一个美丽的美国梦-

美国学习总结

姓名：赵钺

性别：女

出生年月：1986年11月

中方大学：西安科技大学

美方大学：北卡大学彭布罗克分校

专业： 工商管理专业 国际贸易方向

在美方大学学习的时间：2006年8月-2008年6月

每个人在踏上这片名叫美利坚合众国的时候都有一个美丽的美国梦。无论是当年的爱尔兰苏格兰移民还是今日我们这群身怀梦想的留学生。两年前当我乘坐的波音客机缓缓降落在芝加哥国际机场的时候，看着窗外跑道上飞闪过的路面指引灯，我兴奋而又茫然。两年之后，飞机带着我离开这里时，越来越远的大陆上疾风劲草，这神奇的土地用它的方式向我告别。我才真正明白了美国梦的含义：多元的美国希望给每个人都提供平等的机会，只要兢兢业业努力奋斗，你就会有收获。

我就读的北卡罗来纳大学彭布罗克分校坐落于美国东南部北卡州一个气候温和的小镇彭布洛克，离美丽的大西洋海岸只有一个多小时的车程。这里原本是一个印第安人的聚居地，我们学校最早也是为当地印第安青少年提供教育的学校之一。这个学校最让我喜欢的一点是它的小班教学制。一个班级学生的人数不会超过25个，教授可以亲切地叫出每个学生的名字。这也为我们国际学生在课堂上很好地与教授和同学沟通提供了好的条件。

在UNCP的课堂里，我学会了两件重要的事：团队合作和有效沟通。美国课堂的教学方法和中国传授式的传统方法有很大的不同，每个学期，教授都会安排小组项目。一个班的同学可以通过自由分组，自选课题，对教授布置的任务进行小组分工合作，期末的时候交上研究论文和课堂报告。而这一部分在期末总分里面会占有很大的比例。这就要求学生具备很强的沟通能力和团队合作精神。在我做过的这么多次的小组项目里面，让我最记忆深刻的是商务沟通课的经历。我的组员有五个人：在美国军队工作多年退伍的老兵Robert，韩国留学生Kim，校足球队队员Kyle和Justin，以及我。首先的工作是职务分配。根据讨论决定由年纪较大具有组织领导能力的Robert担任组长，有多年工作经验的负责认真的Kim担任副组长，Kyle有很强的文字能力，担任论文编辑，Justin会做漂亮的PPT，于是负责课件设计，我是唯一的女生，接下了小组秘书的职务，负责会议记录活动的组织和召集等等。这样的分工，符合了每个人的特点和要求，大家各尽其责各司其事，合作得非常愉快。我是第一次做秘书的工作，对于做像样的会议记录，却是从来没有经验。Robert帮我找了一些他工作时候做的会议记录给我作参考，Kim也下载了一些模板帮助我，细心的Justin怕我遗漏了要点，会议结束都会罗列内容，提醒我写上去，Kyle还帮我做了修改。我们小组的第一份会议记录，被教授复印了好多份发到每个同学的手里，成为样板记录！教授夸奖我们的时候，大家都为我们共同的成果受到欣赏而高兴。当然，合作的过程中必然有意见分歧，这个时侯沟通尤其重要。每次我们都能及时分析讨论，共同解决问题。有了第一次成功的合作，我们的学期论文和报告也成为典范，获得了很高的分数。一个学期的磨合，组员也都成了朋友。这样让人心旷神怡的合作，让我感受到了美国人在学术上一丝不苟的态度，也看到了他们对差异性多元化的宽容之心。

