Blog ten Study in America

Study in America

Studying in America for a month, I felt extremely exhausted. I don’t know weather the normal class and the homework of America is like ours. I nearly didn’t finish all the work before midnight. Maybe we spent the whole afternoon visiting many places and playing for a lot of time, and didn’t focus on our homework. We should learn more than we have learned, we should go more library to read books or learn how to write.

We have no time to finish homework, let alone reviewing or previewing the contents we have learned. I think that Chinese university students are too relaxed and read less material than American students. It is so bad because we have not accumulated some useful things to our learning.

When it comes to American class, it is important to ask a question and come up with some critical thinking about the contends. In China, we also are encouraged to do that. It is because our English is poor and don’t understand some meanings clearly, so we don’t dare to ask a question.

We need to make progress.

what should we do?

On July 10, 2016, we arrived in Chicago. When we breathed the first air of America, I realized that I had been in America,  the country which said that everyone should be equal,  the country which said that it is the most democratic country in the world, the country which said that it is the most powerful country in the world.

Before we came here, we have already known that the America is free, equal and democratic, the Americans are friendly, open, and forthright.

Living in America for nearly a month, either the downtown of Chicago or the small town like Oxford impressed us deeply. We experienced how friendly the Americans are, how creative their lives are in many aspects. But when we are thinking how to get involved in American society, a certain kind of anxiety and confusion arose in our minds. Today we are going to tell you four stories, which are picked up from our daily lives.

Look at the graph from the Internet done by Pew Research Center, saying about the proportion of Americans who have good feeling about Chinese. According to the data, more than half of Americans are unfavorable to Chinese.

Let’s see some comments below this research.

  

This guy said that he cannot come up with any reasons to like Chinese. And the other guy who is Chinese but grow up in America, said that people like people who are like themselves.

It seems difficult to change it, because we actually act not like an Americans.

When talking with Americans who suddenly laughs at some points, what should we do? (nearly half of American university students think Chinese boy is like a nerb )

When someone in the Lincoln Park pointed us and said that, fuck off Hongkong, what should we do?

When you hear someone said, I don’t like Chinese because they are rude, what should we do ?

Chinese and Americans are growing up in different culture background, speaking different language. When in America, we are curious about many things that are familiar to Americans, we sometimes are so careful about everything in America that we can not perform ourselves decently, we are anxious and try to understand what others say which make us uneasy, we sometimes ignore the rules and customs involuntary and act as if we are in China.

Is it wrong with some differences between Chinese and Americans? Absolutely not. not evidence advocates that which culture is better for human beings development. We need to respect the diversity of different culture, And do more to understand each other.

Adventure and Optimism

Adventure

Look ahead and keep smile. It seems so simple to say that. But it is not simple for the whole nation to do that.

On Saturday, we went to the Kings Island to enjoy the thrill and excitement given by the machine. I never forgot the scream sent out by the people sitting on the roller coaster, rising their hands without fear and concern. When I saw the little girls came out from the roller coaster, holding hands with their, I wondered that if their parents concern about the safe issue. When I saw two young men were tied together, lifted by the machine to 131 feet high, I wondered why they feel relieved to give their lives to the machine. But they did it, and were sound and safe.

I tried it, too, for the first time. When the stuffs helped to tie me and my partner together, I thought that I put my life into someone who I never meet. The stuff said something I hardly understood and I felt so nervous that my legs were trembling. But it was the time to try it. You would never understand what they thought until you try it on your own.

My body was lifting up slowly and slowly to the sky. I thought nothing about what would happen, just closed my eyes. When the switched was triggered, it seemed that I was the last people in the world. The things has gone fast in my eye, and I almost dizzied.

But soon, I was accustomed to the feeling like that.

It was a feeling of adventure. Maybe most of Americans enjoyed that. Yesterday I saw a news that a fire balloon was broken and 15 people were dead in America. It was also an adventure. Americans were so confident about their facility and technology. They work hard and consider more to design it, and then try it without fare. When the accident came, they would not be immersed in the sorrow but continued working to solve the problem. That may be so-called OPTIMISM.

