First of all, I have to make a confession. I did not choose to live in Prentiss. When I was picking dorms, I named Jewett first (because I am energetic and love to party), Lyman second ( I am kind of laid-back and chill), and, after that, I put Prentiss as my last choice. When I found out I was placed in Prentiss, I was disappointed and anxious. I didn’t know if I could get along with a bunch of American girls (I am the only child in my family and the only girl in my extended family and I have 10 male cousins so I am used to hanging out with guys). However, looking back, I SOOOOO APPRECIATE that Whitman put me in Prentiss. Although I don’t know what I would have missed if I were living in Jewett or Lyman, I LOVE living in Prentiss and I think it was one of the best things to ever happen to me! I have gotten to meet and know and live with so many awesome girls. Because of Prentiss, I haven’t been seriously homesick (I get homesick very easily, at least once a week when I was in Boston). Prentiss is a place I call home because I know I can get a good night sleep after coming back from a crazy frat party. Whenever I am talking to my roommate or section mates, I like to say, “I will see you at home!”

I would like to give more specific examples to prove my point that Prentiss is amazing!

Reason 1: It has the best bathroom! I didn’t realize how nice the bathrooms are in Prentiss until last weekend when I went to a frat party. In the middle of the party, I was desperate to go to a bathroom. But I only saw a guy’s bathroom. So I asked for directions to the ladies’ room. It wasn’t a bathroom because there wasn’t a bath or enough room. It was a toilet. However, when I came out from the toilet stall, I saw two guys were also using the bathroom! It was such a good thing that their backs to me so I didn’t see anything inappropriate. I was surprised and said, “Wow I thought this is ladies ‘room!” One boy responded, “I don’t mind.” The other one said, “Big deal! I have been to girl’s bathroom in Prentiss before!” I was shocked for a few seconds and wondered if I was the one who went to the wrong bathroom. In the end I said, “Excuse me!” and ran away.

Reason 2: I’ve met so many good friends in Prentiss, especially in my Dox section! I met my best friend Miss Meritt in Dox. Out first meeting is legendary. One day, I was chilling in the Dox lounge. Meritt came to me and said to me for the first time, “大麻”(big marijuana) in Chinese. I was totally blown away by what she said because first of all, she has never talk to me before. Second of all, she came out of nowhere and said “big marijuana” without any context. More importantly, I couldn’t believe she was said the phrase. So I asked, “What did you say?” Bravely, Meritt said it again, with great confidence and perfect pronunciation, “大麻” (big Marijuana). Shocked, I asked her where she learned this. I was going to blame the irresponsible Chinese person who taught her this word. However, Meritt told me that she learned it in her FIRST Chinese class. I couldn’t believe it. I felt I had an obligation to talk to her Chinese professor. How could the professor teach American students to say “big marijuana” in the first class? Why didn’t I get to learn “big marijuana” in my French class? Meritt explained that she learned it was because her professor wanted to emphasize the importance of the accent in Chinese. If the accent of a word is wrong, it can refer to totally different things. For example, with the four different accents, the word “Ma” represents mother, marijuana, horse, or curse. Meritt thought it was funny, so she memorized how to say “big marijuana” in Chinese. For me, I truly think any girl who is curious, upright, funny, and courageous, and has the guts to come to me and say the word big marijuana in our first meeting, is an awesome girl. Therefore we became best friends. If I could add a footnote to our friendship, I would write “a friendship starts with big marijuana.”

Reason 3: In Prentiss, I learned philosophic ideas which will help me understand life. Last Sunday, we had a “sex and gender” workshop. When our RA asked us what the difference was between sex and gender, a girl answered, “Sex is in your pants. Gender is whether or not you are wearing pants. As for sexual orientation, it refers to which pants you would like to get into.” Her reply was so simple but it made hell a lot of sense to me. Since then, I am no longer confused by the sex and gender question, because I will always think of the “pants theory.”