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I have been a
Stony Brook University international student for three
years. I am a remarkable person for Chinese who have never
been abroad and know nothing about the US. My parents like
to have conversations about me with their friends who have traveled
through many countries. They smile whenever
someone mentions me. I am very happy to be learning western
knowledge because I can use what I am learning to help my
country in the future. However, rainbows come after rain.
People enjoy the beauty of tattoo but know very little about
the pain behind it. There were a lot of difficulties in these
three years as an overseas student in the US - especially the
first few days.
The flight I took here was like hell. I still remember
the flight was Air China CA981. The $2000 USD ticket was
for a single trip from Beijing to New York-nonstop-15
hours. The plane was crowded with people because smaller
seats carried more passengers. I was sitting beside the
window in the second row of economy class. It was considered
a good seat. Even in this nice position, I could hardly
move my body. A Chinese looking girl was sitting on my right
hand side. She was not beautiful and did not look friendly. I
was thinking of talking to her as that is how I usually killed time on
flights but she was sleeping. After three hours
she took out an English novel and started to read. I gave up
any idea of talking to her. The rest of the 15 hours I did nothing but
sleep. I was still lying to myself that America is as good
as I was told and I would see the land with gold all over
the place.
I
realized America was not the same as what it is like in moves
when I got off the plane. The first thing I faced was a two
hour - ridiculously long - waiting line for foreigners in front of
the border. The line moved very slowly towards border
officers and I was tired because I had a huge backpack
filled with items that my mother had put in. After an officer
saw my I-20 form (International Student) I passed the
border with fewer questions than others were asked. I felt
like I would die if I stayed there even one more second so I
rushed out the door. I looked at my watch and I noticed
it was 12 pm and I would have to wait six more hours for
the volunteers from my university to pick me up. I wanted to
call my mother to tell her I had arrived so I took out my
cell phone. Suddenly, I found out that the zipper of my
checked-in baggage had been cut by someone. I was angry but I
could ask no one why it had happened. All I could do was
wait six more
hours until a girl in red came to me.
I could tell she was
coming to me because there was the SB logo on her jacket. I
smiled at her because she was the first person who I could
talk to after 30 boring hours, plus the three hour fight
from my downtown to Beijing. It was also because SB is
short for SaBi in Chinese which means stupid pussy.
Then this beautiful, friendly girl told me that I had to wait
another hour for the second flight to come in from China so
that they could drive all of us to campus together. Therefore, I
waited four more hours including two hours custom time and
one hour to find out where were the other new students
coming to SB. Then after a two hour pleasure trip on highways I arrived
at SB University
at 2 am.
I
cried the first night because I felt helpless. The
beautiful volunteer helped me to check in because she saw me
standing in front of the residence assistant with my head
shaking. After I got into my room I started to cry. There
was only a mattress on my bed and I had no pillow and sheets. I
was so naïve before I came. I thought there were 24 hours
stores that were willing to do business with freshmen like me
nearby wherever I would live.
Besides that, I didn’t
know where the bathroom was. So I took a walk through
my building. All the doors were open and nobody was in them.
I understood lounges were designed inside of buildings due
to the weather which could be cold here in winter, however, it made
me feel like I was in jail. I learned new words, like “Unisex
Bathroom,” from my dictionary while I was walking. I took a
shower in that unisex bathroom and went to bed with a bath
towel on my body to keep me warm.
I woke up one hour
later
because it was 3 pm in China. I put my clothes on and went
out of the building to smoke because I was told “smoking is
only allowed 20 feet from buildings”. Cigarettes reminded me
that I had not eaten for a long time because I smoke
whenever I feel hungry. I knew I was not going to be able to find a
7-11 in this strange place at night. Therefore I
gave up the idea about food even though I had $5000 USD
cash in my pocket.
I walked back to the building and I found
the door was locked. I realized it was a high-tech American
auto-lock door so I took an extra walk around the building
to see what I could do. Under the weak yellow light I could
see a yellow emergency speaker with a big red button on it. I knew
it would save this lost hungry cold lamb so I pushed the
button.
“University
Police, how can I help you?” a friendly female voice
came out from the yellow machine.
“I, I, I want
to go back my room,” I was nervous because I knew it might be
the only help I could find.
“Could you
say that again?” she asked.
“I am an
international student who just arrived and I have no idea
how to open the door of this building,” I answered slowly
and loudly and tried my best to make my English
understandable.
“Can you
please let me know where you are?” she said.
“I don’t
know,” I told her the truth.
“I am sorry,”
she told me with her friendly voice “you have to find out
where you are so that we can come to you.”
“Okay…” I
replied with my tears on my face again.
After the call I slept
outside on a chair. I felt extremely
cold that night. Both my heart and my body were frozen by
the chill wind and the helpless atmosphere. I finished a whole
pack of cigarettes that night. It was the first time I
smoked that much. With the lightening bugs shining I fell asleep and
dreamed the second day would be better.
The dream came true. The birds in
Roosevelt Quad woke me up and I saw the sun was already up
in the sky. But there was no time for me to enjoy this nice
atmosphere because I felt hungry and thirsty. I didn't know
where I could get food or water but I told myself I wouldn’t
die because there nobody died with $5000 USD on
them. Therefore I tried to find the Student Activity Center
because the volunteer told me on the way from JFK to the
campus that the SAC was the center of the campus. I randomly
chose a direction and started to walk. I knew larger roads
would take me to somewhere full of people and I could use my
cash to buy food. So I did.
After half an hour’s walking I
got to the SAC. I rushed into the food court by passing the
cashier. The cashier told me that I would have to go to the
back door next time but I just barely listened to what she said
because I was paying full attention to a hamburger. After her
education on how to buy food I robbed the food court. I can
still remember how green the cashier’s eyes were when I took
out all my cash. I bought over $200 USD food at that time
because I was afraid I would not find SAC again.
Some
other Chinese oversea students came to me while I was
eating. It might be because I looked hungry and they
realized I had the same
experiences as they had. When I finished eating we had
seven people already. One of them had done good research when he
was in China and he knew stories about mall buses and the
SmithHaven Mall. After that the seven of us never left each other.
We all slept together in my room. Classes began six days
later and then everybody went back to their own rooms. Our University
lives started.
Even now, problems still surround me. Things are getting
better and better every day while I grow. I still have to
study two more years here and I know there are more things I
need to face too, but I am not afraid anymore. I encourage
myself that gold comes out of hot fire. I am always ready to
take challenges because I believe things will never get
worse than the first few days here. I still remember what my
mother told when I was crying on the phone, “To be a remarkable
person you have to smile when tears are in your eyes.” |
