Atlanta-Gatech

Life in Atlanta-Gatech
The first day I stepped on the ground of America, I was excited, especially my first boarding city is Boston, where MIT is. Tired but curious when I arrived at Atlanta airport, I was shocked by the grandness of Atlanta airport. It’s literally the biggest airport I’ve ever seen in my life, with fresco telling visitors Atlanta’s history.

I was picked up by a Christian sister, who was from Florida and works here. It’s very sultry that day so I was a little bit disappointed. The temperature indoor, however, is quite low because of the hard service of the air conditioner. Even so, I was still anticipated of my following year life in Atlanta and Georgia Institute of Technology. I met many Christians that day and it’s them who helped me a lot with housing and dining. They are very kind and all they want is bring you the same belief if it’s possible.

Then the first week was about the time difference, housing, dining, bank card and all kinds of activities to help us quickly adapt to American life. I attended a Chinese overseas students orientation. There were many students with different backgrounds. Some studied here from high school, some from undergraduate, and some are just like me, studying abroad for master or PhD. And people are the same everywhere, some are sociable, some are introverted. Three or five of them huddled together talking about different topics. I just sat in a corner, listening to an elderly man playing the piano and watching the crowed. We gathered here and left after the dinner. I know that most of them will be my nodding acquaintance.

To have an in-depth knowledge of American culture, I live on campus with a native Georgia senior student. There are some culture difference of course. For example, as a native American, my roommate likes the temperature to be as low as possible. However, this temperature for an Asian like me is like living in the Antarctica pole. I bought two quilts to resist the low temperature in order to have a good sleep without being freezing cold. Another culture difference is I find that some Asian food we like for them are nightmares. I remember I shared a kind of Japanese dumplings to my roommate, but she only bite one and quickly threw it into the garbage can, which reminds me of my first experience of eating Chinese Tianjin hamburger as a southerner. It is also a nightmare. But I admire their straightforwardness and dare to express their emotions instead of bottling things up. This is also a culture difference. In China, it’s regarded politeness to praise the food people give you and eat them presently even though you don’t like it. So, you will never know it is true like or seeming like.

In the Chinese overseas students’ body, some are rich, but some are poor, which is true everywhere. The only difference is in Chinese campus, it is hard to know who are rich because of the unified management of campus. Sometimes I feel like it is an advantage of Chinese campus. Students can focus on study without peer pressure. But all of them have upsets, some for applying for MIT, some for finding a better job, some for PhD research. No one is easy living here.

Today I walked around the campus and went to the recreation center, where students can exercise and swim and play all kinds of sports game. Still, I sat there, watching people swimming. They have a kind of water game, like water volleyball, which I have never seen before. Girls with short swimsuits were swimming without distraction. In China, this is maybe a little bit skimpy. They are confident and don’t care about other people’s vision. Sometimes I quite admire American’s confidence. I am learning it too. One day when I leave America, I guess one thing I learned is being confident enough. Except this, campus is the same everywhere, with big gyms, big libraries, many students from different places, variety foods in the dining room, and the unequal distribution of wealth in the society. I suddenly have a strong feeling that I want to go home, staying with my parents and my siblings, having a sheltered life. It is not easy to stay at America alone. I remember when a Christian aunt, who is from Taiwan China said mildly that I was like her daughter when we were chanting, I was moved and though about my parents. I still remember my dream is when I come home from a day’s work, I can have dinner with my family. Now I am farther and farther away from my dream.