"Let’s go. We’ll find a place to stay ourselves." Grace Winslow wasn’t worried.

She had prepared for the worst before she even came. Besides, what hardship hadn’t she endured in the past? This situation was actually pretty good by comparison.

The school didn’t provide dorms, and no one had told them in advance. It didn’t matter. Since it was still early, they could go look for a place to live.

"Where are you going?" The group’s chaperone, a fourth-year student, was displeased to see Grace Winslow leading people away from the school.

"Sir, it’s obvious they aren’t going to arrange lodging for us. If we don’t leave, are we supposed to sleep at the school tonight?"

"Does any part of this look like a place to sleep?" Grace Winslow asked him calmly.

He froze, then grew flustered. "No one told us they wouldn’t provide room and board. What are we supposed to do? I can’t contact our university, and we can’t just go back, can we?"

"It’s fine. There should be plenty of housing near the university. If all else fails, we can look for host families." Grace Winslow was the calmest one in the group.

Even Joanne Chase was worried, but Grace remained perfectly calm.

She might not have experienced this firsthand, but she’d certainly seen it enough times in TV shows.

’As long as we have money, finding a place to stay won’t be a huge problem.’

Both she and Joanne Chase had brought money with them.

With Grace Winslow leading the way, the students who had been on edge gradually calmed down.

Together, they all took their luggage and left the university grounds.

The instructor responsible for giving them a hard time watched them leave with a triumphant smile.

There were many homes in the neighborhood near the university, so Grace Winslow led the group from door to door, asking about vacancies.

Each family had a different reaction to the prospect of hosting foreign exchange students.

Some were welcoming, some were indifferent, and some were downright rude.

Fortunately, their group was large, so no matter how rude people were, no one tried to get physical.

They had asked all over, and by the time the sky was nearly pitch-black, they had finally found lodging for everyone.

However, the eight of them had to be split up. As for their chaperone, his only job was to see them settled in before he immediately returned home.

"Pair up. You need to look out for each other. If you run into any trouble, go find the other students immediately. Don’t try to handle things on your own. Remember, if it’s something you really can’t solve, go to the embassy. When we’re abroad, we’re not just representing ourselves, but the entire face of Celestia."

The chaperone’s expression was grave as he reminded them again and again.

Everyone nodded in understanding.

But the fiery enthusiasm they once had was now all but extinguished.

A sense of unease settled in all of their hearts.

An anxiety about the future.

They had imagined coming abroad would be a completely different experience.

But after arriving, they discovered the grass wasn’t any greener on the other side.

The air here wasn’t any fresher than back home.

Many of their wonderful fantasies had been brutally shattered by reality.

Of course, some were still filled with hope and excitement.

Grace Winslow was not one of them.

Grace Winslow and Joanne Chase found a room with an elderly couple.

The couple’s children worked out of town and rarely visited, leaving the house quiet and empty.

The old woman loved small animals and kept several cats and dogs. The old man had been in a car accident a few years ago that left his legs paralyzed, so he relied on a wheelchair to get around.

The old man had a poor attitude and always scowled at people.

The old woman, however, was gentle and greeted everyone with a warm smile.

The house had plenty of rooms, and she picked out two for Grace Winslow and Joanne Chase on the second floor.

Grace Winslow’s English was decent, so she was able to converse with the woman normally.

Because it was so late, Grace Winslow and Joanne Chase had a simple meal of the dry rations they’d brought, then showered and went to bed early.

Grace Winslow was up bright and early the next morning.

Her internal clock was accustomed to waking up at five-thirty every morning to exercise, and that didn’t change even in a foreign country.

She got up, dressed, and went out for her workout.

The streets were quiet in the morning with hardly anyone around. She occasionally saw a few others out for a morning run like her, but they didn’t greet each other.

Grace Winslow ran a couple of laps and returned an hour later.

When she got home, she showered, changed her clothes, and went downstairs to make breakfast.

The elderly couple were light sleepers and had probably been woken by Grace Winslow’s movements. They got up at seven as well.

Grace Winslow made a Chinese-style breakfast. Before she left, Irene Lynch, worried they wouldn’t eat well abroad, had packed some rice and flour for them.

Grace Winslow cooked some lean pork congee, fried two eggs, and served them with a side dish she had brought from home.

Joanne Chase woke up late. The flight had been exhausting, and they had to scramble for hours to find a place before they could finally sleep. She didn’t get up until eight.

By then, Grace Winslow had already finished her breakfast while chatting with the old woman.

When she saw Joanne Chase was up, Grace Winslow urged her to hurry up and eat so they could head to the university.

Classes here started later, with the first period at nine o’clock.

After Joanne Chase finished breakfast, she and Grace Winslow left for the university together.

"Grace, you were up early, weren’t you? How are you always so full of energy?" Joanne Chase’s body ached all over. Seeing how vigorous Grace Winslow looked, she couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.

Grace Winslow smiled. "Life is short. We have to make every minute count. If you followed my routine, you’d be full of energy too."

It was only when they got to the university that Grace Winslow realized they had been completely duped.

They were supposed to be here for an exchange program, but in reality, nothing had been arranged for them—no courses, no classrooms, no seats. Nothing.

The few students who had arrived before Grace Winslow and Joanne Chase looked grim. Seeing them, they quickly explained the situation, then stood there scowling. One of them couldn’t help but curse, "Are these damn foreigners trying to mess with us on purpose? Wasn’t this supposed to be an exchange program? They haven’t arranged a single thing for us. How are we supposed to study? What the hell are they trying to do?"

Grace Winslow was silent for a moment before speaking. "We’ll do it ourselves. Now that we’re here, we can’t just leave with our tails between our legs. We have to learn *something*. Since they won’t make arrangements for us, we’ll make them for ourselves."

"Today’s the first day. Let’s go to every classroom and see what classes are being taught. Then, we can pick the ones we want to attend based on our interests."

"We probably won’t be able to check them all in one day, so let’s take two days. After two days, everyone can choose their classes and make their own schedule."

"In the meantime, we can also try talking to the students here. If the local students won’t give us the time of day, we can look for other international students. Someone will be willing to talk to us. Be patient. We can’t let a small setback like this defeat us."

After Grace Winslow said this, everyone, though still resentful, stopped fuming.

The group went from one classroom to the next, sitting in on the lectures.

Although the university hadn’t arranged any classes for them, no one drove them away. If they wanted to sit in on a class, they were allowed to stand at the back and listen. After all, nobody believed these "inferior people" could actually understand a word they were saying.