Some of the Difficulties I Faced in UCSB
Due to the totally unfamiliar environment, each international student, including me, will face all kinds of problems. However, the problems embraced by students are not only some dilemma, but also ideal chances to exercise their problem solving ability.
The very first problem I need to handle is to learn various life skills. When I was in China, the only thing I have to know is how to get a higher grade and how to manage my time in study. I don’t need to care how to pay for the rent and where I can use the washing machine. However, when I arrive in US, my life changes a lot. Because of living off campus, through which I just need to pay a low rent for the apartment, I have to consider all the issues in my life myself. For example, I have to learn how to get a cash check in the bank and put it into rent box in front of the office. Before, I even don’t know what is actually a cash check. Besides, one of my living habits is to wash all the clothes that I have worn in this week at the weekend and I always use the washing machine to clean my clothes. However, in US, if tenants want to wash the clothes, they have to take their clothes to the washing station. I am not used to it because in China we own the washing machine in our houses so that it is very convenient that we just put clothes in it, then do something we want, and after some minutes, we can take all the stuffs out of it easily, instead of holding all the clothes in a long way to the washing station and get back them later.
However, after living in US for a month, I gradually find the right way to manage my life. Although these problems have some effects on my daily life, I am still able to deal with them properly. When it is the time to pay for the rent, I talk to the staffs in the bank to know how to fill in the cask check correctly. For the washing problem, it is no longer a big deal. I get a big basket and put all the clothes in it. Everytime I have to wash them, I take the basket to the station and that is totally convenient. All I need to notice is to remember taking enough coins and laundry detergent, cause I have forgot them so many times. When going to the station without coins or detergent, I feel totally hopeless! But the basket is so good, very very convenient.
Furthermore, I want to mention that these problems push me to learn, to talk with native people, which exercise me a lot. I feel their tones and learn a lot of new words. As my oral English becomes better and better, I am more willing to talk with others, getting some fresh news and useful techniques. My life is different from that in China, but it is better and more interesting.
