It was my first time to America. View image
After a long journey (about twelve hours from Shanghai to Chicago plus two hours then to Richmond), I knew, I would have an unforgettable experience. And I really did.
On the small plane to Richmond, I talked with a business woman who had just finished her work and would go back home. She was kind and introduced her life. We talked about education, society medical treatment, business and so on. Of course, there were many culture shocks. American families always have personal doctors to get quick support. In China, there are just hospitals. These years, privately owned hospitals are developing very fast with good service and high price. The price is really a problem. Many doctors suggest patients more medicine to get more rake-off though they just have little disease. For many people, the cost of big disease is still hard to afford with little support from social security. And we have the same idea that the children are losing their colorful childhood instead of heavy homework and social pressure. Her sons sleep very late to finish the work. We, modern society people are changing the world with it changing us too.
VCU is a nice place with its open environment and good facilities. You know, in China, university campuses are isolated by bounding walls. We had six interns who are about the same ages of us but look more mature than us. They alone rent apartments, do part-time jobs, own cars. It’s the social life that included university life in VCU for them. But it seems just university life for us in Fudan. Because of China’s one-child policy, we are spoiled by our parents and lacking in independence for our own social life.
The people-oriented ideas really impressed me. In VCU, I saw the sign for disabled people in every building and toilet and a bus loaded a disable man on. In the toilet, I also saw a facility for infant napkin changing. You may think it normal, but in China, the social facilities lack convenience.
The biggest difference between Chinese students and American ones may be the class atmosphere. We are used to absorb what the teachers and the books say. We prefer talking with desk mate to asking teachers when we have questions on class because it’s just our education style from our elementary school. We are always passive to learn. They seem authority and we just follow them. So we are good at exams. And to disrupt the teacher sometimes may be considered rude. But American style is interactive. The students think more, ask more. So they can be more creative.
The dormitory room in VCU is very good with a kitchen. We cooked though we are not good at it. With the American food and American pans, it seemed quite hard to cook Chinese style, but we really had fun and invited our interns to have a taste.
As far as food is considered, I think American style food is not reasonable for nutrition. Beef, French fries are all hi-calorie food which can easily make people fat. People have vitamin pills to reach a balance. A movie called “super size me� occurs to me that the director ate McDonald’s for 30 days as an experiment to show the damage of fast food. It’s really a big social problem. But one thing is good that American food doesn’t use much oil that can keep the kitchen clean compared with Chinese style.
In the supermarket, it is very strange that there is only one date on the mark: “sell by�. But in China, the production date must be put on it with the duration time or deadline. This can help customers to know how long the food has been put on the shelves and how fresh it is.
When we wanted to buy something, we can always find “made in China�. The globalization makes China and America close. I’m very proud of it. Some people may think Chinese products low quality and low price. Actually, they are very good. As a developing country some decades ago, we needed foreign investment. Low price is very attractive for foreigners, but now, things are changing. We are improving.
I found that many American people have no idea about Taiwan problem, they are not clear about it. I just want to say that Taiwan is one part of China just like father and son. No one can cut this relationship. It’s the fact, the truth that father has given birth to son, and those who want to change are criminal to history.
Take it easy, I find that American people like sports very much. It’s the national spirit to achieve goals and never give up. Competition, cooperation, responsibility and so on cultivate a baby. This culture will be a great permanent power. Good example for us!
There are of course different view on value. American people emphasize individualism, that is, to maximize personal ability. Superman, Batman, Spiderman, these are all examples for individualism adoration. Sports are the best way to train yourself. In basketball or others, leaders or superstars are always needed to win the game. But in China, though we don’t ignore self-achievement, we focus on the group cooperation. In the famous Chinese ancient novel《journey to the west》, though the money king was omnipotent, he couldn’t go without his master and his friends. They were the whole group. Maybe it’s also the different attribute between capitalism and socialism.
American people always challenge. They like to compete with others to become more competitive. Chinese people have a bad character called “not to be the first, nor the last� described by a famous Chinese author Lu Xun. We don’t like risk. We are conservative. There was an old joke to describe this. An American old lady loaned to live in a good apartment and paid off when she died. But a Chinese old lady worked very hard through her whole life until she got the money for the good apartment when it was also the time she passed away. This is also the different purchase behavior. In America, monthly fee is very popular even for exercise machine. Except apartment and other expensive things, Chinese people prefer to buy what they can afford now.
During the free weekend, we went to Philadelphia by bus. I really like it as it’s a modern and quiet city, especially it was rainy that day, and the feeling is cool. Not crowded as New York, not serious as Washington D.C, Philadelphia is fresh and powerful. Especially when we got to the steps of the art museum, I recognize the movie Rocky by Sylvester Stallone. Bird viewing the city from the high square of art museum with the exciting Rocky music around me, I felt reborn and new to conquer everything. So, I really like this city.
America is like China that there are obvious difference between west and east. I hope next time I can have a visit to the west coast of America.