College Adventure

Fiorella decided to drop by The University of Texas while she was in Austin to do a little detective work regarding her heritage. It wouldn't take long, she reasoned, and the campus shouldn't have changed too much since she graduated, lo, these many years ago.
     WRONG-O!
     It took Fio about thirty minutes of driving around to find a parking space and another thirty minutes to find anyone who knew anything about how to reach the Russian Department (which is now called Eastern Slavic Studies, in case you ever need to seek it out) and the whole time, your girl was sweltering in the muggy heat and feeling terribly out of place among the horde of fresh-faced students crowding the sidewalks.
     Finally reaching the campus itself, she took a chance on the first building she came to, went down the empty hall and knocked on a door--okay, she pushed it open and barged right in--and encountered two young Chinese women who not only supplied her with the needed phone number, but were amazed at her greeting them (nee hau ma) and thanking them (sheh-sheh) in their native tongue, the only phrases she remembers from her dentist's long-ago tutelage.
    Afterwards, Fio walked as fast as she could back to her car, hoping she could get over the Central Market before friend Kaye, whom she was supposed to meet, gave up on her. But such was not to be: forty-five minutes late,  Fio huffed and puffed into the eating area of Central Market, but Kaye had long since departed.
      Fiorella has emailed her friend, begging for forgiveness and another chance, but that will be up to Kaye. Fio will understand if she gets dropped cold. Being stood up is not fun.