Mitchum's Point of View;

I wanted to reintroduce myself to my former tour guide again. Gail looked more than happy to share the cookies around since she mostly offered them indiscriminately. So I went over to where the older students had just dropped another student off. Since my former tour guide was the only one I did know I used her name when approaching her. "Hi Kervani, you won't remember me but I was on your first tour."

At the sound of her name, she turned to me. First, she looked as if she was searching through all her thoughts as she tilted her head slightly before saying, "You're the fella who came with the quiet one that bought cake and donuts for everyone.  Oh, my gosh, that was the best tour I ever did."

I guess she did remember me well Presley that is. If I remember what happened correctly, we got there early and Presley bought two huge bowls filled with rice cakes and donuts. I think when she saw it and asked him if he bought them to share, he handed me the bowl and nodded. And again I was stuck sharing it with everyone until the tour was ready to start.

"Did he come with you? Any more snacks?" She asked excitedly as she continued.

"There are only three left, you can have one and call your two other friends over," Gail replied from behind me before I could and then offered her a cookie from the tray.

Kervani did call her friends as she took hers. "Looks like we have two bakers in this year's batch," she said as she bit into them.

"Oh I didn't bake these, Mitchum's roommate did. Aren't they the best thing you've ever tasted?" Gail replied as she pointed to me when she said that and I already knew where this conversation was leading.

"Yeah, it's the same guy who baked the rice cakes and bought the donuts. He's kind of busy with unpacking so he asked me to share them around." I answered before the question could be asked as I knew it was coming.

"This guy is really talented at this stuff. Anyway, I owe you guys a complete tour. You haven't seen the rest of the new buildings yet. We can wait for him to finish up first before we start," She smiled and said. I knew that Presley would in no way be finished anytime soon with the amount of unpacking he had to do.

"Well, you'll be waiting a really long time 'cause he really has a lot of unpacking to do and he's still expecting some of his stuff to arrive," She nodded to what I said to show she understood and then whispered to her friends something in a hushed tone.

All I heard was one of them saying "Ok" and then both left. I didn't get to focus on where they went because Kervani now turned our attention back to her.

"How about I show you around the block?" she asked. I agreed and Gail did also as she gave me back the tray to hold. So Kervani took us on our own personal tour through the building block.

It was a wide area in itself. As we walked on the resin ground pathway through where the trees were between the buildings she told us about them. I learned that there are five buildings providing housing for this year's incoming students. Each building had around thirty students and there were at least six rooms on each floor. Our buildings were all the same cream color with a white line of marble blocks separating each floor. The structure itself was very modern compared to the other buildings I'd seen on my way in. Well, the school has been around for more than fifty years and it would seem that they have now decided to move with the times. But even the old-fashioned buildings were well kept. So even though our buildings stood out as different because of the style, the entire school still maintained its charm.

From the end of our building block, a garden-like area separated us but I could still see some other buildings. Kervani told us that those were the older students building blocks and they are usually separated by the gardens. The building colors I saw for them weren't much different from ours except slightly more brown than cream. What stood out was the structure. It was very unique. You could tell it had something to do with Science as the aligned apartments were in the shape of a DNA molecule. The way the buildings were coupled on top of each other as they twisted into the shape and gave each one its balcony.

Those were just the Sophomore students' dorm buildings that they also completed last year. I wonder what the older students lived in? I'll have to explore this place some more. Kervani told us that if we continued walking in that direction we would get to the junior dorms. But they were currently under construction. The school had made arrangements for the juniors to live off-campus for a while. It would seem that the senior's block would be next in line to undergo the same type of construction soon. I guess that this whole area to the east side was just for dorms.

Time had flown by and before I knew it, the sun was beginning to set. We were standing under one of the unusual trees as I looked at the sky starting to gain an orange and pink hue. I leaned on the tree and suddenly a light came on. I looked up at the canopy and saw that hibiscus petals opened out as if they had bloomed.

Kervani must have noticed my expression as she said, "Yeah these are new also. Our university wants to be more eco-friendly so it's powered by a solar panel on the outside that's camouflaged. As it's on a timer it blooms like a night flower."

"That's so cool," I responded as I took out my phone and backed away to get a picture of it.

