个人资料：
姓名：吴玥莹
专业：2011级经济学院金融系

交流项目：厦门大学经济学院2+2本科留学北卡罗来纳大学项目

If I ask you this question: “Hey, guess what my biggest change is after one year abroad?” You may come up with many different answers, such as my life style, my study methods, my career choice, etc. These are truly some most common aspects in which changes take place in international students. However, to tell you the truth, with a father who is an English professor and a mother who travels around the world doing international business, I was brought up in a very western way compared with most Chinese kids. I speak English a lot at home; I drink coffee every morning; I say “Love you” to my parents all the time and I like doing things by myself. Thanks to this experience, I basically didn’t face any cultural shocks when I just transferred here at UNC Charlotte last semester, which can be proved by my straight As as well as my new American friends.

So does that mean I didn’t change at all? Well, the answer is no. And in my opinion, what has changed most due to my international experience was my view of the world. I used to have confidence that I have an “international view”. I always keep up with what’s happening around the world and I enjoy connecting with people from different countries. My dad said that when I was little, I would use my tongue-tied English to chat with foreigners in the restaurant while we were waiting for the dishes. When I was at my previous Chinese college, I joined in an organization called Postcrossing and began to exchange postcards with people all over the world. However, when I flied to Charlotte with confidence, I did get surprised.

The first thing that surprised me was about food. In the sophomore year when I was in China, I took a course about American culture and made a presentation for the final exam about the differences between Chinese and American food and the reflection of the differences in the two cultures. In that presentation I mentioned that there were a lot more cuisines and flavorings in China than in the US. I can still recall that the professor of that course, a mid-aged man from Cincinnati, told me that I held lots of stereotypes towards American food and American culture. At that time I was a little bit angry because I thought I knew very well about cheese burgers, hot dogs and American culture. However, after a few meals at the school cafeteria, I realized the variety of dishes and flavorings in America, just as I realized later that not all American classes are a piece of cake, not all Americans call their parents by name and not all teenagers in America are addicted to drug or alcohol. Before I came here, I used to see America and Americans as a whole. But now I learn that no country has only one flavor and diversity exists in all walks of life in any country.

Another thing that surprised me was about my own country. You may think that as a Chinese student I would be very confident if the professor asked me something concerning China. On the contrary, that is what I’m afraid of most. For example, last semester I took a course about the problems developing countries (including China) are facing and one of the lectures was concerned with China’s One Child Policy. That was the most uncomfortable class I’ve ever had. The professor’s lecture, the class discussion and everything else I heard in that class was completely different from what I knew about One Child Policy when I was in China. I was born under that policy and believed I knew that policy very well, for I could still remember its most famous slogan “Have fewer children and plant more trees”. However, not until that lecture was over did I realize how differently people from other nations look at One Child Policy and there can be so many perspectives for one thing. And as time went by, I had more embarrassing moments like that, which offered me an entirely new perspective of my own country, even the things I grew up with. Now I understand that what I know about one thing is not always the same as what the rest of world thinks of it. More importantly, knowing others’ opinions can make me understand it better.

I bet you must have watched one or two 3D movies. What makes them so popular is that they are far more vivid and much closer to reality. The trick to make a 3D movie is to shoot every scene from more than one angle. As far as I am concerned, studying abroad is just like shooting a 3D movie about the world, which enables me to have the opportunity to know how people from other cultures look at the same thing. Awareness of differences makes the world more complicated, yet more fascinating to me. Thus if I were asked what my largest change is after one semester abroad, my answer would probably be like this: “I’m beginning to see everything in the world from diverse perspectives, which changes my view of the world from a flat map to a round globe.”