“I Am Proud of Being An International Student”
Although I wrote lots of difficulties we met as international students last week, I am actually proud of being one of this big family, which bringing us numerous benefits.
To begin with, international students have more opportunities to cultivate the ability of dealing with emergency. The word “international” means that we have to leave home and the country we are familiar with and travel very long distance from China to America, which usually costing thirteen hours. It’s not an easy thing to travel with two very heavy suitcases of twenty-three kilograms each, at least for me. When I first arrived in America, I left my package at the airport. I was so scared because most of my important documents needing for attending college were in that package. Luckily, the staff told me my bag was still in the airport and it was not lost, which making me happy for several days! Although it was not a good thing, I learned something from it that I should keep an eye on my luggage during the trip and it was necessary and helpful to write a baggage tag including phone number, email and address.
Furthermore, it is making various friends that becomes a huge advantage of studying abroad. From the database of university, there are 8.4 percent of international students in UCSB this year. It’s a relative small percentage comparing to other universities in California, such as UCSD, UCI, and UCD. Every day when I walk out of dorm, I can see people from different areas like Mexico, south America, Africa, Asia, etc. Even though we looks very different, we are able to talk happily with each other since we all respect the culture and habit of others. It is excited for me to chat with American students for that they are native speakers and I can learn so many native expressions from them. Once I heard a news that an Asian girl looked forward o finding an American boyfriend just because she wanted to practice her oral English. What a crazy but lovely girl! Through face-to-face chatting, making friends from other countries becomes much easier for us, international students. However, my friend who study in China said it was hard for her to make foreigner friends because there were no international students in her college.
In addition, being an international student makes us easier to live independently in the future.With the growth of ages, we are no longer children, and it is the time that we start to learn how to look after ourselves. Living alone in an unfamiliar country is absolutely a valuable chance. After classes, we have to think about what to eat and when to do the laundry. Sometimes we may feel overwhelmed not because the class is too hard but because there are so many things coming together so that we are not able to distribute them appropriately. However, with accumulation of the experience, we are stronger and more skillful at dealing with trivial stuffs, and everything will go better in our life. We should attach importance to this cherished opportunity of studying abroad.
