#70 To English 110 students

Dear future English 110 students:

I could not believe I am actually writing my last blog right now. As an international student, I have to admit I was not so looking forward to English class. I still remembered my first English class; I could not believe I have to write blogs everyday! After seeing the daily schedule Ms Chambers handed to me, I thought my winter quarter will be pretty miserable as I have to writing stuff every day. However, I have to admit I found myself improving everyday in my writing skills. I could not say my grammar skills or my structures of the article are improving a lot, but I could definitely found myself having more to write and becoming a faster writer than I used to be. Through the first ten blogs or so, I usually had hard time blogging them because it was such a pain for me to think about what to say and the proper words. But now, I feel really confident doing the blog. As people always say “practice makes perfect”. Blogging may not make you perfect writers; however, makes you more confident writers! Besides the blog, going to Ms Chambers’s office hours and writing center would also help you with your paper and grade. Ms. Chambers grades on the paper, or at least on my paper, but she is always very patient to answer my questions in her office hours. If you follow what she wants you to do, you would do fine in this class.

Good luck to all.

Sincerely,

Mengtian Chen

#69

Different parts of China have different kinds of culture. I am always fascinated by Tibetan Culture although it is part of China. Tibetan culture is quite different from the mainstream Chinese culture.

I love Tibetan art! It is related to the art of Tibet and former kingdoms. One thing I love about its art is that it is the origin of sacred art, reflecting the influence of Buddhism on these cultures. In 15 and 16 century, there were a lot of Tibetan carvers art with very simple designs containing sacred elements. I just thought they are so beautiful and could not believe they were done by hand in such a long time ago. I was really amazed.

Besides its art, I am also fascinated by its unique festival. Unlike Chinese New Year, Tibetan people have their own New Year. They celebrate it differently, for example, they put sacrifices on the altar of their deities and special foods delicately to welcome New Year. On the morning of the 1^st day, local people will make butter lamps to be sacrificed, along with grain, to their gods. They will go visit their relatives and toast with local drink. Besides the New Year, they also celebrate a lot of other festivals, like the Great Prayer Festival, the Butter Lantern Festival, etc. They all have very unique ways to celebrate.

I hope one day I could go to Tibet and see the real one with my eyes instead o reading it on the book, I bet it is a very beautiful and relaxing place!

#68

I am scared of height very much, so any time I have to get on a high stairs or a bridge, I would be really scared. I do not remember when I actually start to have acrophobia, but I remembered that I almost fainted when I climbed a mountain in my sixth grade.

My family decided to go to mountain climbing when I graduated from elementary school. So we went there and I could not wait to climb to the top of the mountain. However, when I made every effort and eventually climbed to the top, I looked down and started feeling sick. I was afraid of looking down the mountain at first, and then I started feeling dizzy and I could not feel my feet anymore because they were totally stiff. I was feeling so bad that I almost fainted at that moment. My mom later told me that my face was pale and I looked awful.

From then on, every time I look down from the very top buildings, I would panic and feel sick. Especially when I have to take the transparent elevator that could view the outside when we go up to 80^th floor, I would close my eyes for the whole ride. I would rather miss the beautiful view than faint in the elevator.

Acrophobia gets even worse when I need to get on the bridge. Since there is nothing under the bridge but water, I would try many ways to find another way to go across the ocean if possible. I am always afraid of looking down the water.

#67

After watching so many movies and news about different places are suffering from the global warming, I have to say that global warming is something that happening in the world that concerns me. My friends would sometimes laugh at me when I talked about global warming and how it is going to damage the world. They just said that it is none of my business and I have nothing to do about it.

Even though I know they are quite right, I still think it as a problem. Global warming hurts many people, plants and animals. Global warming makes the sea rise, and when the sea rises, the water covers many low land islands and might kill some people. When I saw the movie “Next” and the very end part of that movie when the world is blowing up because it is too hot on the earth face, I was actually thinking it could be happening in many years. Global warming is a real serious problem happening around world. I could imagine the earth blows up someday in the future because the temperature on the surface of the earth is accelerating fast and out of control in the end.

I think I am kind of radical and kind of pessimistic about the issue. I also hope it would never happen in our real life. Sometimes I try to walk instead of driving car and turn off the lights when I am gone to help save some energy. I don’t know if that helps at all or not, at least I am trying…

#66

I am the kind of person who is quite superstitious. I believe in fate and I like reading zodiac magazines and see if I have good luck next day. One reason that I am so into zodiac is that I found them very true, or at least very true about my zodiac. I have to say the characteristics of Cancer are exactly the same as my personalities!

