• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

College Magazine

College Life, Dating, Career & Campus Advice

  • Colleges
    • College Guides
    • College Rankings
    • Campus Life
      • Academics
      • Dating
      • Freshman Year
      • Health
      • Social Change
      • Party
  • Majors
    • All Majors
    • Most Popular Majors
    • Choosing a Major
  • Intern
    • Internship Directory
    • How to Get an Internship
    • How to Write a Resume
    • How to Write a Cover Letter
    • How to Interview
    • How to Network
    • Career 101
    • Find Your Passion Career
  • Money
    • How to Make Money
    • How to Save Money
    • How to Get a Job
    • Credit Cards 101
    • FAFSA
    • Ramen Project
  • Travel
    • Study Abroad
    • College Spring Break
    • How to Travel Cheap
    • Things to Do
  • Shop
    • Writer Course
    • College Magazine Shop
    • Gift Guides
    • College Packing List
  • Find your college or university
  • Colleges
    • College Guides
    • College Rankings
    • Campus Life
      • Academics
      • Dating
      • Freshman Year
      • Health
      • Social Change
      • Party
  • Majors
    • All Majors
    • Most Popular Majors
    • Choosing a Major
  • Intern
    • Internship Directory
    • How to Get an Internship
    • How to Write a Resume
    • How to Write a Cover Letter
    • How to Interview
    • How to Network
    • Career 101
    • Find Your Passion Career
  • Money
    • How to Make Money
    • How to Save Money
    • How to Get a Job
    • Credit Cards 101
    • FAFSA
    • Ramen Project
  • Travel
    • Study Abroad
    • College Spring Break
    • How to Travel Cheap
    • Things to Do
  • Shop
    • Writer Course
    • College Magazine Shop
    • Gift Guides
    • College Packing List
  • Find your college or university
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Write
  • Apply
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sign Up
  • Advertise
  • My Account
  • Cart

You are here: Home / Campus life / A Nigerian, Korean, Chinese, Two Mexicans and a Dedicated Recorder Player

A Nigerian, Korean, Chinese, Two Mexicans and a Dedicated Recorder Player

March 25, 2019 //  by Monique Tudon

Shares29FacebookTweet

Once upon a time there lived a Nigerian, Korean, Chinese, Two Mexicans and a dedicated recorder player. What may sound like the start of a bar joke or even the beginning of an adventurous fairytale, actually isn’t. Rather, this was the start of my junior year of college at UCLA, just about the time when students usually transition between dorm life to apartment life. Just about the time when real—“adulting”—as they call it, begins.

You see, one of the hidden aspects of college life that takes a backseat to all the other new experiences we indulge in is the prospect of living with other human beings.

Sure, as freshmen we get excited about the roommate search, filling out compatibility surveys, and discovering the sudden possibility that gasp “Are we soulmates?” But you don’t hear from people much after that. You don’t hear about the laborious hours that go into the art of compromise. Compromises of adjusted room lighting, sleep-time schedules, where to eat for dinner, who’s going to throw out the trash, and the small quirks we learn to accept about the other humans occupying our space.

Honestly speaking, the dorm life was manageable when it was only two people I needed to keep tabs on, but the sudden realization that the number of people entering my personal orbit would double worried me. The thought of five completely different people with completely different backgrounds all living in one shared space where they would eat, sleep, cook, experience the whole spectrum of human emotions and stub their toe on the same living room table was a recipe for disaster.

Yet, there I was at the start of the summer, signing a lease to live with girls I had met in a campus Christian fellowship. These people were none other than a Nigerian, Korean, Chinese and one other Mexican. They had names too, but given the enormous differences that our backgrounds and ethnicities proposed, that was all I saw them as at the time. While these girls hovered on the border between acquaintances and friends, I knew better than to think that people were defined by their appearances.

As move-in day came closer and closer, the monster otherwise known as personal relationships came knocking on my door. It was the fourth of July, and given that my childhood dog had just died hours before back at home, I was in no mood to surround myself with “acquaintances.” Nonetheless, there I was lugging all my boxes and furniture to the place I would call my new home for the year. In retrospect, it was an exciting day for all of us.

However, after all the hype and politeness dwindled down and turned into actual school where we arrived home tired and hungry, we were faced with a new dilemma. We came home, asking the others about their days only to be met with the bland answers of “Fine,” “Good” or “Okay.” It was just like middle school when you came back from school and your mom asked the same question, only to be given a one-word answer by a child scraping for isolation in the confinement of their own room. We needed an external intervention and we needed it fast.

While the first months of living together was filled with awkward silences, one-word answers and passive aggressiveness, this is where the hope of the dedicated recorder player came into the picture. Everyday around the same time, somebody in the apartments above us religiously practiced their recorder to the tune of “Hot Cross Buns.” For those who don’t know what this tune sounds like, it is the most basic sequence of notes played in a pretty catchy tune. But after hearing this tune for hours at a time while we tried to study, we began to take notice.

