The perils of a room-mate

It is traditional, in some parts of the world, for students to have a room-mate. From what I can gather, this room-mate is often not by choice, and may be a stranger, at first. Herein lies the peril.

Recently, a Mongolian student complained to me about her room-mate. She is sharing a room with an Indian national in a student hostel, here, in Singapore.

"She is dirty." she began, in a way that told me there was much more to come. "She is smelly.", she continued, her nose crinkling in unwelcome recall. "Very smelly."

"Perhaps she doesn't wash.", I empathized.

This seemed to get the Mongolian going: "I have NEVER seen her wash. She hasn't showered since she first came to my room: NEVER!"

She was clearly upset at having to share her room with such an unhygienic person. There was repulsion in her face when she mentioned her room-mate -and I could understand why. You can just imagine how smelly someone would soon become, who never washed, yet lived in ever hot, humid, equatorial Singapore.

"Perhaps you should change rooms...and share with a Mongolian." At least, I thought to myself, they would behave in ways that she had come to expect.

"I can't. Not for another week."

There was clearly something else on her mind, something more delicate and in some way worse than what had gone before. I waited in patient silence, while she gathered the words to continue.

"She stole my money. All of it."

I understood her situation. She wouldn't be allowed, by her type of visa, to open a bank account in Singapore and so would have kept quite a lot of cash in her room.

"Have you reported it to the police?"

"The police?" The thought was clearly unpleasant to her. "No. I told the manager of the hostel...he says he will give me another room, in a week."

"You really should report her to the police." I reiterated.

She shook her head slowly. It seems that is not the way Mongolians did things.

"You know what?" she said, "She is studying cookery at University."

That jolted me.

"She never washes," she said, spelling it out unnecessarily, "and is studying cookery. So, one day people will eat her food."

It was my turn to feel repelled. I had to go, however, so I wished her well on changing rooms.

Now, I have never had a room-mate, as such, though I have shared a suite of rooms with another. There are, I feel, many reasons why it can be quite risky. If you are unfortunate in whom you are allotted, it can make for an unpleasant situation indeed, as this Mongolian student's example reveals.

I understand that many Colleges have a premium on residential space and that this forces the need for room-mates, upon their students. I feel, however, that there should be a choice: those who would rather have their privacy, than a room-mate, should be accommodated. There should be room for those who do not wish to have a room-mate.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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A Global Search for a University

We are looking for a University for Ainan because he will soon have taken A level - and once he has done that, he would need further opportunity to study - otherwise he would stagnate.

A level is at the level of a Major in an American Bachelor's degree. Ainan is ready to do that soon. But what will he do then? We have nothing in place at present, so we have to line something up for him. We are, therefore, interested in hearing from any University, worldwide that offers Chemistry and other sciences.

Our needs are quite specific, but a University need not meet all of our needs to be acceptable. Firstly, the University must have a strong Chemistry department. Then they should offer a wide spectrum of other sciences especially Physics, Material Sciences, Geology and Astronomy, as well as, ideally, Nanotechnology and Biology. These are secondary interests.

The medium of instruction should be English. The culture should be warm, accepting and welcoming. It should be a supportive, co-operative environment. Too many Universities are overly competitive, aggressive and hostile environments (in my view). That would not suit Ainan.

The University should be prepared to offer mentors. He is young and their guidance would be helpful. It should also be located in a relatively safe place. We don't want to have to worry about such things, unduly.

We are prepared to look anywhere in the world that is a reasonably comfortable place to live. As long as the University can provide a nurturing environment we would be interested in hearing from them.

If you are with a suitable University, or know of any, please contact us and tell us the details. We will then correspond to see if anything can be worked out.

Your help in this is very much appreciated. Thanks.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eleven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and four months, and Tiarnan, twenty-one months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Does College make you fat?

I remember being slim once. It was before I went to University. So slender was I, that I even had the proverbial "six-pack". Ah well. So, am I alone in my observation? Am I the only one to leave University heavier than when I arrived?

No. Not by a long way, if a 2005 study by researchers at Washington University, St. Louis is anything to go by. The work was published in the Journal of American College Health.

Principal investigator, Susan S. Deusinger, obtained height and weight data for 764 incoming freshmen at Washington University. At the end of the year, students being students (and therefore implicitly unreliable) only 290 returned for reassessment, despite being offered financial incentives.

However this was enough to decide whether the folklore of the "Freshman 15" (the number of pounds you would gain, along with your courseload in your first year), had any substance. It did. But not quite 15 pounds. Seventy per cent of freshmen students gained an average of nine pounds in their first year.

Researchers were unable to pinpoint a cause. They noted that there were no noticeable changes in dietary habits, or exercise levels from the start of the year, to the end (awful at both ends, by all accounts). Whatever the cause of the gain, it does show that going to College, does make you fat.

Parents of College going children, have, thus, one more thing to worry about: the health of their offspring. It might be wise to educate them a little in wise food choices - and other lifestyle measures, before they leave your sight.

Note, however, that this study only examined the American college student population - it did not address the issue of whether this was a global phenomenon (though it probably is).

(If you would like to read of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eight months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and one month, or Tiarnan, eighteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, genetics, left-handedness, College, University, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)