Trang Tran (Jane) shares her experiences looking back on freshman year at LeTourneau University. While the adjustment to college life is already big enough, her transition also consisted of moving half-way across the world to a new land, new people, new culture, and a new life.
I was born and raised in Vietnam, a tiny little country in South East Asia. 17 years-old, I made the biggest decision to leave home for college in the US. Everyone was shock. Some are excited for me; others are skeptical. For months, I spent most of my time after school reading online forums and panels about studying abroad. Many of them have great experiences, but there are also stories about
students who could not handle culture shock. After all, it is a completely different world. The fact made me nervous because unlike most others I have no family or friend here. However, I was too urgent to go and see the world then. I somehow convinced myself that it wasn’t any big deal.
Everything hit me all at once when I got to college. I’m an adult now, no more orders from parents. I started to set up my new life. I never knew it could be that hard. For the first time, I realize how
much I have at home. For the first time, I wished mom and dad were there to tell me what to do. Fortunately, I didn’t have much time to be homesick. International-Student Orientation quickly took me away to all kind of wonderful things about America and LeTourneau University. I was amazed by the beauty of campus, and Wal-mart is just unbelievably huge. Through the orientation I got to know and became good friends with some of the most amazing people from all around the world. We had a great time just sharing about personal experiences coming to the US and cultural diversity. It is fascinating how the world can be so similar and different at the same time.
Besides the international group, my floor is another family I have at LeTourneau. For the first time ever, I get to live with around 100 brothers and sisters. We have meals, do homework, and hang
out almost every day of the week. Conversations and fun never end. The best thing about college is that you don’t need a reason to do anything, including late night Wal-mart trips. I love Wal-Mart. We went and had a ton of fun taking pictures with their stuffs. One of the staffs there even joins us for several pictures.
Over all, I am having a great time at LeTourneau. It’s totally is the place God calls me to be; and I’m excited to see what is he bringing me next.
(Jane and her new college friends on their adventure to Wal-Mart)
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