Looking at the bare walls of his suite at Washington University in St. Louis, Class of 2015 alumnus Ethan Ngai took out his 2-foot long “Star Wars” poster to put up. As Ngai’s roommate walked by and caught a glimpse of the poster, he excitedly began to list all 200 characters featured in the film series, even ones that Ngai had not known. From this moment, Ngai knew that he was going to fit in at his new school quite well.
Ngai is majoring in an economics and strategy as well as a history. Although living far away from home and in a completely new environment, Ngai said the atmosphere of the school isn’t that different from here.
“It’s the same [in that] everyone is academically focused, but it’s college, so there is definitely stuff to do,” Ngai said. “It’s been a lot of fun, [and I’ve] learned a lot and [have] met a lot of interesting people.”
For Ngai, the biggest change was having to adjust to the mid-size population of about 7,000 students. Around campus, Ngai often runs into familiar faces, and he said that class sizes are often small.
“For example, my class last semester on Late Ottoman History had only six students, and [my professor] would know exactly when you missed class,” Ngai said.
Unlike California’s weather, which is mostly sunny year-round, Ngai said that Missouri’s weather has been an entirely new experience.
“You have 30-degree temperature ranges in a day, snow and 70-degree weather in a week and then back again,” Ngai said. “It’s all very weird, but the bright side is that miserable weather never stays that way, so we all just dress in layers.”
The food offered is one part of the school that Ngai has enjoyed, since he had not expected the variety of ethnic restaurants both on and off campus. According to Ngai, the campus offers a variety of foods ranging from Thai to American that are often within walking distance.
With the variety of classes at his school, Ngai has been able to meet students and staff of all different backgrounds during his first year.
“I’ve had a professor who authored the constitution of Afghanistan and a professor who went to Harvard at [age] 15,” Ngai said. “They’re generally all pretty great professors to learn from.”
Nevertheless, Ngai occasionally still finds it difficult to manage his time and to stay on schedule due to the freedom given to students. Although he only has four hours of class a day, Ngai has to keep track of his activities, studying, office house and group meetings.
Among the variety of student organizations offered at WashU, Ngai has joined Model United Nations (MUN), Hong Kong Student Association and Congress of the South 40, a residential life government. Joining these groups has helped him meet new students with whom he shares similar interests.
“For current seniors, I would say to take it easy, enjoy your time and try something you’ve always wanted to do in college,” said Ngai. “My experience at WashU has been really amazing and I’ve met such amazing people through joining activities that interest me.”