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.

Yellow Brick Road to China

New Year.........Graduate School in China.....Wait What??.
First and Foremost, All the Glory and honor Belongs to the Lord God Almighty for his mercies and GRACE.

Now, lets rewind back to 2014. May 2nd 2014, I graduated from college with my BS.c in Electrical Engineering. (Yes, I did it and all the glory belongs to the Almighty GOD). And his mercies just abounds more and more. Thank you, Father. And after graduation, I headed down to Washington state for an internship with Boeing ( Another tale for another post).

Started the internship in July 2014 till about October 2014. And in October, I got accepted to graduate school down south which offered an exchange program to CHINA. After talking with my mom ( I just love my mom so much), I decided to take the leap and step on the First Yellow Brick to china. Yes, I know what you are thinking.....no google, no facebook, no instagram and squat toilets!!!!..... child something hit you on the head :). Actually while at Boeing, I just could not get accustomed to the 7am - 3pm schedule. Wished for something more exciting and outside of a four corner cubicle. Carefully for what you wish for, you could end up in china.

 Although I may be writing about the rosy parts, I was tested mentally and emotionally throughout that entire period. I cried a freaking ton of times, criticized myself heavily about everything but above all I grew. I flew back to my home-state and accepted the offer after talking to a few faculty who taught in china. After applying for my Chinese visa, I knew I was on the Second Yellow Brick. 

Between November and December, I lost my passport then had to apply for a replacement copy
(mind you they require a 6 weeks period to return the replacement copy) and I had to apply for a freaking ton of scholarships. Actually about 5 scholarships, but it felt like a freaking ton. Probably the one thing I don't like about applying for scholarships is requesting for recommendation letters from professors. I feel like a fly buzzing in their ears always asking them for recommendation letters. But you got to do what you got to do when graduate school cost about $8,000 + $3000 for the flight ticket.

Buying my 28hour flight ticket to Shenzhen, China, was another Yellow brick closer to OZ. December 27th, a day before my birthday I was standing at the check-in line at Hartfield Jackson airport en route to china. I had a 30mins flight stop over in Seattle, which I almost missed because the airport was so dang big. Then another stop over in Shanghai and finally arrived in OZ, Shenzhen China. And guess what, I technically didn't have a birthday in 2014 because I flew between time zones and totally skipped December 28th.

So Yes, I am in China.
And as Always Live Life Righteously.

Revival of a Short Story - Stuck in the Past

Walking out the door of my dorm, into the indecisive Georgia weather. My days in the boarding house came flooding back. Oh the times. The dry clay dust, the unpaved roads, the overgrown forest that surrounded the school, i remembered everything. In too many ways boarding house had shaped me. The school was located on the side of a hill,and everyday i would see the sun  set. Leaning on the window sill, i remember watching the sunset through the shutters of a random classroom. The softness of its yellow rays seemed to melt every worry away and my mind would go .......Blank.

Ahh, what the brief moment of serenity could do to the soul. Then reality comes right back with the bell boy jingling the bell for prep time. Prep time occupied about 60% of our time per week in my boarding house and sometimes even more if the headmaster was in a bad mood. If you ever decided to attend this school, you would think our motto was "study till you drop dead". Although it may seem that all we did was study, prep time if our housemistress was ¨suspiciously¨ absent, was how we boarding house students bonded. Wait, the headmaster just stepped in with a whip....................utter silence.

As Always Live Life Righteously 

The Interview

I had an interview to be a reporter for my university newspaper,George Anne. There i sat on that couch of the newsroom contemplating whether i was right for this position as a reporter.I am an engineering major so you might see why i was contemplating. Was i capable of telling the story that will captivate any audience? or was i capable to make the audience think so deeply that they wonder, why haven't i ever thought of that in this way?. My only thoughts at that moment was " what the heck am i doing here".
This all started last week when I picked up the George Anne newspaper and an advertisement said " Do the write thing,just bring a pen, blue book and a desire to become part of something big". it was just that simple, bring a pen and paper to answer questions such as who is the governor of Georgia and who is the current coach of the Georgia southern football team. "Great, i am so screwed", i said to myself during the test, because i definitely had no clue what the answer was. The next day after my programming class, i decided to just see if i maybe have the luck of the Irish and my name would magically appear on the board. There it was, my name in bold, smiling back at me. I walked out of the building proud of myself, wondering maybe i am actually cut out to be a reporter.
As always Live Life Righteously

Randomness

Today i thought:
last December was the month that brought me closer then ever to my twenty first birthday. And the closer i get, the more i feel like i cannot move. The responsibilities and expectations never said but always noticed seemed to hover over my cloud of thoughts. Recently, i have found out that am not the thrifty shopper that i thought i was,and saving money is a necessity in this economy which i seem to have taken for granted. I am so thankful to GOD to have money to spend despite what the economy may be saying.


Today in world literature:
world literature is my only artsy class this semester and i am quite excited to dive into the class and start the assigned readings. The enlightenment aka the neoclassical aka the age of reason was the topic today. The age where the english started to lean towards the "common sense" described by the famous John Locke. This made me think and ask questions like: Did people from the preceding era, which by the way was the renaissance, lack common sense. Also the famous Issac newton was from this era, the era where the scientific empirical method was revived. A method that was based more on facts than traditional beliefs. The best part of the class today were these two lines from couplet by A.Pope, which says:

"True wit is nature to advantage dressed"
"what oft was though, but ne'er so well expressed"

At the end of the professor's explanation , i had gotten a totally new view of these lines of poetry that looked nothing more that ill placed words. This was what i had gotten.True knowledge is when we take what is often thought about(said and done) and then dress it in a new light. Yet, no matter how many times it is thought about it will never be well expressed because there is something new to always dress it in that will give it an advantage. Take for instance the remake of Sherlock Holmes(adore the movie by the way).


As always live life righteously.

A sleepless night

Tonight, sleep seems so distant leaving my thoughts to fill this distance. I look up and see a white box, with blades cutting the air in the middle. Slowly the ceiling of my room start to appear as I zoom out. The spinning blades took me back to the time when i sat in the airplane ride at the amusement park.

THANK YOU LORD

THANK YOU LORD.