在美国的这两年里，除了领略高等教育体系的优越之外，我更参与了许多丰富多彩的有意思的校园活动和社区活动。一年一度的校园亚洲节是我不能不提的。秋季开学，校园里为数不多的亚洲学生就要开始为这个属于我们自己的节日忙碌啦。这不但是一个有趣的校园活动，更是展示我们文化的平台。中国学生和很多韩国、日本、东南亚的学生和教授一起，准备了文艺表演、服装秀、文化展台、和食物吧。在这一天里，教授和学生都会来到我们的展区，欣赏我们展出的工艺品，精心制作的视频短片，辛苦排练的民族音乐和舞蹈，品尝各地的食物。有一年，我的一项工作便是手把手地教美国学生中国传统的剪纸，而我的室友Linda，则是在一旁的桌子上摆开了笔墨纸砚，教起了中国书法。当来自中国的姑娘们，穿起传统的旗袍，唱起家乡的小曲，美丽的身影和欢快的歌声让美国校园里的同学和老师们无不惊叹。我们的努力获得了肯定，我们也从心底里感受到对祖国和自己名族的骄傲。在UNCP的两年里，我们在国际项目办公室和亚洲各国学生的协助下，成功地举办了第二和第三届亚洲节，如今，亚洲节已经成为校园里一年一度不可或缺的重要节日了。

除了上课的日子，节假日和寒暑假期也成为我旅游观光的好机会。平时上课很辛苦，几乎每天都泡在图书馆，假期里是难得放松的时候。朋友们和我都会早早地订好酒店机票，从东海岸的纽约、波士顿、华盛顿和费城，到西部的洛杉矶、旧金山、大峡谷，南边的奥兰多，甚至墨西哥到北部的尼亚加拉大瀑布、加拿大，我们一路游历，走走看看。各地的人文历史名胜美食，开阔了我的眼界，丰富了留学的经历。旅行的昂贵费用，我们也会提前预算。通过国际学生组织的活动，在校园里摆摊卖小糕点筹资；有些时候，朋友们和我还跟着志愿者的队伍，和美国学生一起，去学校周围不同的城市支援贫困人群，不但为他们提供食物和居住地的帮助，也领略了当地的风土人情。回想起来，我经历了许多千奇百怪的旅行：驾车十几个小时一路北上到纽约，搭上暴风雪天气里去了欧洲的国际航班，甚至在墨西哥城的机场遇到了有惊无险的恐怖分子炸弹的威胁……每次都险象还生，挑战了无数的可能。

更值得一提的是，两年的留学经历将我培养成为了生活的多面手。初到美国，两手空空，在国际项目中心老师和学姐学长的帮助下，我们查着电子词典，一点一点慢慢做，安排紧张的课程和生活。吃不惯西餐，我们自己上超市，买菜回家自己做。出国之前我从没有在家做过一顿饭，两年之后的现在，我不但能安排好自己一日三餐保证营养和味道，还悟出了一套自己的中西合璧式的料理风格。同学们亲切地叫我“煮力”（我的英文名字叫Jolie，发音相似），取了煮饭之主力之意，每次周末聚会都能给大家露一手。回家之后，家人也被我的一桌精美饭菜惊呆了呢。我的中国同学们，也纷纷练就了一身好手艺。有的会理发，有的会修理电器，更有的还精于通下水道! 自己动手，丰衣足食，互相帮忙，我们的生活非常丰富!

回国来已经一阵子了，时不时的，我还会想到UNCP旁边的那条铁路。刚开始的时候我很不喜欢这条恼人的铁路，因为有的时候火车通过，会给赶着去课堂的学生和老师造成不便，有的时候坐在图书馆，火车开过会带来地震似的晃动，阻碍我的思路。有一天我坐在窗边，看见火车停下，火车司机在铁路一旁的麦当劳买个巨无霸，啃着继续上路。可爱的样子引人发笑。是啊，两年的时间，我已经习惯这里，那可爱的阵阵轰鸣，似乎一直都在提醒着我，看看两年时间的所得所失，继续朝前加油吧……

赵钺

西安科技大学

2008年9月

Yue Zhao

Xi’an University of Science and Technology

University of North Carolina at Pembroke

International Business Major

Every one comes to United States with an American dream, no matter who it is, the scottish immigrents hundreds years ago or international exchange students like us. In my American history class which I took in UNCP this summer, my professor asked us this question: What is exactely “American Dream”? It comes out that this dream is not about gold, job or advanced education. The unique answer for that is believed as common as what we thought: Uniterd States wants to offer everyone fair opportunities to get what they want. When people die, their son or grandson can live better than they did.

