Dairy

9/1.  
Dear Diary:
it was my first time study abroad in America, I was a foreign student from China. This new place seemed to be very strange to me. After a long time traveling, I finally arrived the campus. It was a really big campus, I thought I would be lost if there was nobody taking the tour for me. The person who was taking tour for me was a faculty member named Sister Casey. She was a very welcome woman I thought, because when I first met her, she opened her arm and hugged me tightly. "Welcome to Campus, Jerry. " she said nicely. I was nervous because in China people didn't hug each other when they met for the first time. We didn't even shake hands. Instead, we said hello to each other nicely. This sudden hugging makes me feel strange, probably she was a outing woman or maybe it was American style to show welcome to other people. After she showed different kinds of building in this campus, I was settled into my room. In my room, I saw two small beds and two desks with a closet beside it. It was a small room, but I thought it had enough space for two students to live. It looked like my roommate haven't arrive yet, because the room was still empty.

9/10
The first week of the school was ended. I met my roommate at the second day. Her name was Johnnie, and she was an  American. She was a silent person, we just introduced ourselves and then we started to do our own thing. During the orientation, I saw a girl came from Korea wearing a special cloth called hanbok. Her name was Sookan, and  she said it was her country cloth. I used to think hanbok was a cloth from Japan, but actually that cloth was from Korea, and the one from Japan was called kimono. They looked similar but they were different.  The courses I was taking wasn't hard especially Math. In China, the Math problems was very complex and extremely hard. We sometimes may spent half an hour to do only one question.  Here I can easily understand the problem and finish it in 5 minutes. The other courses were fine, maybe because it was just the start of the year. It will be harder in the future.

9/17
Before I left, my mom told me to make some foreigner friends, However as a Chinese students, my English was very well, sometimes I did not understand what the other kids were talking about. I was being shy and being worried all the time: what if they did not like me; what I joined their groups but they did not understand me; what if they made fun of me when we were together. For the whole half of month, I was being lonely. I tried to find the other Asian: that Korean girl Sookan, but she was busy all the time. I heard about that she need to do a lot of scholarship work and She spent most of the time outside. I prefer stayed in my own room. Luckily, my roommate was same as me. Looked like She hadn't make any friend yet. Although we were roommate, we didn't talk very much. Mostly she was doing her things and I am doing my things.

9/26
It was almost a month since I came here. I haven't create a lot of friendships yet. But because both my roommate and me liked to stay in the room, we had a lot of time staying with each other. As the time going, we became friends, and my school life wasn't lonely any more and I will tried to make more friends. My grade was not very bad as I studied sometimes. I recieved a mail from my mother. In the mail, she told me everything was fine in China, except my naughty brother who always made her angry. She continued telling me tried to find more friends which made me nervous. I thought she did not understand it was not that easy for me to create a lot of friendships as I was a shy girl. However, I knew she was right and I will make more friends in the future.

10/5
Today, we had sit down dinner which we had to go to dining hall and have dining with every body. I used to sit in the corner with Johnnie all the time having lunch or dinner. I was being shy when I first meet other new students. Now they had already made some "groups". I did not know how to join their groups, and I was being afraid to join their group. What if they thought me as a idiot. During the sit down dinner today, I had a table with different students. I saw that Korean girl Sookan was them to serve the food. Probably she was doing her scholarship again. In our table, I met a girl named Ellen, she was a outgoing girl that she never stopped talking. She asked me a lot questions about China. I remembered she had a good relationship with Sookan also. It seemed to that she was interested in Asian country. I started to talk in the table, and I began to be more confidence.
Today I had a new friend and her name was Ellen.

10/14
Today was Saturday, and Ellen came into my room told me there would be a dance party at night with the other school. She looked very excited and looking forward to the party. She asked me if I could go with her. Her roommate Sookan was doing babysitting for Professor Bennett so she can't go with us. At first, I did not want go, because it will be a place full of boys and strange people. I never went to a dance party before. However, Ellen continued saying don't worry and she will handle it. We will have a lot of fun. At last, I went with her, on the way, I asked her why she was so excited. She told me her boyfriend Kyle will come tonight and dance with her. She kept telling me everything about Kyle until we arrived.

10/25
It was almost the end of the marking period, the work was getting harder, and I had more and more quiz and tests. I used to organized my time well, because I was staying in my room all the time. However, now, Ellen always invited me to go outside and have some fun. It was true that my life was no more boring or lonely since I met Ellen, but I felt that my grade was getting worse. I wondered why she had so much time to have fun. I thought I need to studied more studied more instead of having fun with her.

10/31
Today was the end of the marking period, I recieved the report card. When I checked my grades, I surprised. I thought
I will have a good grade but in fact I did not get that. My grade was neither awful or good. I did well both on the test and the homework. I found out the only thing I lack was the participation. I was talkless in the class, and that was why.
I thought my mom must call me after she saw it, and we probably will have a long talk.

11/1
Today I got a call from my mom, I knew that will happened as she saw my grade. I thought she would be very curious and disappointed about my grade. Why couldn't I do well in participation. I even thought about if she would get angry about me. However, in the phone, her voice did seemed like she was angry or mad. She said she understand it wasn't very easy because I was an international student. And she knew that I had tried very hard. She encouraged me to do better in the future. I was glad that my mom understood me, and I decided to work harder and show her a better grade in the next marking period.

11/9
This week, we had a lot of work. I had 4 tests coming forward, and 2 project due Thursday. I did not understand why we still had that much of work when the first marking period was just ended. There should be a time for us to have a relax. I wondered why can't we have a break after each marking period. For example, thanksgiving after the MP 1, Christmas after MP 2, Spring break after MP 3, summer vacation after MP 4. I knew I was dreaming about it, and I was very looking forward to my Thanks Giving break. I need some time to relax from all of those work.

11/20
Finally, it was time to have the thanksgiving break, I had been waiting it for a long time.  Both of me and Johnnie signed up the Boston trip. We will travel to Boston and stayed there for a week. I heard that there was China town in Boston right next to the place we lived. What a surprise. I had not eaten any Chinese food since I came here. I can imagine that how delicious the food will be. I wished I could invited Ellen, she must be very interest in these, but she told me that she would spent her time with her boyfriend Kyle. Kyle must be the most important people for her, so I wished her have fun with him. Now let's time to have fun and relax!

11/27 The Black Friday
Today I got up earlier than before, because I had a lot of things to do. I waked up at 11:00 rather than 1:00. I went to china town for some food first, after that I went on a bowling trip. The bowling club was very dark but with different color light shining. The first ball I missed everything because I threw it too hard. For the rest of the balls I focused more and tried to throw it more easy. Finally I made a strike. I felt very proud and excited when people were clapping hand to me. After that I went to Newbury St for shopping. There were crowed every where, and we need to wait in lines to get in one shop. I bought a cloth which was expensive but I liked it. I hesitated for a long time and finally made the decision. After I bought this cloth, I felt like my mom will kill me when she waked up. However, when I got back to the hotel, I received her message. She just wanted me to show her what I bought. Nothing else.

12/1
Time passed so fast, and the Thanksgiving break was end. I still missed the time when I was stayed in Boston. The food I had and the place I lived for a week. I got back to school yesterday, but I still thought the Thanksgiving break had just started. I could not believed time passed that fast.