This is my first time to come to United States and I’ve been here for almost 3 months.
The reason why I want to visit this country is because my childhood was filled with American culture, from movies to food and learning English when I was in kindergarten. I had a really strong desire to travel or study in this country, considering that I have too many fantasies about it.
The first thing I want to talk about is the education in the university. I’m not sure if every university in U.S. works the same, so I just take mine as an example. Compare with the education in Taiwan, I think I work even harder here, and it’s not just because English isn’t my mother tongue. In Taiwan, we usually have same class once or twice in a week which means you need to sit in class for 2 or 3 hours and it’s just way too tiring to have 3-hours classes that I fell asleep in class often. Also, we don’t have too much homework, quizzes, or tests, so usually we don’t even need to study until the midterm and final exam. However, I feel that the education in America is more useful because you really learn something in class and it’s not just for passing the exams. Another part is that I never knew that professors can encourage and compliment on students that much, which make me feel more confident and have more courage to speak for myself.
I’m also impressed by how people here “be themselves.” When I talk with people here, because of the diversity of culture, people know how to respect others but they can still retain their personal viewpoints. I really appreciate that how people here can have their own thoughts because I think that’s how people learn to understand themselves and find out what they really want.
There are so many extracurricular activities here, and I feel that people here love to celebrate different festivals. These activities and the atmosphere of celebrating also prove that students here know how to live a life! Also, I love that the students here feel passionate and work hard on everything, which just makes me feel everything is possible in my life. And that is the feeling I never had when I studied in my own country.
So far I met many nice people and I’m really thankful for everything they did. Even just talk to me or say hi to me, it makes me feel grateful because it is hard for exchange students to make friends and to hang out with them. You might think maybe it’s my fault that I’m not outgoing enough, but I can tell you that is not the reason. So next time if you can, try to talk with us or to me. :)