"I could take a picture of you underneath it if you want but it's really just a fancy streetlight," Gail said in a tone that obviously made fun of my wonderment.

"Well I guess that makes me some kind of caveman cause up until a minute ago I thought it was some sort of tree. The picture is for me to remember." I also saw the time on my phone after taking the picture and figured that I should get back to my dorm. I told Kervani this and she nodded as she also had to leave. So we said goodbye to her and then Gail and I walked back down the path to our building.

It really did look a lot different in the evening. The streetlights brightly illuminated the way even with the varying lights making the concrete granite paving path appear inviting. It had few students who walked by but the space was really quiet. So when Gail and I spoke to each other on our way back it felt like we were the only two people out. As I listened to Gail, I could tell she knew a lot about the history of this school as much as a tour guide. She could tell me in detail what these buildings were like before the construction took place. Whatever tour she went on was certainly thorough. As we reached our building I was happy to be making our way back upstairs as it all felt like more of a long walk. That was when I noticed the oddly shaped lamps were on and gave off a light that could brighten the entire building floors. As I looked over at Gail in the light I could see she had a somewhat concerned expression.

"Everyone else's roommates seem to be here except mine. I hope she makes it here alright," she said as she looked up at me.

I really didn't know what to say to that. But I knew that I didn't want to add to her worry so I had to think of an excuse. "Maybe their flight got cancelled or something like that," was the best I could think of to say.

Her mood shifted and seemed to dismiss her potential problem as she said, "You're probably right, I'd like to meet your roommate now and personally thank him for the wonderful cookies. They were a big hit with everyone."

The way she changed the topic so suddenly I knew she didn't want to talk about it anymore."Sure he'd love that and it may even help him go back to his usual self."

She tilted her head as she looked over at me and I knew the question was coming. I'd call it a gift I have of just knowing when and what people want to ask me. But this one was too obvious an example. "You knew him before?"

Yep, just the question I expected. "Yeah, we both went to high school together." I nodded as I answered.

That surprised her and she suddenly stopped walking up the stairs to the third floor to exclaim, "No way! And you both got accepted into the same college as roommates now. You guys sure know how to stick together."

I stopped walking when I was halfway up and agreed with her. I waited for her to catch up and she asked me, "So what's your major again?"

"Chemical and bio-molecular engineering." Thinking back to earlier today I now realized that I didn't ask to know hers either.

We both started to walk again when she replied, "Wow! You must be a very studious person to get that, it's limited here. Only the most deserving students get it as majors. It seems like all the other students we've met today study a science of some sort."

I felt kind of proud that she recognized that about the subject I was studying. It was a great achievement to get accepted here on a subject that had such limited space for students. "Well yeah, I mean mostly anyone who wants to be somebody in science comes here right? What about you?"

"I did computer science in high school and I'm still very good at it, but it's my minor here." That wasn't an answer to my question and I wasn't going to let it slide.

"Yeah I overheard you telling other students that around the building throughout the day. At some point, I think I even told you about my minor,"  I persisted.

Her head then sank as she now seemed to look at her feet as she said, "I know, I've been avoiding it all day because I'm afraid my major is a bit disappointing for a science school. It's in foreign languages and literature which basically means I read a lot about history, folklore, and old philosophies of different lands in their unique language. I know at least twenty-five of them."

I didn't really understand why she felt that way about what she was studying. If a school like this offered it then it should be something to be proud of. "You know twenty-five books?" I asked to try to understand what could be bothering her that much.

"No, twenty-five languages," She said it like it wasn't a big deal.

Now it was my turn to stop as we just made it to the fourth floor and exclaim, "And that's disappointing! What will you say about me, I only know one other language besides English and even then I don't think I can read it. So that's a talent you have?"

She slightly smiled and said, "I suppose so, but I guess it would please my parents if I was involved in a more scientific study. What language do you sort of know?"

I think I understand now why she seemed so discouraged in telling me about it. I decided to respect it and go with the change of topic. In an effort to make a joke about myself, I answered, "Spanish, but I can only use it in a restaurant."

"Well it's a start at least; oh we're here." It worked as she laughed before she said it.

I then noticed that we were standing right outside my door. "OK just forewarning you, we're still unpacking,"  I  said as I recalled what Presley told me earlier.