Five years ago, when I was just a normal Chinese High School student who was struggling between Exams and parents, I never imagined that 5 years later, I would become an American college student and live 7000miles from home. I even did not think I can come out with a complete English sentence with no grammar errors.
I was born in a small village in China named “Xinhua” which is hiding in one of the mountains that only be known by less than ten thousands of people. When I was very little I always wondering what looks like outside the mountains, it was because I usually saw people brought something that I had never seen before.
When I was six my family moved to a city called Changsha—the biggest cities in Hunan province, I finally got a chance to go outside of Xinhua. My parents found jobs in Changsha after we settled down, and I went to elementary school during that year. Six years later, my family moved again to an even bigger cities called Guangzhou, which is the third-largest city in China. Everything in Guangzhou was fresh to me, especially their language. Guangzhou is a Cantonese speaking city, but I only speak Mandarin with a south mountainside accent. Cantonese sounds like birds singing to me at that time, and which made me no friend in first two years in Guangzhou, but the good thing is, I became more independent and mature. Two years later, I felt no trouble with communicating in Cantonese and I had more and more Cantonese friends as well.
After my second year of high school, I made the biggest decision in my 17-year-life--- Come to the USA. Then I finished my last year of high school at a private high school in Columbus Ohio. And I went to the U of M a year later.
Everytime when I look back, i always found myself difficult to believe that I came from a tiny village which nobody knows, because most of people that village spend their entire lives in the village and never even be able to see what is behind the mountains. But now I know, most of people are not willing to move, but once they move, they will never stop.
The changes of environment that you have gone through are incredible. Being able to adapt to such differences is a great strength to have and one people wish for. I believe that the majority of American students could never go to school in another country. It would be too different for them, but to be able to pick up an entirely different language and move to a country with such an opposite culture is a difficult challenge to take. My roommate is also from China and he has taught me a lot of the differences and has helped me understand how difficult the shift must be. Me along with other people should learn from your example and try to step out of our comfort zone and experience the type of changes you have gone through.
ReplyDeleteThat's quit a story that you've gone through, all the integration and changes and adapting to it. Your determinant to adapt to such strenuous changes is admirable and I commend you for that. Here at the University of Minnesota, I've encountered many international students who aren't willing to step outside the box. My friends roommate, a chinese international student, stays in his room all day long. He wouldn't even go down to the dining hall, but instead order food to be brought to the dorm. Then there are those who only converse with other international students. I'm sure that its easier to talk to people who are similar to you, but I hope that they would learn from your example and integrate into this multicultural school.
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