Nathan Chapter 1 Summary

Chapter 1.
In the chapter one, Nathan talks about why she chose to write this book. She also tells the reader how she decided to start this project of becoming a freshman again in college. When she was sitting in a class where she taught, she heard some gossip that sparked an idea in her head to write this book. In chapter one, Nathan explains why she is writing this book and what questions she is hoping to answer. She also explains to the reader which information she will include from her research and what she will be leaving out. Nathan also tells about her first few weeks in college, the orientation, "Welcome Week", and life in the dorms. She explains incidents where students mistake her as a mom on campus, or a parent at orientation. Nathan talks about how she is unfamiliar with the lingo of this new generation of undergraduate students, and that she seems to not be able to get around as easily as she thought she would at AnyU (the college she is researching at). Nathan is used to being a professor and parking in the faculty lots, and entering halls from the back where a professor would. She is challenged right away through the undergraduate

She keeps her main focus on how foreign students interact with American students and the different type of relationships that they form. It is weird to some foreign students that Nathan has talked to how non-committed American students are, and how they will make small talk but rarely let it evolve into more. Then Nathan turns her focus towards the difference between a relationship and a friendship. Nathan discusses with different foreign students how they interact with their American roommates and the relationship that they bond. The classroom life is also brought up in this chapter. Many foreign students make comments about how different kids look and the lack of attention that they give their teacher compared to in their home