College Experience

[Alan]

So I'm wondering about people's college experiences with being trans. I was just at mine, trying to figure out my options with housing. @_@

On a brighter note, I was at the orientation and just returned. I decided that I'm confident enough to introduce myself as Alan and not as what appears on my records -- and no one had a problem with it (okay, so I DIDN"T mention the whole trans thing, but I'm taking it slow for once in my life).

[Abraxas]

I never utilized the student housing so I don't know about that, but I did talk about being trans in a few of my classes...
One time I wrote a paper and gave an oral report, and some guy asked how sex changes are done. That was fun to explain to a class full of mostly Mormons... haha!
And all my teachers/profs were more than happy to call me Ben... Except for one. God what a four-letter-word she was. Of course, she was also insane. She was my acting teacher and she kept wanting to give me girls' roles, and I kept telling her, 'no. no. I refuse.' Or she'd say stuff like 'Well, the character's name is Aaron, but it could easily be Erin,' and I wanted to tear my hair out.

But apart from that my experience was pretty good. :)

[Alan]

I had to explain to psych majors who've learned about transsexuals how it works -- like that not all FTMs go for phalloplasty.

It was randomly amusing.

But everyone called me 'Alan' and didn't freak, so I was happy :D

Oh. And in housing, the guy at the desk that I talked went to talk to his manager, and he said, 'There's a transsexual here, and she says...' and he kept saying 'she' over and over and OVER again, and later, I heard him talking about me again, and he said 'he' that time, which totally means his manager corrected him. Guessing she said something like, 'If he's calling himself Alan and saying living with females is awkward, it's he.'

And everyone in Housing called me 'Alan' without so much as blinking. The manager, when she came out to talk to me, said, "I see [female name] on paper here, but what do you prefer?"

[Tristan]

Sounds like it went pretty well then Alan. I hope it works out for you once they get your housing situated too.

[Cai]

Alan, that sounds like it went really well. I moved out of student housing because I didn't feel like dealing with the issues that would entail, but it looks like your school is going to work with you. I'm glad.

[Alan]

Unfortunately, it's limited what they can do. Because I consider my academics the most important, I have chosen to continue to live in an academic program, which is segregated by gender. However, I have the right to complain about my roommate if there are problems because of my transgenderism. Also, I'm told if I inform the live-in staff that I am trans, they can help me feel as comfortable as possible.

I still have to use the female dorms and bathrooms. The dorm shouldn't be too big a problem, I guess, if my roomie and I discuss privacy early-on. It's not *that* odd not to ever want your roommate to see you half-naked, so I don't think there should really be problems with asking her to knock if she knows I was going to change or installing a curtain where I keep my clothes or something.

And bathrooms: I pretty much just shower when there's no one around anyway.

But my school really is working with me on this, so that's a good thing. They have all sorts of GBLTQ services, so it's not like there are no resources for me to turn to.

[ZenFrost]

I just did the mandatory New Student Orientation at my new College. Pretty much a waste of time except for the bit at the end where I talked to a counsellor about my schedule and weird transfer stuff.

At my last college the only issues I had with going by a different name were with a couple teachers who got confused (and thought I was two different people) and with my online classes where my homework automatically attached my real name to everything. I just give my male name when they call role the first time, and correct any pronoun issues as they come up.