The Difficult Life for International Student-by Selina

Before I went abroad, I always thought that everything was so wonderful there. I could study English rapidly in an English-speaking country, walk in the breeze, and hear the fall leaves singing by my ears. After my arriving, I find that something is out of control and life is difficult.

First, I have trouble understanding English. I live in the U.S.A., so the majority of people around me are American. They speak very fast. For instance, when I was having my dinner, my friends were talking about something. Suddenly, all the girls started to laugh except me. I was embarrassed and did not know what made them laugh. Furthermore, when I ask my teachers some questions, they give me the answers with words that I do not know. Although teachers are patient, I am still confused. In addition, I have some problem in shopping. I do not know the English names of goods, so it is difficult to search for them.

Second, transportation is hard. I do not have a car, but shops are far away. Some people do not have a car likewise, but they have boyfriends or girlfriends who have cars. I do not. Moreover, Saluki Express is inconvenient, for it will make a detour for a long time.

Third, food is another problem to me. American food is often cold, but all food is hot in my home country. I cannot get used to American sweet food for too much sugar. American sauces make me uncomfortable, either too sour or too bitter.

In short, I think that life is difficult for me. To illustrate, the language, transportation and food are problems. Nevertheless, I have learned a lot of things, and this life can be viewed as a good chance to challenge myself. I am excited to accept these challenges and make sure that I can overcome them finally.

The only interesting thing-by Selina

I will stay in the U.S.A. during the Thanksgiving break because I cannot go back to my motherland. The only interesting thing that I can do is make Chinese dumplings with my friends. My friends and I will go to someone’s house and make the dumplings. I have learned how to make dumpling before, yet I am not good at it. However, that is not important. The important thing is that we can get together and have fun.

Mini-Survey Body Language-by Selina

1.Introduction
Although verbal communication is very important in our daily life, we cannot overlook nonverbal communication--body language. People always use body language, for instance, raising their eyebrows, shaking their hands.
We went to the Student Center, and observed body language of American. The author of the book (Academic Encounters) said that people have universals of body language (Seal, 2002).Our group, W. Kinoshita and I, intended to observe what body language American usually uses.

2. Methods and Procedure
Both of us observed the same ten people, but I observed extra five people. I wanted to know whether American really used a lot of body language or not. I supposed that mouth could lie, but body could not. I observed fifteen people, four male and eleven female, at lease ten Americans. There were three White and one Hispanic in males, ten White and one Hispanic in females. I thought that Hispanic people had more body language than American.

3.Results
One hundred percent of people had body language. Males did less behaviors of touching their hair than females. One out of four of males (25%) touched their hair, while five out of eleven females (45.5%) did this. Both of males and females liked crossing their legs. Three males (75%) used this gesture, and eight females (72.7%) did this one too. Two out of four males (50%) lay to their girl friends with touching their noses, ears and chins as the expert said on the video. Two out of four males (50%) touched their partners!/s arms. But female did not do this.
In general, Americans used lots of different body language.

4.Discussion and Conclusion
I found that Americans used lots of body language. When some of them lay to others, their body language told the truth as we can see through the two male above. Females used to touch their hair more than males, and both of them crossed their legs. They used these gestures because they felt comfortable and relaxed. The male lovers touched their partners's arms to express their love.
If we did this survey again, we would ask some question about why they used this gesture, what was the relationship about the action!/s sender and the recipient. Did they think that the gesture would be helpful with their verbal communication? If someone lay to others, but did not touch nose, ears and chins, could we recognize it?

5.ReferenceSeal,B. (2002). Body language. Academic Encounters.

6.Appendix
Touching hair Crossing legs
Male 25% 75%
Female 45.5% 72.7%
Touching mouth,ears and chin Touching arms
Male 50% 50%