My Journey To America
Written by Gary G. ‘27
Time goes fast. We’ve already finished our first semester and made many friends. We worked hard together, and it was a great time. As an international student, I got many kinds of questions when I was talking with my friends:
- “Why did you move to America for school?”
- “Can I be an international student in China? How?”
Hopefully, I will list the steps to being an international student. What’s more, I will talk about the feelings of moving to a place 10,000 km away from home.
The first step of being an international student is to prepare your application. We will send a document that includes your grade, personality, and ID. In this step, we are going to show our ability to study. For the personality part, outgoing students are more beneficial to become international students. Because they know how to be social and make friends, for the same reason, if a student is quiet and wouldn’t like to be social, he/she could be nostalgic and have slow study progress since they are too shy to ask questions.
When we finish our documents, we will face a difficult challenge — the TOEFL test. This test is for international students and immigrants. The test has four sections: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Here is an introduction video for the test:
TOEFL iBT Test Structure: Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing
You can get more information on this website: https://www.ets.org/toefl.html
As a middle school student, I aim to have a grade of 75%, which is 80 (120 in total). It always takes a lot of work to get anything started. I got 60 on my first test, and I had only six months to prepare for the test. I separate from my old classmates and study TOEFL every day. I used to try to remember 50 words a day with an accuracy that was higher than 95%.
At that time, I worried about my future: all my friends were working together and helping each other, but I had to work toward another goal and face all the difficulties. Fortunately, the old saying “Heaven rewards the diligent” works on me. I did pass the exam. It was an unforgettable experience. There are two chances for me to take the exam. The first time, I usually score around 75 in mock, and I even got a 72 the night before the test. I thought I was just going over there to get a taste of the test and felt disappointed. Luckily, I got a 20 and a 22 for listening and reading (which was much better than expected). In the end, I think I met the miracle that though I got a 17 on my writing, I still passed the test.
After the difficult part, the next step is relaxing — we will choose your favorite place to study in the country that you are going to. For me, I decided to study in California for three reasons. First, California has an advanced economy and education resources. Second, I love the weather in California. It won’t be extremely cold or hot, and it is a place that is always comfortable and safe. For the last reason, I decided to study in California because my father is familiar with this place, as he always has business trips over here. In that condition, he can support me even if he is not here.
“I decided to study in California since I like the college over here. What’s more, California has many Asian people, it is a place that is less racist and friendly to foreigners like me,” said fellow SJND international student Bohan Chen.
After everything, we will submit our application and prepare for the interview. We are going to talk about what we will bring to this school. It’s a process where schools and students know each other.
All in all, those are the steps of being an international student. Besides that, I want to talk about why I decided to be an international student and my feelings about studying in America.
My reason for being an international student is simple. I want to spend more time experiencing this world. I want to open my eyes to see what this world looks like. If I stay in China, I will be overwhelmed by the stress from school. This is one of the biggest differences between China and America. I think the atmosphere in America is more active. Everyone is a confident and bright individual. On the other hand, China is also a good place since it is very safe. It supports every citizen, and no one is left behind.
“I send my son to America to study because I want him to become outgoing, and confident. At the same time, I want him to see more to open his horizon,” Bohan Chen’s mom said.
All in all, I am having a great time in America. I am becoming confident and independent. I appreciate that my parents aregiving me a chance and respect my decision. What’s more, I appreciate the support of my teachers and classmates.
