Work Hard, Live Hard.

Unlike all the other classmates in my Ling 3B class, I’m a sophomore instead of a freshman. I already completed a whole year at UCSB and did have numerous memorable stories. But instead of talking about my past at UCSB, I would like to share my experience of working on campus which starts this quarter. I’m currently a part time student employee at the Carrillo Dining Common . This is the first formal job I have in my life, and that working experience becomes even more unique and precious as I’m working and studying at the same time in a foreigner country with local people.

I have long been looking forward to work on campus ever since I just entered UCSB last year because I thought it’s awesome to earn money while have free meals at the same time. However, it’s in fact hard for international students to get a job. One of the reasons is that we don’t have legal status for working and thus the employer have to do a lots of paper works for them. Another reason is that international students tend to have a harder time join the community. I eventually got my offer after following the position for one year and did an interview with my manager. Now I earn approximately 600 dollars every month with 11 free meals each week, living a seemingly rewarding life I dreamt earlier.

Truth is, the working environment is much crueler than I thought. I can only have my meals during my 15 minutes breaks at the beginning of each shifts. It’s barely enough for me to enjoy meals. What’s more, after that short break, I have to stand during the whole shift for 4 hours. It’s a huge coemption of energy I have never imagined before.

There’s also another problem of joining the working community as I mentioned above. Usually, international students have their own group to communicate in on campus. Yet for my working place, there are only two Chinese students included me. I’m forced to join American culture, or I would be isolated. Stuffs there are always friendly and racial discrimination doesn’t exist. It’s the silence and shyness which cause the alienation. Sometimes my coworkers speak really fast and I can’t understand. Even when I understand their talks, I may be unfamiliar with their meanings. For example, A cook had tried to chat with me during work, he spoke rapidly with some joes. I could hardly reply him with anything but with an awkward smile. I could tell from his expression that he was disappointed . He then avoided my eye contact every time from that on makeing me feel sorry.

Although with those difficulties, I’m not to be pessimistic.I still encourage international students to try working as well. After all, time we spend at UCSB cost a lot and is precious. Working no doubt make the time more meaningful by offering us considerable money and helping us walk out the comfort zone to adopt American society.