A Tale of Surprising Generosity: The Time a Student Let Me Stay on Her Dormitory Floor

Back in the year 2006, I traveled to the Australian capital for a medical school interview. I assumed to book a place to stay after getting there, but upon reaching the city, a large conference was in town and all the backpackers hostels and cheap hotels had no vacancies.

As a visitor from the city-state of Singapore, I thought maybe I could just sleep at the terminal – but quickly found Canberra airport, not like the one back home, does not operate 24 hours. With no idea how to proceed and feeling increasingly desperate, I boarded public transport and started wandering near a gaming venue, believing it was a place to spend those hours in a place that was open 24/7. That wouldn’t put me in the ideal condition for acing the admissions interview the following day, however, being a broke student, I couldn’t afford.

The world needs more folks like that woman.

I must have looked confused since a female student spotted me loitering in the city and wondered whether I needed help. I recounted the story of my accommodation crisis and immediately she offered I could crash on the ground in her student dorm at the Australian National University – an ideal turn of events, given that my my interview was the following day. She went further by offering a meal: one of the filled rolls she brought back her work shift. I had access to the bathroom and a protected spot to rest to sleep.

In retrospect, I can appreciate the significant risk she undertook being a woman allowing a man who was a complete stranger crash at her place. Back then I existed within my male privilege bubble and not even thinking about things like that. Today, as a parent, I am astonished she did that – and remain very grateful.

I didn’t end up attending the Australian National University, and I never saw that kind stranger again, yet her memory has stayed with me her amazing act of kindness. It is my wish life has returned her act of kindness abundantly. The world needs more individuals who show such kindness.