"I like small talk," Ally told us this week. "You learn things." The students began by asking, "What's your major?" Exercise science for Ruby, graphic design for Ally. "Where are you from?" followed. Ruby Wierzbicki is from Blairstown, N.J., Ally Cole from Olney, Md. Ally ventured to ask ... "Originally?" Both young women are of Asian descent. "Actually," said Ruby, "I was born in China. I was in an orphanage and adopted." "Me, too," Ally Cole told her. "Do you know what orphanage?" The orphanage where they lived is often one of the few details children adopted from China know about their early lives. They usually do not know who their birth mother is; many mothers gave birth in secret, rather than be forced by the government to end their pregnancies, because of China's one-child policies that were in effect until 2015, and a prejudice for male children in many families. Some mothers left their children along roadsides, or in front of public buildings, where they hoped they would be picked up by tender, loving hands and brought to orphanages.