American farm

American farm

On Thursday afternoon, the sunshine covered the ground like a gold armor dress and some squirrels were chasing and foraging. The wind touched my face slightly and the leaves on the tree were greeting me passionately. I temporarily forgot the low marks of my final draft in the class and walked straight to the school bus with a brisk pace. Today we were going to the Butler County Fair to experience the “Farmer Culture” there.

On the bus, a big picture came out of my mind: a vast prairie with some pale brown fences, the light blue sky meeting the margin of prairie, a few big trees standing with a mushroom shape, a fresh breeze puffing across the small lake, a flock of sheep walking around the lake, and in the distance a farmer lying behind a cabin, face up. I wanted to run on the grass, roll on the grass, talk with the sheep, and walk along the water side. The steam would rise from the grass and I would breathe the nature greedily.

The bus stopped and we got out one by one like a group of pupils. The smell of green grass mixed with cow dung and horse dung got into my nose, which reminded me that I was in an American farm. I could not believe what I saw. There was no prairie but few grass, no lake but some liquor stores, no free sheep but some fettered goats, no farmers but many children with their “pets”.

A merry-go-round was set at the gate, small, smelly and gloomy, with some mules spinning under a pointed roof. Were they real mules? Absolutely yes. They were so poor that only could walk around drawing circle in a narrow space. The mules all lowed their heads breathlessly, swinging their tails feebly. One of them just looked at me with some whispers, seemingly saying that save me and free me as soon as possible, I really need freedom. It reminded me of the Gettysburg Address given by Lincoln, which claimed that everyone should be equal.

When I lost my mind in the path, whoosh! The sound of motorcycle pulled my mind back and I went into the Motorcycle Center. The engine voices became in a chorus of sound, rising to a humming noises. “Wow!” a shout from the crowd caught my attention. A boy with a cup of drink in his hand, standing up, and pointed a specific direction by his index finger. My sight followed his index finger and saw a man without any clothes on his upper body driving his motorcycle with big buzz. I couldn’t help standing up and the man drove towards a quarter of a round plank. I put the hands in front of my eyes immediately and opened a gap to see what happen. The man was flying in the air and he used his hands to finish some difficult movements at the same time! How dangerous it was. A small mistake might lead him to death. The second turn, he was ready again. He pushed the pedal down at full blast. The tattoo on his body was like a dragon, long black body and fierce expression. He was so thin that even the breeze could blow down him. The motorcycle was like a wild horse running to the a quarter of a round plank. The sound of engine let me produce illusion that I were in the autodrome and all players were ready to crossed the finish line by their maximal speed. Admittedly, speed is quite important that keep the players safe. In the air, which was considered to be difficult and nearly impossible to control human body by oneself, he separated himself from the motorcycle, twisted his waist and extended his two legs to the opposite directions. At that time, he was like a diver. “Cool!”The word came out of my mouth with any hesitation.

But I had to go, my heart could not afford it.

But I could not forget the scene of the poor mules and the adventurous motorcycler.

It was a picture of American farm?

control over the environment

It Depends on You ?

“In Zootopia, anyone could be anything”, said Judy Hopps the leading actor in the latest popular cartoon in America. I think it can be interpreted as “In America, anyone could be anything”, which reveals one of the American values the personal control over the environment. In China, we have completely different attitudes. This passage will make a meaningful comparison behind the phenomena and personally speaking, the environment plays an important role in forming the character that faced the environment.

America has the soil of freedom and strong belief that “every single individual should have control over whatever in the environment might potentially affect him or her“said L. Robert Kohls, the writer of the passage The Values Americans Live By, so what happen depends mostly on yourself. This can also be a part of the American Dream. I have already know about the American dream from American movies. In the movie, The Pursuit of Happiness, although Chris Gardner has difficulties in his work and fails in his marriage, he doesn’t give up and keeps working hard to fulfill his dream, and finally he succeeds. And in the movie, The Martian, Mark Watney was left on the Mars and got heavy injuries. I can’t image how, but he performed, a surgery on himself and developed a land of plants, using his knowledge of botany. Surprisingly, he could live on the Mars by himself and he absolutely succeeded in controlling the environment.

