My first time to US

My first time been to U.S. was in 2007 when I was a high school student. My high school has a friendly exchange program with La Salle High school in Pasadena California, so I was able to visit U.S. with my classmates and teachers as a visitor. We visited a lot of in U.S. and had a lot of fun.

The first place we arrived at was San Francisco; the weather there was really impressive. When I walked out of the airport, the weather outside so comfortable that I couldn't believe it was in February. The temperature was about 25 degree C; the air was wet and full of smell of earth; the palm trees with dew on their leaves beside the road are really pleasant... Actually I was half-dead when I was looking at the Statue of Liberty by boat on the sea because of the cold... Anyway, I love San Francisco mostly because of the weather. Another place we visited in San Francisco was the Golden Gate Bridge. The feeling of standing by sea and let the salty wind to blow your hair is great. Actually, at Golden Gate Bridge, I took a very nice photo which I think is good( although my friends think I looks silly).

And then, we visited a lot of famous museums, Libraries and Research Centers. My favorite one among them is NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I had dreamed to be there since I was really young. I had read about NASA and its achievements from the book for thousand times. On 2007, finally, I had a chance to be there for myself. There, I saw a lot of fascinating pictures taken by man-made satellite and space shuttle, a lot of models for planet detector and rockets. They are wonderful.

The last thing that I like is not a single place; it is the American Education System. For my personal view, it is the best Education System around the world. The education I had in the past was like: you are asked to copy everything in the book to your head without personal opinion and all your grade, effort for years and even your destiny is decided only by one exam. School is just like the factory to "standardize" people. But here, is much better, students are asked to study on their own; they are allowed to challenge the authority; their grade is based on everyday efforts. All in all, I think the most important point is: the schools are not asking students learning things, they ask students study things instead. I found this after visiting Le Shalle high school, Blair high school, Stanford University and other schools in US. Finally, I made my decision: to study in U.S. That's why I'm here.
(BTW: the picture in the left is from a Lab in a high school that ask people to take care. It's very funny, isn't it?)

The Weather in Stony Brook

This is my first Summer in Stony Brook University. I used to be in SBU twice in both of Winter of 2008, and 2010. I think the weather in Summer is completely best than Winter.

For me, as a person from Middle East, I am very familiar for mid- temperature weather. Unlike Iraq, weather in the Winter is almost freezing, snowy, and cloudy. Always streets and roads are covered by snow,scenery of trees without leaves is a matter of alienation.

I do remember the first time which I arrived to Stony Brook, when streets are covered by a thick layer of snow, that scared me too much,for I was not ready for such circumstances.
Even I did not have the appropriate shoes to walk on snow. It was really difficult times I have been through in the winter of 2008, however. gradually, I have adapted for the weather in Stony Brook.
Just a little bit like southern Iraq, Weather in Summer is almost mid- temperature degree and humid, and that what I interested for.

Bon Appétit with Curry

After arriving at the Stony Brook, a big challenge for me is to cook. Actually, I had never cooked in my home counrty because my mom cooks everyday. Therefore, cooking becomes an important errand to do in my daily life. The first meal comes out my mind is curry. I thought curry was easy to prepare and storage. To save money and time, I want to do my best to cook the curry for this week meal.

I asked my sister how to prepare the materials and how to cook the curry. After asking the all the details I would want to know. I went to the supermaket to buy curry cubes, onions, potatos, apples, chickens, and carrots. When everything was prepared well, I started to cook. First of all, I stir-fried chicken until it was almost well done. While puting the chicken into the hot oil, I was screaming because the oil made the sizzling sounds. Secondly, I stir-fried the rest materials which were cooked in different pot. When those vegetables turned brown and gold color, I turned off the fire. Thirdly, I put everthing in the boiler and added the water covering the food a little bit.

At the fourth step, I followed my sister saying that I should boil the food until those materials absorb the water. However, more and more water came out from those vegetables, so I called her again to tell her this situation. As a result, she told me that she forgot to mention the important step to me. She said I should stir-fry the vegetables until the water come out. To remedy this mistake is to boil the food with more times. Fortunately, the food seemed like what she said. Finally, I put the curry cube and made it be well mixed with the food.

I was so nervous and excited how the curry was tasted. It was the happy ending!! The curry is really really great. The flavor is awesome!! Not only did I feel, my roommates said it is really great. They did not believe me that I was the first cook with curry. I really enjoyed cook the curry, but it took a lot of time. I cooked the curry from 6 pm to 8 pm. Nevertheless, I do not need to cook for the rest days of this week.

