Dear Rochester

Dear Rochester:

  Hi, this is Alan Chiu from Taipei, Taiwan. You can also call me C. It’s really a great pleasure to meet you. I am going to start on my first impression about you.

  Before I come to States, I have long heard that you’re a mysterious and fascinating person. I am really eager to know more about you because I know we’re going to live together in the next four years. I am curious about your past, your stories and your life experience!!

  When I first saw you, you were so quiet and unreachable. I felt there was a long distance because I didn’t know you well. After our first meet, I try to live here in the city and found out that you’re really a kind person. You’re really warm these days and I guessed the reason is that you are happy to meet all the incoming new friends. I also enjoy my first night here with you because I am really happy to meet you and all the others as my new friends.

  Sorry for only have a little notion for the first impression, I will tell you more about how I feel next time.

Best Regards

                                                                  C

10 adorable things around the river campus

10 adorable things around the river campus

The egg-liked chair in the quieter study room in Gilson library

The colorful tunnels under ground

The movable whiteboard in the Gilson library

The beautiful fitness center in the Hajim Gymnasium

 Free candies in the writing office

The notes on the bricks around the stacks

The cute yellow jacket

The rubbish bin with a bug

The cursed clock in the Dandelion Square

Sleeping Taemin

Cold summers

All of us have heard about the scary winters in Rochester, but little did I know about its hot summers. I have been told so much about the winters in Rochester to the point of being convinced that Rochester would have “cold summers”.

I arrived in Rochester on the 17^th of June, in the afternoon. I knew it was summer, but the idea of a “cold summer” still haunted. Hence, I came in full winter gear just in case I would arrive on the coldest day of the summer. But while landing at Greater Rochester International Airport, the pilot mentioned the temperature outside and my reaction was pretty much similar to this one:

I then got out of the plane and it was time to face reality. In my large yellow sweater with hands in the pockets and a scarf around my neck, I pushed my luggage towards the exit door. Everyone in the airport was looking at me wondering what I had come to do in Rochester in full winter gear. I stood outside the exit door with my three suitcases waiting to be picked up, and feeling very guilty for not checking the weather prior to my departure. After 30 minutes, I was finally picked up by my friend who drove me straight to U of R campus where I could finally take off my sweater and take a cold shower. On our way to campus, he kept teasing about my winter clothes and was laughing hysterically from my “cold summers” story. 

After settling on campus, I had a very hard time falling asleep because of the heat. The amount of trips I took from my room to the bathrooms to take a cold shower were countless. Everyone on my hall kept wondering what special relationship this new freshman (me) had established with the bathrooms. But to be honest, without a fan in my room, I couldn’t spend 30 minutes without sweating. This cat below briefly summarizes my life during my first week at U of R campus:

So beware freshmen, the scary winter in Rochester is real, but don't underestimate the power of summer here. 

I would like to post the advantages about coming early at the university to pursue college life. This can be favourable to both- americans and international students.

• People can get acquainted with the university life before classes start when there is no pressure of academics.
• It helps settle in the dorms and the dining halls which may be different from the previous experience of students.
• Coming early can get students get familiar with professors's accent so that it is not  problem during classes start.
• It also helps students tackle homesickness(if it occurs) beforehand so that during classes, one can focus on studies.
• Coming early can help make friends for life so that one cannot be lonely when the classes begin. 

Some feelings after leaving my home

My last day in home was a week before (forget the time difference, haha). I made the decision to study abroad two years ago, but on last Wednesday, I still didn’t feel any sense of reality. Yes, what I was going to live in another side of Earth, where was too far away. I was nervous, but I had no idea what I was worried about, the uncertainty of the future? Leaving my parents and friends?I felt that in the two years I prepared for going abroad, someone used a cloth to cover my eyes, and now it was time for him to take down the cloth and force me to open my eyes.

Another two days later, I arrived Rochester. Two of our program assistants met us at the airport. Everything in front of me is new and unfamiliar. I always imagined how my life in the US would be. I would sit on grass and see the sunset. I would go to the Ontario seaside and spend a day watching the sea tides all day. I would do research in an advanced lab and speak English fluently to communicate with my partners. But, the reality was that I had to take down my two 20kg-baggages from the luggage claim.

It was really late that night when we got in the dormitory. However, because of jet lag, I didn’t sleep for the whole night. I missed my parents. I talked to my friend at 4:00. It was tolerant to have insomnia.

I met other students next day, and our trip to beach was coming. But I was sleepy and nervous; it was hard for me to get excited. I walked along the seaside with my roomie quietly. After a while, we saw other students and PA sit together and played who is the Mafia. (Actually, I thought this game was only played in China.) It was awesome to play a familiar game with a group of people you were not familiar with. I joined the game. Time passed quickly, and I had a wonderful afternoon because I found I was kind like immersing in this group, which was a hopeful sign that I will have the sense of belonging someday.

First trip to......Walmart

The plane was delayed, and we did not arrive in Rochester until midnight. Our program coordinator, Ellie, suggested to go Walmart directly and buy those necessities. But we were all exhausted and only hope to fly to our beds. We went to Walmart in a warm night.

I supposed that the Walmart would be the same as the one near my community back to Shenzhen. Which is the first mall I became familiar with. I was so young, and could not pronounce its name clearly, so I called it Waymar, all the other families did that to tease me.

It could be the second Walmart I get familiar with. Thinking of this, I realized that parking lot here was much more spacious. Ellie found her place to park in, like, only one second. And it always took my dad fifteen minutes and a bad mood to find one in home.

The good starting then wrecked by the super heavy cart. So heavy that I thought my strength could be used up before I find things to buy. With a ten minutes’ crawling, I left it somewhere between the shelves. Shelves are bigger here, and light are darker, made me drowsy.

I found the laundry detergent successfully, even though all the smells were so strange to me. Ellie highly recommended a pack of paper used to put in the dryer. I only used dryer in rainy days back to home, and never knew there’s such thing that could put inside dryer to make clothes softer. Well, in order to not break her heart, I put it back as she turned round to find others.

There were so many things I had to learn about, and I couldn’t believe there’s no need to signature and enter password when using credit card. But my confusion in front of the cashier was not the last straw. As we walk out, security guard smiled to the woman ahead of me and said “good bye, madam.”

I was ready to smile and say something, but his grin just vanished, and stared me until I stepped out of the second Walmart I would soon be acquainted with. I was wrong, because outside was cold, actually.