Hey Freshers!

I have just finished my first week of university classes. Yesterday, I learned one of Japan's first politically correct word alternatives. The new gender-free label for incoming university students and newly hired employees is, instead of "Freshmen", "FRESHERS." Weird! My student asked me, what a "fresher" might be in real English. If someone told me, "He is a fresher," I think I would take one step back and keep my distance from thim forever more. If it were a girl and I was told, "She is a fresher," I think I would warn any self-respecting boys to stay away from her. What do you think?

Once again, seeing the bright eyed freshers on campus reminds me of the fun times I had my first year away from home, testing the limits of everything I had been taught. Surviving this year of experimenting, I remember the feeling I see in the second year students, what we called "sophomore blues," knowing what was ahead and dreading that you still had 3 more years of it left! Yet, when a question of, "Which is more exciting, high school or university?" it was unanimously clear that the freshers don't know the fun of freedom and exploration that awaits them in the year ahead.

A couple university memories I flashed back to this week:
1. Late night hallway chats with the girls in my dormitory.
2. My first college boyfriends try at impressing me with my first bottle of wine, a French label bearing my name, St. Michel. (This, in the end was the peak of his charm, I learned! Oh, he did introduce me to Depeche Mode)
3. Meeting 2 of my coolest friends, Shelley and Cari.
4. Sneaking into my friend's family owned Baskin Robbins 31 Ice Cream shop after hours for big spoon taste testing!
5. Sledding down Guadalupe Hill on cafeteria trays in the winter.
6. Mud football in the spring.