"Huh?" I leaned closer to the old Registrar's clerk in front of me to hear what she was trying to tell me. The sea of students around the large auditorium made it all difficult.

"I don't have your registration form in here, Ms. Adriano. Please proceed to that line." She gestured to the line a couple of steps away. I peered at my friends behind me. As expected, they weren't paying any attention. They were in a heated discussion about who sings better, Hee Chul or Kyu Hyun. Whoever they were. Recently, they caught this Korean wave fever and were all over these Korean stars whose names I can't even pronounce. I peeled myself from the growing line and moved to the next line with much less people.

"Hey, that was fast!" Gerfil, my friend since forever, glammed and I didn't answer. Both of them then moved forward for their turn to retrieve their registration forms to fill it out with the subjects they would like to enroll for this semester. During enrollment, the university would convert the auditorium to a one stop spot to finish all admission procedures, from initial registration to assessment to accounting to checking and stamping of classcards. But no matter how organized they pictured it to be before the big day, it just wouldn't turn out good. Especially if someone was rude enough to squeeze themselves into the long lines of people wanting to get it done as soon as they can too.

And there was one possible altercation unfolding right beside me in the assessment line. Apparently, this kid, probably a freshman (most likely 'cause he wouldn't think of doing what he did if knew who these guys were behind him), forced himself in front of the line when he thought those behind weren't looking and as unlucky as he can get, they were and were ready to knock the daylights out of him, the dreaded members of Alpha Kappa Psi. The most dreaded fraternity in the whole university and rumours were, they base the acceptance of an applicant on how fat his bank account or affluent his parents were. No one can and no one would go against them. *Oh, please not now.* I prayed silently. I didn't want to die from stray bullets.

"Name?" The pretty girl seated behind the desk asked me. She didn't look bothered at all by the commotion just meters away. Did she have a death wish? "Will you give me your name or I'll try to guess?" She asked in sharper tone when she didn't answer. She's so rude! And definitely with an attitude. But then, I was spacing out and can't really blame the student volunteer. I was sure she's one because she looks just about my age.

"A-adriano. Ma. Joralyn Adriano." She replied in a small voice.

"Took you long enough." She smirked but rummaged through the stack of papers in front of her before pulling out a blue slip, the slip being given to special students. Wait, I was not a special student, was I? My palms started to sweat. Why was I freaking out, you ask? Oh, special students, in this case, were nothing special. They were either foreign students or local students who made offenses not grave enough for expulsion but serious enough to be shunned by the local student population.

"Wait a minute, there must be some mistake. Blue slip? I surely didn't do anything!" My voice raised a fraction and was now attracting attention. My friends finally noticed and they hovered around me.

"Excuse me, Miss. Why is my friend getting a blue slip? You better check that or else. . ." Gerfil trailed off, threatening the unthreatened. The girl just looked at us in her utterly bored eyes and yawned.

"Are you guys ready to listen now?" She asked.

"Yes. Can you please explain?" I demanded.

"First, before these people and your friends hurt me, I didn't accuse you of anything." She rolled her eyes. "You're moving in to the International Block. The University's all over this experiment they wanna try this semester and to put it bluntly, you're a Guinea pig, Ms. Adriano."

"What!? Without my consent?!" But the student assistant was nowhere near the table now, we could only see her back, running as fast as she could for dear life and when I looked behind me, I only saw a couple of foreign students. One was pouting and one was caressing the back of the other, in an attempt to soothe him.

"I guess she was really traumatized after seeing you in their village. I told you stalking's not good." The one with longish face and dark brown hair said. He was taller than the one with annoyingly girlish features.

"But she won't talk to me here so I decided to go to their house. I heard that Filipinos court their loved ones in their homes." The other said in unaccented English. He was still pouting.

"But you have to ask permission first." I can't help but in.

"I-is that so?" He asked awkwardly, trying to gauge my sincerity. I nodded.

"Ei, Gem! Do you know these guys?" Aielle inquired. She pointed to the foreign students.

"No." I shook my head gently.

