I am Tamáš

I have finally met all of my quad-mates—well, sort of. I have met all of the quad-mates willing to meet me. One of my quad-mates runs to his room every time I see him. The other men in my quad have told me that this is actually much more pleasurable than to physically speak to him. They have also hinted that he is largely the reason for the mess. Hence, I think I will start running the other direction when I see him too.

The other four men are very nice. Two are them are from India—it would be a sad sight for me to even try to spell their names. They are from Mumbai and will be living in the hostel for the next four years while they study. My favorite trait about them so far would have to be that, while they seem to cook all of their meals inside the hostel, they never make Indian food. I have seen them make both pancakes and hardboiled eggs throughout the week but not a single curry or anything with vegetables. The closest thing to Indian food I have seen made is rice—and I am not sure it is their rice. Continually, I am wondering if I am actually living with Raj from The Big Bang Theory’s brothers. This thought usually sets me off on an unremitting laugh.

Last night, I met the last two men. They are both from Romania and are staying for the next three weeks. Tamáš is a history professor. He and his PhD student Laurent have come to Olomouc to study Central European architecture—probably because of the Czech Republic is known as place unscathed by war.

Tamáš possesses a peculiar idiosyncrasy that causes him to apologize for almost anything and everything. It is almost like a nervous tick. When the men first arrive home Tamáš came around the corner saying, “Hello, you must be the new arrival. This is Laurent. I am Tamáš. We did not make this smell and filth.” These apologetic interjections went on four about forty-five minutes and by the end of the night I was tempted to say, “Really, Tamas, I do not think it was you.”

Interestingly, Tamáš will be presenting to our group Monday on, “How Nationalism has Influenced Central Europe Over the Past Two Centuries.” Tamas was very excited to tell me of this fact and, of course, apologize for his poor English—which is probably better than my own.

Overall, my quad-mates are not bad. They are like an added lesson in world culture—not to mention what it is like to live with men. Sometimes I am tempted to thank them for their enlightenment—that is until I step outside and smell the bathroom.