I'm not going to lie to you--coming to MIT has been a continuous series of shocks for me.   I expected what your average prefrosh would, but I did not realize that schoolwork here would be incomparable to high school work, that living without Mom's dinners would create such a void in my life, and that it's a good 25 degrees colder in Boston than I'm used to.   But if there was one big thing I was looking forward to in college, it was diversity.   The high school I went to is 90-something percent Caucasian.   The wonderful World Wide Web showed me that I had a drastically different racial diversity to look forward to at MIT.

I should tell you why I was looking forward to diversity.   As an Iranian-American who grew up in a primarily Caucasian district, I learned to value my culture and who I am.   It's not that I was at all uncomfortable at my high school--on the contrary, I had a fantastic time and made friends I love like family. It was obvious, though, that the kids at my high school were in their own bubble.   Every day my peers were surrounded by people more or less exactly like them.   They weren't exposed to any way of life other than what they were experiencing.   No one cared to learn about other cultures or peoples from other walks of life because they thought these people simply didn't affect them.   Because of this homogenous bubble, news from the "outside world" rarely penetrated my peers' lives.   The desire to reach out to something beyond themselves was absent from their minds.

I don't blame the kids I went to high school with for not looking outside themselves.   They weren't exposed to diversity and were too ignorant to learn about it.   I differ from them, though, in that I do care about other cultures.   I love sharing Iranian traditions with my friends, and learning about other backgrounds likewise brings me great joy.   I believe we should all take pains to gain insight into global culture, and the more learned you are, the more capable you become of forming opinions and connections to the whole world.

Naturally, I thought that more diversity at MIT translated to a warmer cultural environment.   I figured that at MIT, students would be more open-minded and accepting of other cultures as a result of racial inter-mingling. I still agree with that to some extent, but it's not quite the way I'd imagined.

I've noticed that here at MIT, for the most part at least, students of the same ethnicity socialize primarily with one another.   I don't mean to pick on any one group, but let's take my experience at Orientation.   I met one girl who was Indian, and I met some of her friends, all of whom were Indian.Then I met another girl who was Asian, and when I met her friends, I realized that they were all Asian, too.   As a result, even at this early stage of my college experience, I've made friends with two different groups--one Asian, one Indian.   Walking around, I notice people grouped by race in the dining halls and in the student center.

Now I'll admit, I am interested in being a part of the Persian Students Association.     You could say that's hypocritical.   After all, how can I condone this racial grouping yet express the desire to participate in it myself?   I would answer that being a part of an organization and making it a way of life are two very different things.   Being a part of a big community I can relate to and share holidays with is exciting!   It's easy to fit in, and it's comfortable.   Perhaps this is why many students at MIT tend to spend much of their time with people of their same ethnic origin.   But do they want to fit in so much that every meal they eat, each club they join, and all the parties they attend must be with this very same group of people, a group that was formed not because of the ideas they share but because their parents are from the same country?   Is it so uncomfortable for them to reach out?

I feel like I'm back in high school sometimes.   I could even go so far as to say it feels like middle school, where the "bubble-effect" was a conscious effort to segregate yourself from other people.   It's absolutely a great idea to mingle with people with whom you are comfortable.   In Iran, the coming of the new year brings weeks of celebration with it.   Everyone takes part in making festive decorations and traditional meals, lively music, and dancing.   As someone who appreciates her heritage, I can tell you that going to the New Year's parties and celebrating holidays make me feel closer to a culture I am so distant from.   These celebrations keep a part of you alive and happy when you're otherwise swamped with work.   However, the actions I've witnessed at MIT have been different from merely celebrating or appreciating one's culture.   People here, or at least the freshmen, seem to seek out people with the same ethnic background and stick with them.   The effect of these groups is such that as time goes on, the groups build and build.   Each group has seemingly collected its members thoroughly but has avoided crossing paths with another group.

It's not that the diversity and people at MIT play a leading role in shaping racial segregation world-wide, it's just that this situation is analogous to what is potentially going on at every university in the nation and furthermore what goes on in high school, on playgrounds, and in neighborhoods everywhere.   Especially as freshmen in college, it seems, we feel suddenly alone and vulnerable and immediately look to those most obviously like us for comfort--hence, racial grouping.   You may ask why we divide ourselves based on ethnicity, then, rather than on special interests.   When you walk down the hall, skin color is infinitely more noticeable than, say, the preference for Macs over PCs, or any other personal ideal for that matter.   At first glance, you can't really tell whether all the Course 8 kids group together (unless they're wearing their shirts...).   As freshmen, we can be so desperate for friendship and familiarity that we take the easy way out and find those whose skin tone best matches our own.   Getting to know people for their hobbies and values takes a considerable amount of both time and effort.   When we see the "Asian kids' table" or the "Italian neighborhood", does it mean that we've had no time to get to know people for anything other than race?

This isolation both frustrates and angers me.   When the general consensus among minorities is that America is run by Caucasian men, shouldn't everyone collaborate to determine the reason for this and to attempt to change what they're unsatisfied with?   It seems that rather than trying to improve the situation and making the leading factions of the US a more accurate representation of the people, these groups are worsening the situation.   Minorities claim that they are victims of under-representation and discrimination on a regular basis, and these claims often prove true, but you have to ask why.   Have minorities cast themselves out from American society?   Have they played a part in separating themselves?

Well, probably a little bit of both.   Being ostracized and isolating oneself both are tough paths to reverse, but to some extent we can take things in our own hands.   By reaching out to someone new, maybe someone in your classes, you can quickly learn that lots of people have gone through similar experiences in their lives and can share a great deal with you.   I'm hoping that the racial grouping I've seen decreases with time.   Study groups, sports and social events will perhaps encourage people to reach out of their bubble and into someone else's.   College is a place where people of all backgrounds, strengths, and weaknesses come together in hopes of getting a higher education and preparation for the real world.   If we cannot establish the basic ability not only to coexist but also to excel with everyone--regardless of ethnicity--here at MIT, can we expect ourselves to be able to do so in the years that follow graduation, throughout our jobs, and in our personal lives?   We are most subject to personal re-evaluation when we are out of our comfort zones, as so many of us find in college.   MIT provides unlimited opportunities for exploration--not only from an academic point of view but from a 'real world' perspective as well.   Here, expectations are exceeded regularly; hopefully the standards of coexistence will be, too.