The nearer it got to the date of flying to USA, the more excited but dead nervous I was feeling! As for an 18 years old girl who has never been far away from home alone, studying abroad on exchange for half a year was one of the best opportunities and the biggest challenges I have ever had. It has allowed me to improve my English greatly and learn an incredible amount about culture and the way of life in USA.

　　Ticking off everything I needed in a notebook and the last thing I did was pack. Then I flied to US, a big country always appears on TV, with anxiety after I squeezed my parents a goodbye.

　　My first month in the USA felt like another world! Prepare yourself for a slight cultural shock in terms of the food, the people, the language and definitely the weather!

　　My first meal was the Houston size hamburger and Coca-cola in Mcdonald after a Chinese man, Mr Hao, who had just contacted with me on QQ picked me up from George Bush international airport. Ironically, I decided to cook by myself after I got my first meal in Mc which is one the most popular fast restaurant in China. Because there are two main reasons, one is that I didn’t get used of the American food and another one is that it would be cheaper if I would cook for myself. That’s to say, my independent life was starting. Generally, I would ask Mr Hao to pick me up to supermarket to buy the food once a week, such as milk, meat, vegetables, bread, eggs, cheese and so on. I rarely went shopping unless my friends asked me to do window shopping with view American culture.

　　I lived in the college village beside the University of Houston Clear Lake and there are only around 200 students who live there because of the high rent. At first, I was very nervous to live with a Vietnamese roommate, Moon, who has mysophobia and speak Vietnamese English. But it was not nearly as difficult as I was afraid it might be. I figured out that she almost just stayed at the apartment at night after my observation in the first week. So she is not on my list. In other words, I almost lived alone. Owing to the swimming pool and clubhouse in the village, I made some good friends through some sports and activities. They are from the local, India, Vietnam and Mexico.

　　Every week I had four different classes, including Global geography, Management, First aid and care, Ceramics, which I enjoined, even if I had some understanding difficulties with the strong Southern accents from the classmates in English. From these classes, I learnt a considerable amount about difficult to learn in China. In class, students can do everything, including eating, drinking, using laptop, interrupting teacher and even asking for leave. So is the class messed up by students in the US? Of course not, on the contrary, the class is very active and the students are very serious about their study because of the tuition is extremely high, particularly, students need to pay themselves. I tried my best to answer and ask some questions to join the classes. What I want to say is that the classes in the US are more difficult than I have thought before. As most of us know that American teachers in class don’t teach too much, and students almost are the actors in the class, so we need to do a big deal after class. Preview and Review of the textbook are the pre-requisite. In addition, we have to read and collect lots of information from the magazine, newspaper or websites almost everyday to catch the living examples for study. How big the project is! As I mentioned, American students need to support themselves by doing part-time jobs. So you can imagine how hard they worked and how different between Chinese universities and Americans’. Further more, two of my professors are very interesting and different from Chinese teachers. One of them is a sociable lady who studies the global geography, she always made an appointment with me to discuss some questions about global geography and especially the status of China in the world nowadays made me known how important China is to the whole world. In the management, we always discuss some issues about the economy, but I found most of them are around China, especially for one of the world’s economic centers, Shanghai. Another is an old tall and thin Dutchman who studies the art of ceramics and he has taken part in some archaeological projects in the world. Almost every week, he would show me some special arts he likes and asked me to talk with him. I did learn many things I have never had and I felt proud that I am Chinese.

　　As the weather in Houston is always sunny day, everyone there is very nice, we smiled and said hello or morning to each other though we don’t know each other every morning. Moreover I was always invited to the family parties by my friends and classmates, so that I experienced the real American culture. Besides, Halloween custom party was held in the village, I dressed up as a leopard and what amazed me was that I got the first prize. After that, I was invited to spend the Thanksgiving Day with Jason’s family who was one of my classmates and good friends. As his Christians’ family, I preyed with them before the lunch as the religious rite. During the half year, I travelled a lot in my holidays, the site of the most famous Bar Street—New Orleans, the American highest city that is located nearby the Rocky Mountain—Denver, the state capital and largest city of Massachusetts—Boston, the largest city and the financial center in the United States—New York, the capital city in United States—Washington DC, the biggest gambling city—Las Vegas, the motion picture capital of the world—Los Angeles, and a port in western California near the Golden Gate that is one of the major industrial and transportation center—San Francisco. I was so excited and happy to visit these famous cities in US, but after I travelled these cities, I realized the United States is not nearly as mysterious as I thought it might be as the movies played. Nevertheless, I have to say the truth is that there are lots of good things we still need to learn, such as the critical thinking, independent aptitude, good manner and high technology.

　　I like my life in US and I thank for it that taught me many valuable things and it built up my strong heart—discovers new strengths and abilities, overcomes new challenges, and solves new problems. Coming across situations that are really unfamiliar to you, you begin to learn to adapt and respond in effective ways.