Self-Imposed Segregation

I was counting down the minutes to the end of my class today, when I realized something - the girls and boys were seated on opposite sides of the room. There was no intermingling. Even the teacher was seated on the boys' side. I remembered a friend of mine saying that the same thing happened in all her larger classes here. It was the first time for me, but I have to say that I am not surprised. The more I talk to Japanese girls the more I realize that there is very little interaction between the sexes in the everyday life of a college student. The girls are afraid of not being attractive enough, and the boys are afraid they'll say something stupid, so no one talks. Hence, we have the popularity of group blind dates and drinking parties. Thank goodness for alcohol to break down the barriers, or the population in this country would be shrinking faster than it already is.