Kathy to Hilary, April 14, 1973, Tehran, Iran April 14, 1973
Dear Hilary,
Strange day! I get letters from three of my correspondents—quite a phenomenon, and I am very flabbergasted! I didn’t think I’d survive the shock, but I have, and it’s all very amazing to hear from you.
We had a six-week long project in Biology, and I did the paper yesterday. Come to think of it, I did my Psychology paper all in one day, but my English paper took several days. I am quite naïve about this whole college / university business. What sort of grades and SAT scores do they want? We took our SATs on Saturday so I obviously don’t know what I got. What is William and Mary good for? I wonder if I’d qualify as a Virginian? It’s the last state I lived in. Dad doesn’t pay any state taxes (don’t tell the IRS that [or is it that IRA—no, that’s Irish. You know what I mean.]) I ought to belong to SOME state, shouldn’t I?
I’ve decided to go into Biochemistry (Medical), though I’ve not taken chemistry yet. I love biology. You wouldn’t know a good school for that, would you? I guess you wouldn’t. But the U.S. is bound to be better than G.B. for Biochem; besides, the British are as snotty as we are, only in a different way.
I don’t know if it’s the quality of the people that are sent to Iran, but the Americans here (and are they a representative sample?) are vulgar, obnoxious, and insecure. (That last I know personally to be quite true.) I’m tired of defending Iranians to Americans, in fact, the only Americans I see are my family and the one or two we have at school. Remember Leslie, the first friend I made here? She’s a real Iranophobe and thinks that my having an Afghan boyfriend is a heinous crime and infra dig. (I got that one from Aldous Huxley. How do you like it?). Afghans are almost the same as Iranians, in her eyes (don’t let Jan hear you say that, as you value your life, Leslie).
5:59:56 AM 
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