Ring! Ring! (or rather, all those other wacky sounds cell phones make)

The problem with studying in a big city is that you end up having too much fun and not finding any time for blogging. So here's my attempt at giving you a glimpse into my new life in DC.

First off, I had heard stories from some friends who studied in the USA that a cellphone was a necessary amenity for one simply to exist on a campus here. However, well aware that "the demand for cell phones and computer chips is helping fuel a bloody civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo" (please check out this excellent site for more info), I was reluctant to give in. Still, one of my priorities here was meeting new people and building new friendships, and there was also the safety issue, so with a bit of convincing from my parents, I gave in; last month, I used about 500 minutes and sent just over 100 text messages.

But it's important to understant that those 7 hours on the phone are nothing like time spent on a real phone. This may seem paradoxical at first because of the similarity in function of the two types of telephones, but as with email and snail mail, despite this similarity, the two have completely different uses, especially in college (i.e. university in the USA). There is of course a chunk of time I spent talking with family and friends from home, but of the calls made and texts sent to friends on campus, most are used in planning to get together within a couple of hours for lunch, coffee or a movie, or just to hang out. Well maybe not all the time is spent planning - much is just chatting about how the day is going - but that's at least the main purpose of the call.

Wow! This is actually a lot harder to explain than I thought it would be, so to keep myself from babbling on endlessly, I'll just mention one more thing.

The following is what I would consider the typical way one acquires another's cell number.
1- Your friend texts you at 11:15 to see if you want to meet for lunch at 1.
2- Your friend gets a text from his room-mate inviting him for lunch.
3- The 3 of you get together for lunch.
4- It's your first time meeting your friend's room-mate and you get along passably well.
5- Time to go: you exchange phone numbers with your friend's room-mate (that is, one of you adds the other to his phonebook and calls the other who simply has to save the number).
Epilogue- Maybe you'll call each other and start hanging out regularly, maybe you'll never talk again. Most likely, you'll go for lunch one or two more times and then decide to incorporate each other into your circle of closer friends or simply stop calling each other.

That's just a glimpse into college cellphone culture. The rest, you just have to experience.