"And why are you guys gathered here for? Is this some kind of an acquaintance party?" The girl was replaced with a stern looking woman with thick-rimmed spectacles. She turned to the foreign students, specifically to the 'stalker'. "Are you the one that keeps following Iris around? Are you some kind of a Psycho? Look what you've done! I lost a student volunteer! If I hear something of this nature again, I'll turn you over to the Discipline Committee, are we clear?"

"Yes, Ma'am." His head was bowed down, face red.

"Good. Now, name please."

"Miss." Gem tried to get her attention. "The girl that was here told me I was being transferred to the International Block. Is there something I can do so I can stay in regular classes?" She asked.

"Yes, of course."

"Really? Thank god! What is it?"

"Drop out of school." Now, that didn't really help, did it? My face fell. "Next!" The 'stalker' approached the table in half steps. "I don't have all day. Name?"

"Jae Joong. Kim Jae Joong." He replied, clutching his backpack tightly.

"KIM?!" My two friends shrieked behind me. "Are you guys Korean?" Gerfil asked the taller one.

"Yes we are." He nodded. "I am Chang Min Shim." He bowed.

"Guys! Can you please help me first? I am being sent to dragon's den and you're screaming here like a fangirl!"

"What's wrong with being a fangirl?" Aielle snapped. "Do you guys belong in the International Block?" She turned to Chang Min again.

"Yes."

"How would I love to trade places with you Gem! I want to learn as much Korean stuff as I can so when I meet my Kyu Hyun, he'll surely fall in love with me!" I rolled my eyes in displeasure. How many times did these girls declared love for those Korean singers like they know them personally?

"I really can't believe you are my friends!" I disappeared through the crowd to proceed to the next procedure.

"Er, aren't you suppose to be on the other line?" Chang Min pointed to the line were Gerfil and Aielle came from.

"Yes, why?"

"Are you done yet?" The two girls looked at each other and gave an ear-splitting scream that Chang Min cringed. They would have to go back to the end of the long line again.

****************************************************************************

I pushed my cart slowly towards the departure area while scanning the crowd for a familiar face. Fortunately for me, I found a friend who can help me. Facebook must take all the credit though. While skimming through profiles, I found Jae Joong. Kim Jae Joong's a good friend from middle school but his family decided to stay in the Philippines for good when his father struck it good with the investments he made. He's been here since high school and he promised that he'll pick me up and help me get settled.

Surely, my mother had taken care of all the odds and ends of my stay through her trusty assistant Soo Hyun (it will be the end of the world if she'll take care of it herself) but how about my emotional state? If I didn't know better, I'll believe she just forgot about it, she's thinking about Korea's welfare anyway. But it was MY mother we're talking about.

Around me were conversations from newly reunited families, lovers, ect. Some were even shedding tears. Most of the locals were pushing boxes and boxes of stuff plus large suitcases. And I even thought my two large baggages were too much. Then I saw Jae Joong through the sea of faces, neck craning upwards to get a good view of the people coming out of the departure area.

"Jae Joong-hyung!" Yup, he's older. I waved a hand and his face lit up when he saw me. I hurried my steps towars him and walked passed the metal barriers. We became friends when I confessed to him in grade 7 during the first day of school when I mistook her for a girl and offered my sandwich. Jae Joong punched me on the face and I lost consciousness. It was the most embarassing day of my life. But I gained a friend after that, the feminine looking guy sure can hurt people but he nursed me back after that because of guilt. He just made me promise that I won't do it again. I told him I thought he was a she. It was the time that the school was in a transition of using another set of uniforms and students were allowed to wear civilian clothing for a week.

"Sung Min-ah!" He called and I noticed the tall guy beside him, looking bored. "Orenmanida (long time no see)!" He cooed when I reached them.

"Indeed. Thank you for picking me up." My mother arranged a chauffered service for me but I refused vehemently. I eyed the tall guy and Jae Joong took notice.

"No problem. Sung Min-ah, this is Chang Min-sshi. He's an exchange student from Seoul." He introduced and I bowed. "Mannaseo bangapseumnida (Pleased to meet you)."

"Pleased to meet you too." And he extended a hand. I shook it lightly.

