Day 41

More new people, this time an invasion of geriatrics participating in the "Elderhostel" program, where they get to see foreign countries on the cheap. Because of them, we've been evicted from the dining room during mealtimes and are forced to eat from plastic trays on our laps, sitting around the TV and watching the History Channel . It's annoying. My personal theory is that youth is the time best spent traveling the world cheaply, and that senior citizens' vacations should be spent in lavish surroundings, sequestered in cruise ships or casinos or 5-star hotels where they don't get in the way of Other People. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but when I'm 65 all I'll want to do in the way of holidays is put my feet up and sip champagne from those cute little flutes and eat fancy hors d'ouevres and play bridge by the pool. Gadding about and staying in hostels? Not so much.

I'm beginning to realize more and more how bereft of good company and conversation I am here. Back home there are my Humans friends and even in Duke I know that I can walk down the hall or across the quad or meet someone in Starbucks when I need to share something, but all the talk here has been insipid as cardboard. I've exhausted the excuse that I'm "having fun" (which I am) - I can now feel, quite acutely, that something is missing.

It might just be that there are no guys around. Monday movie was Terminator 3, not a film that I was dying to see, but what else is there to do in the evenings...anyway, Miranda complained that Chris Gerbing (movie person) shows nothing but 'guy movies', and all the girls (except Kelsey, who is way cool, btw) boycotted the film to go and watch The Goonies - which by the way I refuse to see ever again unless I've had at least 5 drinks ahead of time, preferably tequila. It is kind of true (last week was the Farreley Brothers' Kingpin) - it also highlights the fact that there are no Duke kids who I can hang out with to do 'guy' things. Damn gender roles. I guess there are the British lads (who have now run off with my Sopranos DVDs), but they're not always around and it's not quite the same as having people your age and I guess what I'm saying is that I would give an arm and a leg to have Choonping or Jiahao or even Kevin Tjan here so that I stop feeling like my eyes are going to fall out of their sockets every time someone opens their mouth.