Summer :)

When I was in 5th grade, we all my family traveled the cities; Bursa, Izmit, Bolu which close to Marmara Region. It was a unforgettable summer for me. Because I discovered a lot of new things about my country. I tasted new foods and the best one was Iskender in Bursa. Actually, Bursa is known for its Iskender. Also, this city was known as "Yesil Bursa" (meaning "Green Bursa") indicates its variety forests, parks and gardens. There is also Abant Lake in Bursa. We were all together, my father, my mother and my sisters and brother. It was the best vacation that I was willing to have all the time. Discovering new places and learning other culture that exists in Turkey.

This is the one of the sights from Bursa in Turkey.

Sharing times with your family is the best part in summer vacayions and I had all that feeling in this summer holiday...

summer experience

Last Thursday, I went to port jefferson with three friends, which was one of the more enjoyable experiences I had since I arrived at Stony Brook. As soon as I stepped out of the car, the brand-new scene impacted me, flooding into my mind. That was amazing because it was the first place I went outside of the university since I came here. The totally different style of architecture standing right before my eyes fascinated me. I am always attracted by new things. I leaning on the railings set around the sea, breathing the fresh air from the sea, enjoying the breeze caressing my skin, gazing in distance the vague and endless horizon, felt absolutely refreshed.

Later, we had some delicious lobsters; in fact, eating lobsters was the main reason we got here today because it had a huge discount-- the price for one lobster could get two today! The lobsters perfectly hit my spot.

Finally, the last part of that day, also the most impressive part, was that we saw the movie--Inception. This is a brilliant film that has a totally unorthodox and fascinating view of world; however, I do not want to give out even a bit information of this movie. If you want to enjoy it , go see it . This is the link that you can use if you like to:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/

Manhattan Trip

This summer, just the weekend before last, I had an unforgettable trip to Manhattan. At the early morning, my Korean friends of IEC and I met at the Stony Brook Station and took the train to go to Pennsylvania Station. I was really thrilled because I have not traveled for a long time, and, most of all, Manhattan was the place where I really had wanted to visit. In the train to go to Manhattan, we talked each other in comfort air and took pictures. Actually, it was not long ago that I met them, but we hung around like old friends.

After we arrived at the Pennsylvania Station, as soon as I got out of the station, I could feel the energy of the big city. Under the brilliant sunshine, I could see lots of visitors who were enjoying trip. Some people were selling something to eat and drink, and some people were taking a group picture. We went to the Battery Park that is located in the North ends of Manhattan in order to see the liberty of the Statue of Liberty. In the park, there were too many people who were waiting the ship to go the Liberty Island. In order to go the Liberty Island, we had to wait for about 2 hours. Finally, we decided to go SOHO that lots of stores to see with frustration.

After we arrived at SOHO, we went around every part of SOHO. There were much more and more various stores than that I expected. We looked around many clothing, cosmetics, and stationary stores. In some clothing brand cases, clothes’ price was very cheap compared with the store in Korea, so I bought a T-shirt and a hood T-shirt. Actually, I dislike shopping. Especially, it is burden to me to enter the clothing store. However, at that time, in the SOHO, I could enjoy shopping. I don’t still know how I can enjoy shopping, but maybe it was because there were lots of things to see, except clothes.

After shopping, we visited 3 nations : ). As you know, in Manhattan, there is the little Italy, China town, and Korea town. We went there. Although I knew that America culture is composed of varies nations’ cultures, it was really impressive. Just we went through a few blocks, we could meet totally different cultures. It looked like the small earth. After we visited the little Italy, China town, and Korea town one by one, the evening came. We went to go the Empire State Building, and we had dinner at the Mexican food restaurant that is in the Empire State Building 1st floor. It was first time for me to eat the Mexican food, but it was very delicious and nice. The food was enough to appease my hungry and tiredness. After we finished dinner, we took the train to come back to Stony Brook at 10:20. In the train, we got to sleep talking about our trip. When I arrived at my room, I was exhausted, but I felt great satisfaction in a long time.

Joon

: )

The first summer in US

This summer is not the same as usual because i chose to back to US to study. It is also the first summer i stay in america...well, the weather is so hot with the brilliant sunshine so that I tan a lot or i had a tan skin..lol...

The summer can be divided into two parts. First I went back to Shanghai in the end of May and I stayed in Shanghai for one and half months. Going home is my happiest time that i hung out with my friends, had dinner with my family and enjoyed my home dishes.

