I guess I made a decent starter...

So, as a little personal story real quick, I did study abroad and it was hard on me not so much for the language barriers, because I actually mastered the language, but because I often felt like the ''other'', being the only foreign student in the school. Uni is hard enough as it is, but let me tell you, it is TWICE as hard for international students. I was expecting a high-quality academic environment and an overall positive experience. I was disappointed time and again by irregularities, double standards, absurd situations and blatant displays of racism.

And then in my home country, it's required you take two years of English. India is actually one of the largest English speaking countries, but that doesn't mean everyone excels at it, especially not lower caste farm families in rural Jaipur. But when my family relocated to the city, everyone had to speak English as a second language. I, personally, struggled A LOT in primary school, due to minor learning disabilities. When everyone else was reading Harry Potter I was still reading picture books. My English teacher was Irish, and he saw me struggling and got a me a tutor but you should see how atrocious my early English essays were. Essays are not particularly hard for me now but they most certainly are when you have to write them a in a foreign tongue. Took me a long time to learn English, I just couldn't get the hang of it. When my class was on Chapter Five, I was still stuck on Chapter One. ''Wait, this is going too fast!'' It made me feel more embarrassed when my classmates were able to become fluent in two years. I think it took me four-five if not more. Late bloomer I suppose.  To make matters worse, my father left the farm and was able to study abroad in England of all places, and he was the only one in my family who spoke fluent English. He was too smart for a farm boy and I always wanted to be like him. I was nothing like him. How ironic that I ended up getting a degree in English. In Japan. Life's funny like that sometimes.

It's why I always had to laugh at Rolf cursing English...it's like, ''Yeah, English, what is up with that?'' Not that I ever cursed the language, but it brings back memories, none too fond. I remember crying on the bus home after getting a D on my English test that I studied all week for. I guess that's why I always related to Rolf's struggles in school and you really tapped into that. I've not seen too many college-centric stories of Rolf, so this will be my first exposure to it. I think this is exactly how it would unfold. I would really like to see some of these questions answered: WHY did he attend college in the first place? Was it so he wouldn't feel left out because all his friends were going? Was it expected of him by his family? (''We brought you to this country to receive the best education, do not forsake Great Nano's sacrifice!'') In my culture, anyway, higher education is strictly enforced, it's not really a choice. You either become a doctor or an engineer. I did neither. Also worth noting, most landed immigrants want their children to be as educated as possible, because they want them to be (in the case of the U.S.) ''American'', so many children of immigrants will attend college if they can (what with financial issues because college eats you out of house and home, I was lucky enough to obtain a scholarship specifically for Indians, and yeah, like Sid mentioned that pesky social security number that 12 million immigrants do not have).  But I shan't get on the immigrant soapbox, I'm just glad you told my story, like, I see myself so much in this even if it's technically about Rolf, and I think it can speak for most, if not all, immigrants who continue to struggle day-to-day as we speak. Well, this is getting too long and I don't expect that you'd read it all, but just know how honoured and touched I am by this story. I do like that you showed us the other side of Rolf a lot of people are afraid to go...most just view him as a wacky foreigner, but underneath all that eccentricity is a proud young man who tries so hard to assimilate albeit remaining strongly tied to his mother land. He does have those painfully sad moments and that last paragraph of him just giving up? It's so familiar to those many late nights cramming before a big test until I passed out. For someone who claims to have never gone to college, you really understand the college experience, not just for foreigners, but for everyone, regardless of those barriers. You know what though? Rolf, to me, is always most strong when he's at his weakest, because part of being a man is accepting your limitations, or what my father used to say when he was alive. Failure is only real if you let it be.

Apologies for rambling.