In China, your own issues are not only depended on you, so we treat it seriously. The individual here should make his/her effort under the expectation concerned with national goals which called Chinese dream. It seems that Chinese bear some heavy burdens whenever making decisions, and they cannot focus on the issue itself attentively. Many officers in ancient China had a tradition that they should retreat back to nature and live in a small village that nobody knew when they were opposed by the leaders or someone that had huge power to affect the politics. My father works in the government but not the biggest leader, so his suggestion is nearly impossible to be implemented and sometimes he doesn’t dare to show his capability in the field of his work because the leader don’t like his subordinates being more outstanding than him. Nowadays, many businessmen have difficulties in starting their business, because there are irrational rules to follow.

From my aspect, it is mainly because of the different length of history. With a long history, Chinese are influenced by the deep-rooted conception formed in the long period of leveled society, and the stereotypes exist in everybody’s mind.

A great society should provide the equal opportunity to everyone regardless his/her status and wealth. Working hard and then succeeding should not be prevented by any power, and it is social duty to protect it. We always want to persist on our dreams and realize our dreams by our own efforts. The personal effort and control over the environment should be the value of the whole human beings and the Americans are walking ahead. Chinese are making progress.

Blog five Pass on Happiness to Others

Pass on Happiness to Others

I have read a story for many times.(I don’t know why the examiners like this story so much that I have work out for it many times.) The story is about happiness. A man was paid by a couple in the restaurant. When he wanted to pay back to the couple, he was given a small piece of paper, saying that: you can pass on this happiness to others, make others happy, too. In the end of the passage, the author paid for a girl’s dinner and gained happiness both.

What a mendacious story is it, I thought. It would never happen in our daily live. Who will pay for your dinner if he/she don’t know who you are? In China, may be some relatives, friends and colleagues will pay for you.

But in America, things happened more than once on myself. In Starbucks, there were some people drinking coffee to relax themselves. They talked with others with smile, the teeth were like the pearls shining by the sunlight. The strong smell of coffee bean lingered around my nose, along with the soft and classic music. I walked to the counter, and glance back and forth at the menu. An American woman smiled at me and greeted to me:”How was your day going, boy?” “Fine, I think.” I answered quickly because I have received American friendly greet for many times.She asked some questions about my summer school in Miami University. “You like drinking coffee?Maybe I can recommend some wonderful kind of coffee to you.”she said. “That will be cool!Right?” I said happily and looked forward to getting respond from her. She stood up and walked to the counter and said “I wanna this coffee.”She paid for me!Yes, she did it! It was amazing! She paid for me, a unknown Chinese boy. I don’t know how to talk with her to express my surprise and happiness. “Thanks so much, it is very kind of you!” “HHH, that’s all right. Maybe you can bring this happiness back to China:)”

Oh, it really happened to me! In her deep blue eyes, what I saw was the enthusiasm and love to the people around her.

The stronger, more stronger

The stronger, more stronger

“Please pass me the ball!” the words lingered in my heart for thousand times. I play basketball almost everyday in the Student Recreation Center and I meet so many Americans who are so tall and strong. It is said that Americans are good at basketball and they play skillfully. So I am eager to play with them and learn how they preform in the game.

One day, I came the basketball court early and they haven’t begun the game because of a lack of people. So I seized the opportunity and joined them. They were friendly apparently and treated me as a good friends who often plays with them.

Before long, we have gotten 10 people to start the game. The way of dividing us into two groups was shooting 3-pointer and the first five who got the goals should be divided into one group. In China, I have never seen this way, we want to equalize the strength of two groups which can make the game more suspenseful and competitive. But in America, it is normal to make the better players together. Maybe they believe that the stronger should stand by one side and preform bigger power and the weak should try their best to beat the stronger, or they will never win the game.

I remembered a professor in Yale says that: ”Justice is what the stronger say it is.” Americans worship the stronger and power, they will seldom consider the weak although they show friendly to them apparently and give them some bonus to encourage them. But they will never change the rules and regulations that are unfavorable to the weak.So in America, if you are the weak one, you will be difficult to live in this society although they are friendly and always smile to you. To be the strong one, gain the position in the society and then you can talk about justice.