I (F20) was offered a full-scholarship to do a semester of university in Hawaii

So in the spring of 2017 I had just been accepted by my top choice university, located roughly 30 minutes away from where I live. I was excited and intended on commuting, being a "family kid." My parents had never been apart from me for more than a few days and I was scared to be away from them at all, so attending university away from home wasn't ever an option for me. <br><br>That all changed when I saw a poster advertising a unique opportunity.<br><br>This semester was specifically for music students, because the university in Hawaii has an amazing music program (and is located in an incredibly diverse location), and they were offering FULL-RIDE scholarships to do the program. While I do believe that my voice is my instrument, I am primarily a pianist. So I applied in piano. <br><br>I was so excited to be selected. I had never left the country by myself, and my parents were hesitant to let me go, but I convinced them that I needed to do it for personal growth. <br><br>My university is quite small, so it's very easy to get lost in the crowd, but the program had some requirements that were pretty crazy. So by the time I left I was well-known around campus, and I think being one of only two students to ever be chosen for the program helped a lot. <br><br>I knew it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I was so excited to be going. My best friend and her boyfriend were my "farewell dinner" buddies. We went to Olive Garden and had breadsticks (my favorite food). <br><br>A few days later I was on a plane.<br><br>I had never been to Hawaii before, but the second I stepped out of the airport I knew that I had made the right decision. In fact, I knew that I would probably be moving there after I graduated. I fell in love with the island almost instantly. <br><br>Now, the way the program worked (or at least how it worked my first semester) was that we were randomly assigned roommates. I had asked for a double, because I wasn't quite ready to be on my own yet, but when I got there I was told that none were available, and I would have my own room. I was excited, but also a little sad because I wanted someone to explore with.<br><br>I was living in a dorm that was near the university. There are multiple, but where I was living was directly next to campus. It's called Hale Aloha, and it consists of 4 towers. The towers are shaped like a circle in the center that is connected to four different "wings" that are shaped like half-moons. My room was on the 3rd floor, in the center "block." I had an entire half of the hallway to myself, because my only "roommate" was an RA that lived directly across from me.<br><br>The first day there was a bit rough. I felt really overwhelmed. Up to that point I had been to the airport, seen my dorm, and gone to the nearest grocery store. The RA helped me a lot. She was really sweet, and even helped me find some really good coffee the next day.<br><br>The first few days of class were good, but I was lonely. The RA wasn't very chatty, and I missed my family and my best friend. I struggled a bit with the "island lifestyle" at first, because it was so much slower than what I was used to on the mainland. I found myself waking up at 4am almost every day and wandering the campus. <br><br>So that's what I was doing on the first morning of classes. I was on the 6th floor of the Student Union Building, looking out at the sea. I was in awe of the ocean. I did that almost every morning, but never at the same time. <br><br>I think I was on the 6th floor for 20 minutes or so, and then I decided to go to the Starbucks in the SUB to get a coffee for class. I went down the elevator, and walked to the Starbucks on the ground-floor. <br><br>When I walked in, the barista looked up at me and shouted "There you are! Your mom has been looking everywhere for you."<br><br>I was confused, because I didn't know anyone there but the RA, who was going to be an RA the following semester at my home university. <br><br>Before I could say anything, a man pushed past me and ran out of the door. I was startled, and I couldn't figure out what was going on. I tried to ask the barista, but she was still yelling for my "mom" to come and get me. <br><br>I didn't know what to do, so I just ran out of the Starbucks too. I followed the man out the door.<br><br>I know that was dumb, and it makes no sense in retrospect. But I was 18, by myself thousands of miles from home, and I was still struggling to adjust. I believe that I followed him because of the confusion. I wasn't scared of him, I was scared of the woman and whatever was going on. <br><br>It was worse later that day when I realized that I didn't know the man's name. I had just been given his phone number, and it didn't show his name. It was an Oahu area code, so I'm assuming he was a local.<br><br>I took a few seconds to collect myself. I was standing in the stairwell. The man had pushed a door open and ran down the stairs, and I followed him. I had no idea what I was doing.<br><br>There was a part of me that wondered if he was my "mom" and the barista was just playing a joke on him. But then why was he panicking so much? I decided to follow him, and I reached the bottom of the stairs just as the doors were closing. I pushed them open and followed him outside, where he ran across the street. I followed him, and he turned into a parking garage. <br><br>There was a car coming towards him, so he jumped up onto a wall that surrounded the parking garage. He was standing on it, and he turned around and looked at me. "What the fuck are you doing?" He asked. I was so startled I couldn't answer. I was frozen. I didn't know what I was doing.<br><br>Suddenly the car was gone and he was off the wall and standing in front of me. I was frozen again. All I could do was stare at him. I didn't even move to block him when he reached for my hair. I don't remember how long he stood there (it felt like forever), but he did eventually stop and pull his hand away from my head. <br><br>He turned around and ran away, across the parking garage, to a little bridge that took him over to the other side of the road. He disappeared into the darkness. <br><br>I stood there for I don't know how long, and then I slowly made my way back to the Starbucks. The barista saw me and was relieved. She said that my "mom" had been looking everywhere for me. It took a few minutes to convince her that I didn't have a mom on the island, I was an international student. <br><br>The barista looked really confused, and eventually she called the head of security to come and talk to me. I told them what had happened, and they were shocked. They scolded me for following him, and I was really upset. <br><br>They said that the barista was acting out of character, and that they were going to review the tapes to see what had happened. By the time I left my first class, they had figured out what had gone on. They told me that the barista had been instructed to tell me that my mom was looking for me. The man had been stalking me, and had access to my dorm.<br><br>The barista was in on it, but by the time they had figured it out she had already quit. They believe that her family had hired her there, with the intent of getting her close to me. But I never saw her again.<br><br>The man had been following me. That's why he was on the 6th floor. He had been watching me every night, and I had no idea. He had been watching me every night from the bridge. I had no idea. I never saw him again.<br><br>But those were my first few days on the island. I didn't let it change my time there, though. I fell in love with a local (who didn't know the stalker), and I made sure to stay safe for the rest of my time there. <br><br>So to the stalker that pushed me onto a bridge surrounded by water and decided to back away from me, let's not meet again. <br><br>Edit: I know that I was in the wrong for following him, but I didn't know any better. I was extremely naive and I had never had anything like that happen to me before. I was raised in a very "sheltered" way and wasn't prepared for something like that to happen. That doesn't make it okay, but it does help explain why I reacted that way.