20100226 Enjoying Being 18 (1)

Enjoying Being 18

The most blissful thing for me is my friendships

Adjusting to life in America is a hard process. Two difficulties international students face are the language barrier and emotional frustration. Always having to face language barriers, cultural differences and social isolation, many students might crash emotionally. For me, I look at it as a chance to learn and grow. As I am living with a bunch of Americans, I need to adjust to some things. Living in the dormitory is an interesting experience that most freshmen go through, and things can get pretty crazy. Americans love playing loud music in their rooms, sometimes blasting it 'til midnight.

They also aren't aware of using others' belongings. In the beginning, I was surprised to find my roommate's friends sitting on my bed and using my desk. Sometimes they even used my: things withoug giving me a heads-up. Many small things in daily life, which in Chinese culture are considered impolite, do not matter to them. It has been a big adjustment, but I have learned how to communicate with them about my feelings. Surprisingly, they respect me, I think living in the dorm is a great way to learn more about American freshman life and make new friends as well.



barrier n. 障礙,阻礙
eg: Despite the language barrier, the two foreign students became close friends.
eg: His poor health condition is a great barrier for him to finish school.

blast v. 轟然作響
eg: The neighbor is always blasting music from his apartment late at night.
eg: The driver blasted the horn trying to warn the car in front of him.

heads-up 事先知會
eg: The secretary gave my department a heads-up about tomorrow's inspection.
eg: Someone should have given us a heads-up
about the change in schedule.