This is my third year at Trinity International University and I am on my third roommate. I’ve never had a huge falling out with any of them, but we had different people to live with the next year. I realized after picking my current roommate, that all my roommates have one thing in common: they’re all missionary kids (MKs for short). The first two were both from Germany and my current roommate is from Cambodia. I’ve loved living with them and here is a bit of my experience from living with international people:
There are things from all over the world in your room.
It has become totally normal to look around and see stuff in other languages. I have seen Starbucks mugs from several countries, hair products from multiple continents, and so many electrical adapters that your head would spin.
Speaking of stuff, they have a lot of stuff.
Literally, all their worldly possessions are in your tiny dorm room. That was fine for me the past two years because I lived so close that I didn’t really need too much, but now that all my stuff is in there too, there’s barely room to breathe!
There are super secret late night conversations.
People who live internationally tend to have international friends (crazy concept, I know). Being international means fun time changes. I’ll be up at some ungodly hour of the morning and my roommate will be Skyping someone across the globe and it's five or so in the afternoon.
I have no clue what they’re saying!
Well… sometimes. My roommates have all spoken English. But if my roommates have ever wanted to talk about me or say something mean, they just need to speak in their other language(s).
On the thought of other languages, we get stuck with weird prospective students.
One time we had two girls from Germany stay over and they spoke in German the entire time, so I had no clue what they were saying. I’m pretty sure they were making fun of me the whole time—but I’ll never know!
They are normal.
Aside from the obvious effects of moving to America from another country where they grew up, they are just normal people. We stay up all night talking, we go on random trips together, we are friends. They're just like any other roommate you could get randomly assigned to live with.
I have loved living with missionary kids! They are such wonderful individuals. I wouldn’t trade living with them for the world (though I’m pretty sure I would say that about whoever I would have ended up living with if it wasn’t them). If you ever get the chance to live with an MK or any international student, I would highly encourage you to do so. It is a stretching opportunity but it also helps you realize that people are people all over the world. Despite possible language difference and slight cultural differences, these are still people with really cool stories that could potentially open your eyes to a whole new world.