My new school University of North Carolina at Pembroke is located in this small town not far away from Raleigh, the capital of the state of North Carolina. It is also one hour drive from the Atlanta beach. UNCP is very famous for its indian study because it was first started for indian kids. What I like most is its small class in which professors usually can call each student’s name. It makes me very comfortable to ask and answer questions in class because I can always get others’attention and get my problem solved by their help.

During my two years in UNCP, I learned two most important things in class: teamwork and effective communication. For almost every semester, professors would assign some team projects for as to accomplish, which need us to make our team and work together. This kind of project often takes great portion in our final grade, and the most impressive one is the one I did for business communication class. Our team leader, Mr. Robert Green, with great leading and organizing ability, is a retired military officer. Kim, from Korea, contributed to our team with several years’ working experience as co-leader. Kyle and Justin are both soccer players, working as digital designer and editer. I was the only girl on team, so Mr.Robert gave me the very suitable job as a sectary, calling for meetings and making records. I didn’t have any work experience before it, so when my first task which was to keep meeting minutes came to me, I didn’t know how to do it at all. I turned to my fellows. Robert soon gave me some minutes he did for his military job, Kim downloaded some templates to use. Justin was very kind to put down some key points of our meeting for me, and after I finished writing, kyle re-edit my paper. What surprised us the other day was in class professor Jones gave every student a sample minutes to read and asked the other teams to follow this one——it was our minutes! We were so happy about the first success we’ve made together. Naturally, as we worked hard for the rest of that semester, we got a top presentation and term paper done. We all got “A”s for that class, and more important, we five became good friends. Of course during the co-operating process we had conflicts, communication and toleration could always helped as out.

Besides the adcemic affairs, I , with other international students, also had a lot of fun to take part in campus activities. Asia day is the very fantastic festival I have to mention. It is hold annually by Asian students to make a culture platform. Every fall semester, we would work hard for this festival, preparing performance, work shops, fashion show, as well as a food bar. I used to work at the paper cutting work shop to teach American students our Chinese traditional art——“jianzhi”while my roommate Linda teaching calligraphy. We were all very proud of our country and culture by putting our effort on this festival. Now it has become one of the most populer activities on campus.

I am an absolute traveling-holic. I spent almost all of my holidays and breaks on traveling all round United States. From New York, Boston, DC, Philadelphia west to LA, Sanfrancisco, from Canada south to Florida, even Mexico city, I learned how various this continent would be. However, the cost of traveling is too much to afford to a student, so my friends and I would take every chance as we can to make trips. We did fundraise for International Students Organization by selling cakes and fried rice. We also join the mission trip to Charlston in South Carolina to help the poor and single family. I have been through bunch of dangerous situations during traveling and taken all these challenges and possibilities.

Life in US has turned me into a specialist of life itself. I knew nothing about houseworks before going to US and living by my own like many of others. I had this special passion on cooking, which my friends gave me the nick name of “Zhuli”(cuz my English name is Jolie). I made my own style of cooking by mixing the Chinese southern traditional cooking style with western one. I felt like at home and enjoy mommy’s food when I cook for every party, for friends, for love. My other Chinese friends are also good at, at least, something, such as hair cutting, computer fixing, or even plumbing. Life not only tought us how to live, but how to live well by our own, and that is the point our parents would most like to see.

There is a railway right beside the UNCP campus. At first, it was very annoying to me. Because every now and then, trains passing by would bloc the way students and professors drive to campus, and some times it break my thinking when I was sitting in the library on the other side of the railway. One day, I was sitting by the window when I saw a train stopped on the railway and the driver stepped out. He walked to the Mcdonals’aside, picked up a big mac, and drove away. The sould of train make me realize that this place is not new for me anymore, and it is time to look back and move on.

Zhao Yue

Sept. 2008