Election Reflection: Mymai Yuan C'17
When I first moved to America, I was incredibly excited. I was going to a liberal and educated environment. In Thailand, I attended a privileged international school, with a huge expat community. I am fluent in English. I did not think I would have any trouble fitting in. The short story is, I was wrong. On the second day of NSO, a hall-mate refused to say my name properly. When I tried to correct him, he said he preferred his version which whimsically changed from “Mumei” to “Meemy”. My roommate, unknowing that I was in the room, called her mother and told her she felt uncomfortable: “Thailand is sketchy, and we don’t know what her family is like”. During freshman year, a friend flirtatiously told me that I am the “exception to my race” and, “to take it as a compliment, I usually have a rule for Mayflower descendants only”. A Non-American peer told me I’m not like the other Asians. I’m the “cool kind”. I am both repulsed by and compassionate to the tiny part of me that felt flattered.