am fascinated at just how obsessed they are with taking photos. I admit, even I get the shutter bug from time to time, but I'm not nearly as bad as one girl I observed this week. During a three-hour series of PowerPoint presentations, she literally snapped a photo of EVERY. SINGLE. SLIDE. I mean, it was tough enough to sit through these sessions the first time, why would anyone want to voluntarily revisit it a second or third time?! I was almost tempted to take a picture of her taking a picture, but the irony in that was just too much.

Meeting so many international students this week has given me a new appreciation for hard-to-pronounce names. It's also reminded me to have a bit of patience when people have difficulty pronouncing mine. Among the most popular interpretations are "Lydia," "Leah" and my favorite — "Leeha" (like yee-haw with an "L"). At this rate, graduate school may turn out to be a lot like undergrad in Chicago where my first name became "Thatgirlfromhawaii." Or, I could opt to do like one Korean girl I met and fabricate a name altogether. "Wow, how did you get the name 'Green'? " I asked after meeting her. Her response: "Oh, it's my favorite color." In that case, I think I'll just call myself "Aubergine."