No.1: Cancer natives are friendly. As being a “water element” zodiac, it is really hard to get a Cancer native angry. We are not as aggressive as other zodiacs.  I am a very friendly person and I could be friends with almost everyone. When somebody is mean to me, I could never stand up for myself. It is usually my friend who stands up for me.

No.2 Cancers have reputation for moodiness. I am very sensitive to almost everything. I am emotional and I cry a lot. My friends are used to me crying now because they understand Cancers are emotional and crying is the best way for them to stress out.

No.3 Cancers like to eat a lot. I am totally a food lover! I have a huge stomach and I could eat the whole day without stopping. I used to have three sandwiches, 8 sushis, one big bag of chips, one bubble tea and a cheese cake for lunch. My friends used to scare of my huge appetite, but they are used to it now.

So, the zodiac represents me quite well. I would always check my zodiac before I go out.

#65 different time

As a matter of fact, I always want to be born in a different time period. If I had been born in Tang Dynasty (AD 618-AD 907) in China, I would probably live in a better and more relaxed life.

During that time period, China is the most populous place in the world. It is generally considered to be the highest point in Chinese’s civilization. A lot of people from all over the world would come to visit China and learn the policies and culture, for example, Chinese poetry. Women at that time have a pretty high social status. There is even a first women emperor in Chinese history. I wish I could be born in that period because I do not need to study as hard as I am right now to find a good job after graduate from college. Men are supposed to work hard and finish all the required education at that time. Men are also responsible to find a nice job and support the whole family. Women, on the other hand, could do enjoy their life pretty well and not to worry about finding jobs or raising children.

I am a pretty lazy person, and I like to live in a slow-pace life. I hate the pressure coming from the school stuff, parents and the whole society. So I would be really enjoying my life in Tang Dynasty.  I would read a book or do something else when I feel like while not worrying too much.

#64 biggest mistake

Well, I could not really think of any big mistakes I have made. One of the biggest mistakes I have made was when I was in high school. I have to say that I had the worst and the meanest chemistry teacher in my high school because she is extremely strict to us and requires tons of homework. She gives random quizzes and exams almost twice a day. What’s more, when somebody does not participate in the class, she would say all the bad things about you and you he would be in a big trouble. I have been warned several times because I was late for class or did not turn in my assignment in time. So apparently, I did not leave a good impression on her. Oh well; anyhow, toward the end of the year, on the morning of the last day of school, several of my friends decide to do something crazy to her since she was so mean to all of us. So after she parked her car in the parking lot, we used glasses to  slash the tires.We also poured some water in front of the classroom, so she fell down when she entered the room as we expected. We did a lot of crazy things and finally she got mad at us and we were sent to the principle office. This sis probably the craziest thing or I could say “mistake” I have ever made. Even though, I was sent to the principle office and was in big trouble. I did not regret I did that. Maybe I will never have the guts to do these things again in college. At least I have done something crazy for memory.

#63best friend

 My best friend is Meicheng. We know each other since fifth grade. At first, I was the best friend of her friend. Meicheng and I are friends but we are not very close. However, my best friend moved to Beijing in the sixth grade. Even though we still call or e-mail each other, we were not that close as we used to be. So, Meicheng and I got to be really close friends. After finishing elementary school, we ended up going to the same middle school. We share a lot of secrets and we talked almost everything. She was a really smart student as she was always top ten students; however, I was not so smart and I always freaked out when there were quizzes and exams. She was always there to help me out, especially chemistry! I was so bad at chemistry that I could get 20 out of 100, which is unbelievable for her because she thinks chemistry is such a easy A course. I hated when she said it was easy, but I always need her help. With the help of her tutoring, I ended up getting a B+ in my chemistry final, which is a huge progress for me. I have to say that she is a really patient and nice friend I could ever ask.

However, we went to different high school and college. As we could not see each other very often, we e-mail or online chat a lot. She would share her funny things happened in her college and I mostly would complain how hard my courses are in college as I always did in middle school. We could talk for 5 or 6 hours without stopping. We just have too much to share with each other. I cannot wait to see her when I go back. We definitely need to hang out more when I go back to Shanghai.

#62 place

My favorite place is dessert place in Shanghai. I love desserts, especially ice-creams and chocolates. There are many nice dessert places in Shanghai. I have tried different ones, some of them are way too sweet, and some of them are just too crowded.

I remembered it was a sunny Sunday; I was with bunch of my friends. We were all thinking about getting some desserts after a long-time shopping. We saw a very a little cafe right around the corner. It looks like a European style cafe and is well decorated. We were attracted by its outside and we went in. When we entered the room, we could literally sell the coffee and all kinds of desserts. I fell in love with this little cafe already. It also has the best chocolate cake and Latte I have ever had! From then on, I go there all the time. I could sit there the whole day and just read books and do homework. It is not as crowed as other big cafes, but it is the right one for me. Having a cup of coffee and a bite of chocolate cake while listening to the music, I feel like I am outside of this busy world. I could completely get relaxed and do not worry too much about the school and other things. So every time I am too tired or just feel like having some desserts, this is always my top one choice. I cannot wait to go there when I come back to Shanghai!

