… interesting encounter @ manning??

I (first year female) was locking in by myself on my laptop at Manning House yesterday and a boy approached me saying that he was an American junior high school student (though he looked quite a bit older) and was asking me very personal questions about my classes, schedule, assessments and what I was studying. It kind of rubbed me the wrong way, especially when he asked to see what was on my laptop screen so that he could read my essay and then 'quiz me' - like sybau i'm literally in the first stages of drafting out my essay (and only have been at uni for like 6 weeks) and why would I want a random stranger to quiz me like hello?? He then pulled out his laptop to try and study /w/ me on my table (when the whole level was practically empty). And he was really pushy and trying to ask me questions about my degree, friends, and the types of political groups on campus and if there are any MAGA people, since he was from the US? Like you can do your own research on the uni like practically all of the other domestic and international students - and if your a high school student from a different country, why are you alone/where are your parents, or why aren't you at school? Then I kinda just asked him to leave but when I also left ~20 minutes later he was just wandering around campus by himself. Idrc if he sees this reddit post cause some men lack the spatial and social awareness of not to approach someone when they are trying to lock in and clearly not up for a conversation + since they were @ USYD, they could have gone to a student services space or asked the librarians on the culture and the types of studies available at USYD…

Has anyone else experienced this..? Thanks for listening to my rant x

Posted Apr 9, 2026, 9:18 PM UTC

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