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30 Things That Happen To The Kids Without Parents

Last-minute realizations, avoidable experiences, and questions you just shouldn't ask people

Villanova University

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30 Things That Happen To The Kids Without Parents

Sarah Fetter

I could summarize this entire post in one simple sentence and call it a day. I could choose to deal with my own problems and ignore others' because they don't affect me. I could gloss over the subject and pretend none of it is real. But that wouldn't be fair, mature, or loving of myself or others.

So with that, I don't think there's anything truer I can say besides I know what it's like.

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Health and Wellness

10 Things Only Pre-Health/Pre-Med Humanities Majors Will Understand

For all the Hu-meds and Hu-Healths out there.

UCLA

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10 Things Only Pre-Health/Pre-Med Humanities Majors Will Understand

https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-getting-his-blood-check-1350560/

Yeah, I get it. We get a bad rep. Nobody understands what you're doing and it's so difficult to explain to other people (ahem especially family members) why you're doing it this way. People within your major judge you. People in your pre-med/health classes judge you. EVERYBODY is judging you. They'll laugh at your face, give you a funny look, maybe even snicker behind your back. But hey, you're not alone in this and WE ARE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU.

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Life Stages

10 Things You Wouldn't Say To Your Straight Friends

So don't say them to your LGBT friends, either.

Shippensburg University

10 Things You Wouldn't Say To Your Straight Friends

https://pixabay.com/photos/gay-pride-gay-gay-flag-rainbow-flag-830811/

Being in the LGBT community definitely has its pros and cons. For example, I know I always have a community to fall back on for support if I need it. I have a community of people who I can relate to, one where we all work together to try and make everyone feel as safe as possible. However, there is the seemingly unending discrimination against us. While such discrimination tends to be violent or extremely hateful, we can't forget about the non-community members who inherently discriminate against us by asking us uncomfortable and inappropriate questions, or making passive aggressive comments. While they may not realize that they're marginalizing us by doing so, they are.

For those of us in the LGBTQ+ community, we know all too well the questioning and comments that ensue from those who are not in the community and are seemingly very confused about our identities. All of these questions we're asked are one or a combination of the following: 1) ridiculous, 2) don't make sense, and 3) extremely inappropriate. This goes out to the straight people who find it within themselves to comment on our sexuality.

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lgbtq

Arts Entertainment

5 Ridiculous Stereotypes of International College Students that Just Aren't True

No, we aren't all super rich. Really.

UCLA

429

5 Ridiculous Stereotypes of International College Students that Just Aren't True

https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-falling-in-line-holding-each-other-1206059/

Coming to a completely different country where you only know a handful of people or even nobody to gain an education is frightening and amazing at the same time. It was something that I could never see myself handling but it provides a huge confidence boost in the sense that if I can do this, I can pretty much handle anything.

There are certain stereotypes associated with being an international student that I'm going to address because frankly, its time that we talk about some of these ridiculous presuppositions.

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Student Life

7 Things You Should Not Judge Me For

I'm not like everyone else, but I'm not here for judgment.

Towson University

Pexels

We always hear how we need to celebrate our differences because it is those differences that make us unique. Part of that uniqueness comes from the different aspects of our lives and how we experience our lives.

I am me. I am not anyone else. The life I lead every day is different from the life someone else may lead. I do not enjoy being judged for how different my life is compared to other people's, whether that may be from other women, other people of my race, or people of a differing race.

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myself

Education

15 Things NOT To Say To A Second Semester College Senior On The Brink Of The End

"What do you want to do?"

Kennesaw State University

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15 Things NOT To Say To A Second Semester College Senior On The Brink Of The End

NBC

If you know a college senior who is about to graduate, don't you dare say these things to them:

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Last-minute realizations, avoidable experiences, and questions you just shouldn't ask people

My entire second grade class asked me where my dad was after I said he "was" something.

My third grade teacher excluded me from Mother's Day arts and crafts because she knew I didn't have a mom.

A boy in my class asked if I was a robot because I had no parents. Also Batman (how would that work???).