#61 story

Well, I am an International student from Shanghai, China. My three stories are the following:

1.     I used to be an exchange student to Columbus, Ohio when I was a sophomore in High school. I lived with my host family in Powell, Ohio. I enjoyed my first year in America very much and I have been to many places, like LA, Vegas, etc. I also met a lot of international students from all over the world, like Germany, Denmark, Japan, Brazil, etc. As exchange students, we have the same feelings, which make it easy for us to communicate with each other. It is nice to have a little international group in America.

2.     I love coffee a lot. Coffee is my favorite drink and I am definitely obsessed with it. Every morning after I wake up, I need a cup of coffee. It feels really good and it keeps me energetic all day long. My favorite coffee is skinny Latte in Starbucks. It tastes good and also “healthy” as it does not have too much calories. I love everything in coffee flavor. I like coffee candy, coffee ice-cream, etc.

3.      I used to be much heavier than what I am right now. I used to be addicted to chips and other fried foods a lot, especially when I am depressed and stressful. I would not stop eating them unless someone stops me. After half year or so, I started becoming overweight and feeling unhealthy. So it was my Mom who finally helps me to lose weight and eat healthy. She cooks me very healthy food and stops me from eating any unhealthy food.

#60 Word

As I first came to America, I heard a lot of new words. The most impressive one is the word “like”. I could hear tons of times in one or two sentences. It is common to hear from teenagers. A few months, I feel like I am using way too many “like” when I talk.

The word “like” is popular nowadays. It has become a phenomenon which has spread somewhat widely. A lot of teenagers like to use the word “like” just because they do not know which word is right to express their feelings.

The word “like” could make the sentence softer, less assertive and maybe, a little friendlier, thus making your own image more sociable. It is shown that more and more people are unwilling to offer clear opinions on matters, in fear they will be rejected. Inserting "like" makes a statement more fluid and more easily retracted if received in the wrong way. However, when people say “like” too many times, it shows lack of confidence. That is also the reason why we get all of those suggestions to 'get rid of the habit' and advice for what not to say in a business world. It can unintentionally give off the impression of boring.

So now when I am try to talk to someone, I am more aware of overusing the word “like”. I have to admit that it is a really easy word to use when you want to explain something; however, overusing it might make people think you as a boring and unconfident person

#59 my major

So my major is pre business right now. I still have not decided what major I should be. I am kind of between finance and accounting. Well, it is very interesting to see that so many Chinese students have been admitted into Business College. Almost 90 percent of Chinese students are interested in becoming businessmen or businesswomen. I am one of them. I guess the reason why Chinese people like to study business is because of Chinese education and background. People will regard businessmen as one of the top lists of social class in China. It is kind of similar to what Americans think of dentists and surgeons. What’s more, studying business can make a lot of money due to the economy in China. This is probably the most common reason for Chinese people to study it. Although my major is business, the only reason I picked it is that I could benefit a lot from it like making a lot of money. But when it comes to decision about which major to pick, it will be really tough. Accounting is boring and I have to read tons of numbers and equations. I could imagine my boring job in a bank when I was thirty years old. On the other hand, finance is a more interesting one; however, a harder one. It interacts with several fields of business. I need to study a lot in order to graduate from college. I am the kind of person who is easy to feel boring and tired of too much homework. So it is a really hard decision for me to make. Somehow I have to make one and stick to it.

#57 my dream

I am not quite sure if this should be about a dream that I had when I am sleeping or something that I really want to do when I was young. However, I could not really remember what my dream is when I woke up. Well, a dream that I had is to own company that does kids business. The reason that I want to do it is because it could make a lot of money. The customers that I would like to aim for is pregnant women and babies from 0 to 7 years old. People nowadays are becoming more aware of the importance of prenatal education. So it is a great opportunity for my company to provide a good environment for parents to do so. Doing some exercises and inviting a profession to do some lecture and give advice would also draw the parent’s attention. What’s more, after the baby is born, I also have classes ranged from newly born baby to 7 years old baby. My class would provide them the place to play, to interact with other kids and to learn. I will focus on music, language, color, etc. Kids will have fun playing as well as learning something new. This is also what parents want for kids to enjoy their childhood. I have this dream because it could make money if I work hard and make it different from other similar company. If I am doing really good, I probably will expand to have my own kids clothes and toys as well.