We were already in the car when I noticed that Jae Joong's actions were either forced or stiff. "Am I bothering you, Hyung?" I asked awkwardly. I really didn't want to impose but I had no one to turn to in this foreign place.

"He was just upset that his girl--aw! What's that for?" Jae Joong whacked Chang Min on the head. I was sitting at the back, speculating that I was the reason why Jae Joong was upset. Did I really come in a bad time?

"Don't listen to him." He looked at me briefly and for a moment there I thought we'll bump into the car in front of us. And why were there too many vehicles around? Jae Joong snatched the piece of paper I gave to him earlier from the dashboard and read it again. "I think we're here." We were pulling up in front of a high-rise building named CDG Tower. This was it. A place of my own. Weren't I dreaming of one when I was in Seoul?

I was pleased by the condominium unit. It had two bedrooms and sparsely decorated just the way I liked it. Soo Hyun really knew what I wanted. Well, that's because she's practically my mother. She even attends PTA meetiings in school in place of Omma.

"Know what, my pad's just a block away. You're going to same university, right? We can carpool to school everyday." Chang Min said.

"Really? Thank you! I was about to figure out a way on how to go to school without getting lost." I sighed in relief. I asked Soo Hyun if she can enroll me at the same university where Jae Joong goes. It turned out they have a special curriculum for foreign students. And Soo Hyun, a efficient as she was, was able to do that for me.

"Good." Jae Joong said with less enthusiasm.

"What's the problem?" I asked.

"Aish! Long story. I'll tell you when we have time. Let us explore the city first so you won't get lost."

****************************************************************************

I was starting to get pissed. And bored. I wished Gerfil and Aielle were with me so I won't just sit there until my breath gets smelly. The room was starting to get filled with foreign students who were either completely ignoring my presence talking very loud in an alien language or deliberately staring at me. Being the only Filipino student in the entire room made me uneasy. Then one familiar face sauntered inside. The 'stalked'. Uh oh. Didn't she know that the person she's running away from was in the same class? The girl occupied the seat nearest the door and soon enough, all other local students came entering but not really outnumbering the foreign ones. The loud and happy chatter of students who just came from summer vacation stopped when a man in black slacks and blue long-sleeved shirt entered the room with books in tow.

"Good morning class."

"Good morning." Were the murmured replies.

"I am Danson Tang, your adviser for the rest of the semester. I am sure some of the old members of the block are wondering why do we have Filipino students here." The tall and lanky teacher looked around to get the reaction of the class and he got none. I was wondering if these freaks even understood him. Being in the room felt like being in a United Nations convention. It was a mix of African Americans, Koreans, Chinese, Indians, Japanese, Filipinos, name it. I silently wondered what the University is up to for bringing us together.

It was not very long when the school started accepting foreign students to increase the revenue of the school and these people pay a king's ransom for tuition fees and other school expenses. Ever since, they've been separated from us local students. We see them at the commons, the dormitories (though only few of them lives inside the campus), the cafeterias and the gymnasium but the rest of their classes were different and they have a different set of professors and instructors.

"The school's trying to use the hollistic approach and the regents thought that incorporating the rest of the student body would be great for the growth of everyone. Just do your best to get along." Mr. Tang explained.

*Yeah right.* I thought drily.

"Sorry Sir we're late!" Three people dashed into the room and occupied random seats. I heard chuckling from the people at the back.

"First warning, Mr. Kim, Mr. Shim and the newbie," Wow. How could the professor memorize the names? "Introduce yourself please." The pale guy with dark brown hair stood up and took a deep breath.

"Good morning everyone, I am Sung Min Lee. Please take care of me." I chortled when I heard what he said.

"Thank you Mr. Lee. Please sit down. And what's the laughing matter, Ms. Adriano?" How could he just single each one out?! Was he a freak or something? There were thirthy six people in the room for crying out loud! And he didn't even do a roll call. "I have a knack with names." He smiled mockingly, as if reading my mind.

"N-nothing, Sir. Sorry." But it wasn't normal for people to say, 'Please take care of me', was it? I then saw the Sung Min guy staring at me but he looked away when he realized that I was staring back like he was afraid of me or something. Weird guy.