I miss my hometown so much, i love my family, my hometown which is most wonderful city.The most memorable thing is my high school's prom. My high school booked a cruise In the Huangpu River. You can see how beautiful night view was.

The bund was so wonderful at night slight.This is Shanghai! You can not help but fall in love with this city. On that day, my friends and i were dress up very formally and we took pictures each others. We were very happy that we had a delicious western dinner, there was a band to perform and we dance together. I was so thankful for my high school!

Well, the second part of summer still going, I cant imagine that I have come to the United States almost a year. Time is so fast...I rent an apartment off-campus with my friend, so i drive to school now...i spent whole holiday on learning how to drive car. However, i still a new driver, sometimes i am afraid and be careful to drive. Anyway, I enjoy my new residence and life in Stonybrook. LOL!
As you see, this is my room... sorry for when I first came here, it was so mess. I took lots of stuff from my country. I have said i was a Shopaholic that i bought so many clothes and something else in china. And i brought all of them to here. I know all my friends complain that i have too many things. So i let my friend to control my shop desire. I cant buy so much any more. Actually i am so glad to say that when I collated, the room was tidy.

I try to cook by myself, we buy some meterial that try to cook meal. In fact,I cannot cook before, this summer, I said I have to learn to cook! This is my first time to make sushi. Actually i know they are not good looking, but the taste is not bad. My mom saw the sushi that i made. She was so surprise,and she felt it was amazing! I never make it before even i dont know how to cook. So that is say: try it, you will know how much you can do! i am still working and tring to learn more.
I like longisland that is so beautiful. i like the life in US that you can not imagine how you live independently in a foreign country. And i try to do. I know that it will bring a wonderful experience for me. It can be changed a lot by myself.
I am growing up, gradually and naive, and gradually separate...Thanks for all!

Cooking

Well, I didn't have special experience when I was in Stony Brook. I went to Texas this summer, but I can't write that. I cook everyday myself. I usually cook ordinary food in week but special food in weekend. My favorite special food is lobster. In Korea, lobster is expensive food. It is three times expensive than U.S.A. So I'm really enjoying cheap lobster. Cooking is very interesting work. Sometimes my food is delicious but sometimes it's not tasty. Well, I think that I cook food which is not tasty more than delicious food. Fortunately I can eat all kind of food. HaHa. I know almost of you guys will come back to your home country after finish our summer. But just try to make some food. Maybe you can fail to at first, but you will realize that cooking is fun when you make good food.

p.s : Nowadays I try to find the way to kill lobster without pain. Do you have any idea about that? ^^

Well, I realized that my post is too short. So I'll talk to about the movie that I saw this summer. Hua. Actually I write this part again because my post is gone. Wow this make me wake up. HaHa. Anyway I saw this movie, 'The blind side'. When I saw this poster, I thought that this movie is a typical hollywood movie. You know, success story of a human who have broken heart. Honesty, it is right. But this is a touching movie and based on real story. I will not tell about this movie's story. This movie gave me something to think. About discrimination. There are about sixty hundred million people in the world. Ofcourse, there are lots of life and view of life. We try to respect other people's life because nobody can say which is correct. U.S.A. is the biggest country in the world. As U.S.A. is big, they have big diversification. Maybe U.S.A. is the most diverse country in the world. But interestingly people don't like that different from themselves. There is no exception in U.S.A. I have a roommate whose girl friend is a black. He said his experience that made him angry. Before I telling this story, I have to say he is a turkish. Anyway, someday he went to the Manhattan with his girl freind. Then some old black man said to him, ' A middle eastern guy's girl friend is a black? What is wrong with the world?' Ofcourse he was upset. Imagine that how he feel bad. Well, if you have free time and want to watch some good movie, I recommend this. Even though I said about discrimination, it's not a this movies main topic. You can find a people who have warm heart.

The most interest activity in summer

In this summer, the happiest memory for me was a field trip to Port Jefferson with my IEC class mates who were Melody, Serena, Jonathan, Joon and etc. Our helper Neil took us to the port by van. It was the second time for me, to go to Port Jefferson. However, it was the first time visiting Port Jefferson with my friends, so it was more special and memorable.

We arrived at that port about 6:00 p.m. Port Jefferson was so beautiful; fancy boats, nice cars and the latest style motocycles . There were so many people who looked very energetic. After looking around port, we took many pictures. It was my frst experience taking pictures since I had arrived at this country. The only fact that was put me to inconvenience, was absent of the my own camera. I didn't bring my camera from Korea so I had to take pictuers by my cellphone. However, as you can think, It's performance was not satisfied, but I couldn't help it.

