Three wrong impressions

This is Ying. I’m an international graduate student (Please pardon my English as this post may seem uneven compared to others. Feel free to correct me.) coming here at the end of August for a one-year photojournalism program at Boston University. The reason I chose BU? (I’ve been asked this question a thousand times.) It is highly regarded in the communication fields and is located in one of America’s large, historic cities. Before I came here, everyone kept telling me that Boston is a fantastic city: “It has wonderful sports teams;” “It’s very beautiful in the fall;” and so on. Well, it’s already been a month since I arrived, and I felt it necessary to stand up and point out something that is different from what I’ve been told:

1. I was taught to say “I park my car at Harvard yard” when I was working at NBC during the Olympic Games this summer. My American colleagues (They were super nice.) seemed to be obsessed with teaching me “must-know” things in Boston. I learned that weird sentence and excitedly repeated it to my home-stay family the first day I arrived here. They froze for a minute, then realized what I was talking about. “We’re not from here,” they told me, “so we don’t have that accent.” Later I found out that most people I would meet here are not originally from New England area. The city is quite diverse, especially at school. BU is famous for its friendliness toward international students, and I do feel at home, especially when shopping at Super 88 mart where I can buy various Asian food from tofu to sushi and soy source. When my friends called and asked how things were going, I said, “Well, actually they say more ‘wicked’ than ‘I park my car.’ You should have taught me that!”
2. Some of my friends studying in other states envy the fact that I’m living in a city with a subway. Boston does have a subway system, except that it’s more than 100-years-old. Coming from a city where everything’s been built up in just 20 years, I feel that the Boston subway is better suited for a museum by comparison. By the way, it’s called the “T” here, not “underground railway” or whatever. The T is very crowded during rush hour, especially when there are Red Sox games at Fenway Park. BU is on the Green Line section of the T. However slow and old-fashioned I think the T is, it takes me to almost anywhere I go: school, downtown, public parks, Symphony Hall, the airport… After all, it’s better than nothing. In this country, a vehicle is a necessity in most places. Not having a car sometimes equals being legless. I think it’s very important to go to a city with public transportation, especially for international students because: 1) one doesn’t need a driver’s license 2) one doesn’t need to buy or rent a car 3.) one doesn’t have to worry about police citations or finding a parking space.
3. I can’t remember who told me that American students play all the time and suck at their studies. WERE THEY KIDDING?? Americans are much more diligent than I am, and I have to say I was not a bad student back home. In jest, I’ve been asked questions like this: “ Ying, you don’t play the piano? You don’t speak any language other than Chinese and a little English? You are not good at math? What kind of Asian are you?” Well…what shall I say? In fact, it’s more demanding to sit in a classroom here. Everyone’s got something to share. Most of my fellow students are intelligent and hardworking. I have to push myself hard to keep pace with other students. For international students, especially for those whose native language is not English, the pressure is everywhere. It’s in the air when everyone else in the classroom is laughing while you didn’t understand what the professor was talking about. It’s on the paper when your sentences are filled with notes about ‘language’ and ‘awkward expression’. It’s everywhere. I always feel as if I’m not working hard enough. The good thing is that my professors are super nice and patient with me. In fact, I have a professor who helps international students to learn American culture and to solve language problems.

It’s going to be an intensive year at BU, but I’m hopeful that everything’s going to look up for me. Stay tuned.