The benefits of being an international student
The reason why I chose to be an international student before I came to the US was simple. The industry that I have been interested in is the best in America. What is more, the opportunities for me to thrive in the US seem to be more than that for me to stay in China.
However, hardly after I had visited my friends in Chinese universities when I realized the benefits of being an international students.
To begin with, after leaving the comfort zone in Beijing, I had to came over all difficulties in life by myself. For example, how can I spend my money appropriately? How can I find a cheap and well-conditioned residence? How can I manage my time as I must cope with both my academic life and social life? These questions are which I have been gradually got used to consider through these months, and think that everyone in my age should think of these. However, when I visited my friends in Beijing, I realized they did not act like “an adult”, since they still inherited their habitats from high school, which is study hard and no more. It seems nothing changed except for growing a year older. The experience of being an international student makes me transit to an adult who can manage life on my own.
Additionally, joining in a new culture widen the scope of how I perceive the things in the world. Just as information should be multi-sources, life should be multi-ways. The values that I have always regarded as correct in China may have other interpretations in America. Participating, not merely watching, another culture enables me to have a holistic review on situations. For example, I have always dreamed of being a game developer. In China, most parents dislike their children working in entertaining companies. However, after doing research and getting to know friends who really work in gaming industry in the US, my parents turn to think my dream job as a good job because technologies like VR and machine learning employed in games are all avant-guard and require elites to devote in. Different perspectives from different culture change my parents’ perspective towards a job.
The benefits of being an international student are countless. They affect every aspects of my life no matter I realize them or not. The only thing I know is that, I never regret to be an international student here in UCSB.