About9 o'clock, we started to find good restaurant for our dinner. There were many cheap and nice restaurants, but we decided to have luxury dinner, so we went to the most beautiful looked sea food reastaurant which name was 111. (click this if you want to see the reataurant) As our expect, food's price was little expensive, but the retaurant's mood was very comfort and roamp. Waitress's kindness and excellent foods also made us happy. We had some sea food things like labster, shirimps, oysters and beer. we had joyful talk, and hung out for long time at the restaurant.

For my first field trip, Port jefferson was so

impressive. Village was so beautiful and peaceful, I released my all stress, seeing the sea what I like most, and talking with my favorate friends at the off campus. During left times I hope to make another good memories like port jefferson fieldtrip with my friends.

P.S : It was so hard to take this picture, because Kerry (waitress in the picture) ran away with shy whenever we tried to take a pictuer together. Just before leaving, she talked us to take a pictuer together :D with promise that our next visiting.

Normal Life can not be that Normal.

We go to class everyday, we do homework everyday. We eat, we walk, we talk, we sleep. Everyone has normal life even you are a CEO in Google or you are the president of the United State. Actually, as a student, we kind of set up a stable schedule for us to be the better way to live a life. Personally, I'm the person who don't want to be stable, can't suffer boring things and like chanllenging work. I have a


strong desire to change the way of human's behaviors. We can't change the everyday's things we must to do, but we can change the attitude to make small matter to be more interesting. Bother less, discover more; Eat less, taste more. Recently, I keep thinking how to find the value from the small things or just turn the boring trifles into interesting things. I begin to do every little things with a curious avidity.




I woke up on a wonderful Saturday and took a run outside to make me feel energetic. Then I thought I should rearrange the furniture in my apartment to make it well-organized even though I don't know where I should begin to do. I felt very very fresh and joyful after I cleaned up the most chaotic place. It's such a good beginning to my day. It feels like I am new and all the things surround me are also new.

Then I went to Disney store and bought a plush doll to decorate my pretty room. Now I know this doll called"Eyeore", but I named it" A lv" which will make Chinese laugh because its name seems silly in Chinese. It really delighted me because it filled up my missing childhood. I never ever watched any Cartoon and owned any dolls. Not like other child, the only target is study, to be top in class, something like that stressful tasks. Now, I reborn again with my liitle doll which never leave me alone.







I walked to supermarket and decided to cook at home. I found there are some baby potatoes which have different colors and I never seen it before in China!! It's so surprising that the same products show different appearance in diiferent places. And the watermelon is soooo big there. As my French tuitor said:" you will see any item in American is rather bigger than other places." I felt I should stay longer to experient American life. So I found there are so many American and Italian food which called "ready-made"in China in meat farm. I felt so familiar to find that scene as in my country. I ordered 2 home-made salad and Gourmet round potato knishes which I never tasted before. Then I wait for the kichener with a lots of American resident. I listened the convensation the 2 kichener made and found out they two are part-time worker from certain community college. It's not that common in my country that students work in that place. Half an hour passed, the kicheners never asked me what I need. I met an annoying housewife who taste each salad, butter, bread and buy nothing. "I think it's too strong for me, you should add some flour in it. Oh, it's 2.99 dollars last week, why*&^%&*&*could you check for me?..." The American and I stand out of lines to wait for that women and I notice other people like me have been waiting so long showed their impatient on their faces. They must curse the annoying woman for many thousand times in their minds. Although I can not read their minds, but I know American. Finally, I was the last one to get my foods because I don't know I should get a ticket so that I can order!!!!!!!! I am not that disappointed because I learned a lot from that. I love supermarket and I love life.



BTW, thank for Alexandra, this blog really helps us practice writing. without this blog, I think I won't write any informal passage in English!!

A walk for NY city

One of the things I enjoyed the most this summer was taking a long walk with my boyfriend through the streets of Manhattan. We started our walk at Ground Zero because we wanted to know how that place looked now. I could saw a beautiful building all covered with glass windows which were reflecting the clouds so perfectly that it seemed like it was not there. Then we walked to wall street, and I enjoyed so much seeing the different buildings and banks because they were exactly as I saw them in the movies. We walked through the narrow streets and we took many pictures in the historical places such as the George Washington statue and the Wall Street Bull. After, we walked to the ferry which goes to staten island, called The Staten Island Ferry; it was so amazing to be there and see the Statue of Liberty, so close and so real. The weather was nice, so we could take great pictures from the ferry of the statue and of Manhathan; later my parents told me that the photos seemed like real post card. After that, we walked in the direction of the Brooklyn bridge along the seashore. The landscape is gorgeous there, with the sea, Brooklyn neighborhood and the bridges; everything is romantic and quiet in that part of the city. By the time we arrived to the main entrance of the Brooklyn bridge, we were very tired, but we decided to walk through the bridge at least half of the way. At the end, we felt that all the fatigue and the effort were worth it.

