Major 2

 

Everything has happened so fast, nothing here is familiar, and everything seems strange. I’m a new freshman at Seal Bay college, and my name is Amy ren. I didn’t realize that everything had gone by in a blink. It felt like graduation was just yesterday but what’s happening today is that it’s my first day of college! I felt nervous and excited. I hadn’t thought this day would come so fast, so I felt butterflies in my stomach this morning while having breakfast. I had a hard time looking for classes since there were so many different buildings, so I got there 30 mins earlier but was 40 mins late for class. The first day went fine, but I was sad about not meeting any new friends. Also, I’m not used to making friends, not in my culture. 

After weeks I found out that it would be a challenge for me. I felt very lonely when I saw everyone had their little group in the cafeteria. Still, I hardly knew anyone in my classes because of my language and culture barrier. I even started thinking about changing to another school. I talked with my mother one day, and she said that switching to another school shouldn’t be the solution. “You should think about overcoming your problem instead of running away from it,” said my mother. I knew she was right, but it was hard for me to have the courage. 

I chat with my friends about my problem, and some have the same issue. One of my friends is Meng, a sophomore student in Massachusetts. She was having difficulty getting used to the food and the lifestyle there. But it’s all getting better now, so she shared her experience when she was a freshman. She joined a dance club which made many friends from different countries but shared the same interest. I do feel glad for her, but I wasn’t interested in anything, so I found out it might already be pretty hard for me to find out what I like. Another day in school, just as usual, I forgot where my classes were again, so I asked a Chinese student near me. After a quick talk, she was friendly, and we left each other a way to contact each other. We started talking on WeChat (a Chinese kind of Instagram), and I shared my worries with her. She told me she was in one of the Chinese student clubs in our college. I was pretty surprised because our race was a minority in our college.

Anyway, I got excited about getting into the club and felt I might finally meet some other new friends. My request passed the following day, and now I’m a member too! Quickly I found out that their meeting time was different from my schedule. That did give me a big hit in my excitement. Meng suggested I join an online peer meeting that her teacher shared in class. I didn’t bring much hope, but I still tried. Surprisingly it went out better than I thought. It was a lot easier for me to make friends online. Also, having talks with staff helped relieve some of my stress about my future, career, and other issues that every first-year student deals with. Without realizing I was starting to get used to talking with people from different cultures. One day in class, a student beside me asked questions about our work assignment. I found that a good chance, so I continued the topic without notice. We started to get to know each other. After a few months, we became friends, and she also invited me to her birthday party, where I met many other friends. 

After finishing my first semester, I realized I had made many friends from different countries. It wasn’t as hard as I thought when you took the first step. Even though I couldn’t speak as fluently as them, they were all kind. At first, I was afraid that they wouldn’t understand what I said or that they would make fun of me. Now it seems like it was just me worrying too much about what is not even happening. In the end, I significantly improved my English, and my confidence was building.