What's aboard studying abroad - Part One: The Convo's

One of the interesting things about studying abroad is the conversations you will have with other international students. My graduate program is a relatively new international branch of the main campus as a results the student size is relatively small. And the professors are flown-in to teach for each semester and video classes are administered to add more variety to the course-load. The student demographics consist of 80% Chinese, the rest include 2 Americans plus me, an Indian student, an Indonesian student and a Taiwanese student. But the only downside to the demographics is that there are only two girls in the entire program :|.....

But conversations in the study hall can get pretty interesting. So lets call the Indian student "Raj". So Raj is quite the character and relatively outspoken. The initial conversation started around "Lenard's" (an american student) internship experience in Sweden ( Big Bang Theory fans should should begin to see a pattern with the names :). But somehow the conversation migrated to why America does not have a distinct culture compared to most Asian countries. Surprisingly, Raj had more knowledge about the American heritage tree than me and Lenard combined. Sigh!!! But I found out that Indians in India call Native Americans in America, "Red Indians". But if you ever meet a Native American, do not refer to them as Red Indians ( it is quite offensive). And I also found out that about 40% of Americans are of the German descent ( I totally should have known that).

Then the conversation migrated to which cars Chinese People buy.  This time a few Chinese students join in the conversation. Background Info- My campus is situated in Shenzhen, a major financial hub in the Guangzhou province. And I have seen more Lamborghini's, Tesla's and BMWs here than I have anywhere in the US. So apparently the worst car that anyone can buy down here is the BYD brand..... Never heard of it ? Me Too. But this is because it is a Chinese Brand and wait for it, the acronym expands to mean "Beyond Your Dream" :)

And the Convos continue.....

As Always Live Life Righteously.