My American Life
七宝中学 常帅
Four months seem to have passed in an instant, even when I opened my eyes this morning and rose from my bed this strange feeling came to me as if this whole American life to me is just a long long dream after a tiring day of school and nothing has ever changed, yet it is not. Short as it is, this experience has brought huge changes to my life of which I am sure will last lifelong. Not only have I been able to improve my communications skills in English in every possible way, this journey has also enabled me to looked at the world around me from a different point of view as well as to befriend people from all walks of life, whom I would never have the chance to befriend if I hadn’t make up my mind to be an exchange student and embrace a whole new life.
What this family has brought me is more than just a lesson of love, but also amazing friends. We went down to Grandma’s house in Oregon for Christmas and I met more than 20 relatives there. Amongst the 7 cousins that I met close to myself in age, there were an artist, a marine, a basketball player, three kids from a missionary family in Albania that are home-schooled and speak Albanian and a half Egyptian! We talked so much that never did I go to bed before 1 in the morning during the four days of our stay; it was absolutely fascinating to hear about their lives and to converse with people from different cultural backgrounds from my own. We became such good friends that I almost shed tears when we had to part yesterday. However, I know I can always come back and revisit them, I know we are family, which, stronger than anything else, brings us together.
As for my school life here, it is undoubtedly an amazing one. In spite of the first several weeks of uneasiness and slight depression once in a while, I found myself comfortable with the new ways of learning and my new groups of friends. It is undeniable that schools here are academically easier than those in China, even though I took the hardest classes my school can offer, they still take me considerably less time to finish the daily assignments. However, I was quite amazed by how well-rounded students here are. American high schools encourage students to spend time on their hobbies by means of offering great opportunities for them to develop themselves. For example, one of the three clubs that I am currently in, Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) is a business-oriented organization created for students that are interested in business. So far we’ve been able to cooperated with Gamecrazy(The company that developed Rock Band and Guitar Hero) to host a game tournament and Hopelink on Halloween to do a canned food drive for those in need. These events were not only fun to do but also were meaningful since they can make a difference in our community. By taking part in these events from brainstorming an initial idea to actually contacting media and companies to make it happen, I was able to see how things work behind the scenes and I believe these experiences would be of great value for my future.
In short, my American life is definitely an eye-opening experience for me, I can confidently say that I am more capable and self-determined now than I could have ever been because of all that I have, and will, learn from this wonderful year.