Another boy (same class) asked, "Is your dad dead?" in front of the whole class on Father's Day.

When my mom wasn't my chaperone for the Mommy Daughter Dance, a girl noticed and told me I shouldn't have bothered coming.

I never saw their faces in the audience at any of my choral concerts growing up.

My junior high advisor mentioned it was abnormal that I wasn't living with my parents.

An ex-boyfriend told me it was no wonder I was so problematic.

I graduated high school with no one in the bleachers cheering for me.

I got looks for bringing my only picture of my parents and I to my graduation ceremony.

They didn't get to congratulate me on my first job.

I never got to tell them I got accepted to my dream college.

My mom and I were supposed to get matching tattoos.

My parents will never know I left that toxic boyfriend they worried about.

I look at drugs, alcohol, and addictions from a completely different angle than other kids my age.

I grew up never knowing what true love was.

I never got to have "mother-daughter gossip."

I never had a male role model in my life.

My mom never got to meet my best friends. Just some good-for-nothing boy that broke my heart.

I grew up cold toward tragedy. Grieving is hard now. Things just seem to happen.

I see parents with their college students now and it never fails to break my heart.

I won't have my dad to walk me down the aisle.

I won't have my mom to do any girl bonding with.

The last image I have of them is the most haunting.

I rethink our last conversations all the time and speculate.

I see their auras in the world around me. Sometimes it's freaky.

I have dreams about them all the time.

I never get to tell them I love them, or hear their voices, or see their faces.

My parents will never be grandparents or in-laws.

I still have not completed my grieving process. Even after all these years.

For all the Hu-meds and Hu-Healths out there.

1. Your class schedule is a little bewildering.

2. "What are you planning to do with that humanities degree?" "Go to med school." " Oh, so you're doing the cowards way out."

3. Condescending Aunt @ Thanksgiving: "If you don't study something like Biology, then no patient will ever go to you."

4. You're the essay checker among your STEM friends.

5. "William Carlos Williams was a Pediatrician AND a Poet"

6. Now, this is the tea SIS.

7. You have a pretty good grasp of the Social-Cultural Context of health care that many pre-med/health students lack knowledge of.

8. At family gatherings, you just choose to say "I'm studying to become a Doctor, PA, OT, PT, etc" instead of saying your major to avoid THAT conversation.

9. Inviting your Pre-Med/Health Friends and your Humanities Friends For Your Birthday.

10. Having the best of both worlds.

So don't say them to your LGBT friends, either.

When did you realize that you're straight?

Are you really sure you're straight?

You don't seem straight.

Who's the man in the relationship?

Will you be my straight best friend?

I have a straight friend; can I introduce you to them?

How do you have sex?

You don't look straight.

Stop shoving heterosexuality in my face.

If you had the choice, would you be gay?

No, we aren't all super rich. Really.

1. "Wow, you must be rich af"

2. "Your English is SO GOOD"

3. "Oh, I have a friend from there! Do you know them?"

4. "You must be doing *insert STEM degree and 50 internships and 340 volunteering hours*"

5. "Do you *insert some stereotypical thing/activity about your country*"

I'm not like everyone else, but I'm not here for judgment.

For not drinking alcohol

For not being about that DTF life

For not having a driver's license

For not having a car

For caring about other people (especially when I don't know them)

For graduating in 5 years

For not living up to your expectations

"What do you want to do?"

1. What do you want to do?

2. Why haven't you found a job yet?

3. What are you going to do?

4. Have you looked for any jobs lately?

5. The job market is very slim for what you majored in.

6. What experience do you have?

7. Have you tried XYZ job boards?

8. You know what you could do? (Insert suggestion of thing that has literally nothing to do with any part of your degree)

9. I know someone who did that and they never did what they went to school for.

10. What is your plan for the future?

11. You could always go back and get a different degree.

12. I know someone that does the same thing and loves it!

4. "You must be doing insert STEM degree and 50 internships and 340 volunteering hours"

5. "Do you insert some stereotypical thing/activity about your country"