“I’m in the right place.”

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Transcript for Explain Myself Again

I’m a grad student: Chinese Studies program.  Trying to get stuff done on campus, like going to offices, financial aid, the graduate school office, the health center… A lot of times they usually tell me, ‘The international office will take care of you.’  But you know, I tell them, ‘No, they’re not going to take care of me because I have nothing to do with them.’  So I think sometimes they would assume I don’t speak enough English, and then when I make myself clear, it seems they didn’t understand because I guess they weren’t expecting—expecting something that clear, so I guess that’s what made it unclear to them.  They pause for a couple seconds, and then I find myself having to explain myself again just to make it clear of what I’m in the office for, and that I’m in the right place.

When they realize I’m not an international student, they feel a little embarrassed.  You know, I don’t really blame them for mistaking me, because there are about two hundred international students from China, and the amount of Asian students from—that grew up in America on campus… It’s such a small group compared to them, so, you know, I don’t—I try not to get mad about it.