By Claudia

Pleasure Summer Experience

Last weekwnd, my friend, Annie and I went to visit her uncle in New Jersey. We had an enthusiastic reception when we arrived their house. I deeply appreciated their hospitality.The house is big and beautiful with a large area of backyard. The waether seemed favorable for barbecuing, so we decided to have barbecue for dinner. We prepared hamburgers, hot dogs, pork chops, and cokes. As long as everything had settled down, we put the food on the grill. Annie's uncle is proud of himself for barbecuing skills, so we left the cooking work to him. The food soon became cooked, the backyard was filled with the savory smell of meat. I took a bite of the hamburger, it was so juicy!!I can say that Annie's uncle is really so professional. We lied down on the recliner chairs and enjoyed our food with breeze. The view in front of us was a large wood. What a cosy pleasure day!

by the way

The movie, Inception, is now strongly and officially recommended by me myself.

The Rainy Summer in Stony Brook

The weather of New York is very different from my hometown's. It's rainy every week in Stony Brook. I hate rainy days, because my hometown has a warm temperate climate, and it doesn't rain in my hometown; however, New York has a humid subtrop climate( it's from Wikipedia). It doesn't rain every week in my hometown.

I think raining is so inconvenient, sometimes it could bring some calamities to us. I live in West Apartment now. One day, it rained and was windy outside, I saw a shack that is near my building was flying, and it flew into one window of my building, then the glass is broken. However, rainy also has some positive adventage, so as it could bring water for emblement.

this picture of my building was taken by me, I hope it would not rain when I need to go to my classes, it makes me feel so frustrated.

The sky in America is very beautiful, this is one thing I really like and it makes me pleased. In my hometown, I never see the clean sky except days after raining, there are a lot of factories in my hometown, and local people are not very willing to protect my hometown's environment because they want to make more money, it is very different from America; In America, everyone wants to have a good environment to live, the good environment could make you feel confortable and live better, it is also healthy. I like the sky of America, the big sky!!

This summer the only place that I enjoyed the summer I mean the weather, the beach and the beautiful Mediterranenan sea was my homecountry. It's because I came here on July 10th and started school immediately so I couldn't really have a chance to have fun recently. However I came here(Long Island) last summer also, and I stayed in Lynbrook which is a place on the west side of the island closer to the Manhattan, for five moths. I was staying in a pretty house with an American family and they were so nice to me all the time. They were taking me to the most beautiful places of the Island and telling me about the cultural summer events of Americans like a block party, barbecue in the backyard, enjoying the ice-cream of Port Jefferson etc.. However I enjoyed one thing that we did so much, they took me a street which was closed to the traffic on that day. It was sth for the car-lovers.On that day I saw amazing cars on that street. People could walk along the cars and watch the amazing cars or enjoy the sounds of the most powerful engines :) People who were so proud of their sports cars, classical cars were giving us a chance to feel ourselves like in a car exhibition :) That was a pretty good memory for me....

Learning a new language is more challenging

Learning a new language is a big challenging for the foreigners , for they have to understand not only the words but also the culture and the tradition of the new country. Some time people who live in foreign countries are doing mistakes because of intercultural misunderstanding and lost of translation.
one of the challenges is differences in culture, habits and behavior, so foreign visitors may be desirable or not desirable the habits and traditions of the country, that would make them embarrassed.
in addition to culture and behavior, difference in food and clothing is a serious challenge which will be the first challenge facing foreigners.

On Jan. 2010 I took the Spring IEC (Intensive English Courese) at SBU, Where I found the program is very useful and helpful in order to enhance and improve my skills in English.However, I do beleive,in my case, that one IEC semester is not enough for improvment;thus, I am re-taking the program in this Summer semester. After passing the IEC Summer I will attend the fall semester of the doctoral program in Archaeology and anthropology At SBU.

in brief, if you would like to be more comfortable in a new country you have to adapt with the culture, habits of this country.