Not only did we collectively gather in the living room to moan and complain about this person, but we also had so many deeper questions for the situation. Who was playing? Why were they playing this annoying tune? And most importantly, in what real world situation would a college student at UCLA need to fall back on the talent of playing “Hot Cross Buns” on the recorder?

Pretty soon, it became a routine ritual to gather in the living room at the same time in the day to bond over the mutual hate of this tune and the person playing it. It was at these moments of trying to hold in our laughter in the living room that I thought to myself: maybe this whole living arrangement won’t be so bad after all.

Thanks to the dedicated recorder player who still remains unknown, the Nigerian, Korean, Chinese and Mexican became more than the labels I gave them, but real roommates. The kind of roommates you slowly learn to share your life with, whether you initially planned to or not. Without roommates, who would we share our innermost thoughts, vulnerabilities and small events of our days with—the ones that nobody else gets to witness?

If you’re a college student with roommates who you’re unsure about or don’t know well, know that the intersection of our lives with another will always be messy, clumsy and sometimes uncomfortable. However,  in the end it’s always worth it when people become more than what we initially see them as. Thankfully, just when we think life is falling apart, bland or unenjoyable, life offers small silver linings in the form of a “Hot Cross Bun” recorder enthusiast—just to bring us closer together.

Shares29FacebookTweet

Filed Under: Campus life Roommate UCLA

About Monique Tudon

Junior at UCLA studying English. Lover of graphic novels, dogs, Korean pop culture, softball, dogs, beautifully animated movies, did I mention dogs, and adventures with her twin sister.

You May Also Like

CampusLife_sm

CM’s Top 10 Schools Doing Residential Life Right

colleges for future philanthropists

Live to Give: Top 10 Colleges for Future Philanthropists

Top 10 COVID-19 Safe Activities to Do Near Fresno, California

One Girl and a Whole World: What I Learned from My International Friends

fog

10 Reasons Why Bennington College Is the Quirkiest College

crim dell bridge

10 Signs That You’re a True TWAMP: Typical William & Mary Person

10 Tech Gifts to Make Zoom University That Much Easier

10 Essential Steps Before Graduating at Penn State

Longsword and Fencing Mask Pictured in Front of Window

Swords, Bruises, and How to Find Joy in College

Fight On: 8 Reasons Why USC is Better Than UCLA

College Magazine’s 10 Best Colleges for Studying a Foreign Language

bruin belles two girls laughing

How You Can Get Involved with the Bruin Belles

10 COVID-19 Safe Activities Near Orlando, Florida

friend group

Top 10 FOMO-Worthy Events at St. John’s University

Life in a Global Pandemic: A Love Letter to My FOMO

10 Most-Loved Professors at the University of Florida

How Dating a POC Helped Me Accept Myself as an Asian-American

The Worst Dorm Room Gave Me My Best Memories

SUNY New Paltz

10 COVID-Friendly Things to Do This Fall at New Paltz

Top 10 Can’t Miss Experiences at UMass Amherst

Best Places to Live at University of Florida

10 Ways UCLA Is Killing the College Experience Game

events at FAMU

10 Top Tier FAMU Events That Will Give You FOMO

The Devil is in the Stairwells

Previous Post: « How to Become a Pharmacist
Next Post: 21 Michael Scott Quotes to Get You Through Exam Season »

Primary Sidebar



Trending Posts

Chill Colleges
3438

CM’s Top 10 Most Chill Colleges in the Country

climate change protest
335

Top 10 Colleges Where You Can Make A Difference in the Climate Crisis

food buffet
304

Top 10 Colleges with the Most Delicious On and Off Campus Food Options

226

The 10 Best Organizations You Should Donate To in 2021

coffee w heart
11

A Barista’s Guide to Making Delicious Coffee Drinks at Home

Featured Chapter: UCLA

Footer

logo

College Magazine is the national daily guide to campus life. Our articles for college students feature university rankings of U.S. colleges, college guides, academic advice, college prep, career advice, student health and collegiate dating tips.

Written by students for students, by a team of journalists from universities nationwide, we’re on the pulse of the college experience.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Colleges

  • College Guides
  • College Rankings
  • Campus life
  • Academics
  • Dating
  • Freshmen Year
  • Health
  • Party

Majors

  • All College Majors
  • Most Popular Majors
  • Choosing a Major

Intern

  • Internships Directory
  • How to Write a Resume
  • How to Write a Cover Letter
  • How to Interview
  • How to Get an Internship
  • How to Network

Money

  • How to Make Money
  • How to Save Money
  • How to Get a Job
  • Credit Cards 101
  • College Loans

Travel

  • Study Abroad
  • College Spring Break
  • How to Travel Cheap
  • Things to Do

Shop

  • College Packing List
  • Gift Guides
  • About Us
  • Team
  • Write
  • Apply
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sign Up
  • Advertise
  • My Account
  • Cart

Copyright © 2021 College Magazine · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc.