Is studying abroad good for everyone

by Yichun
Nowadays, more and more students are going to study abroad .However, not every one fit this studying mode. In my opinion, every one should take there own personalities into account first.

If you are an outgoing person who likes making friends and having parties, you may enjoy the life in America, because this kind of person they can fit the new environment quickly. Making friends and having parties also make help them reduce the homesick. They may tend to speak to local speakers in daily life.  As a result, they may fit this studying mode and learn more not both in the class and in their daily life with the local, because learning a foreign language is not just learn it in class especially in a foreign school.

If you a person who is nervous and don’t like speaking to others, it does’t means that you don’t fit studying abroad. You may just feel more difficult than the outgoing people to fit this mode. However, many problems are only temporary. From the findings of research, most of problems can be reduced and disappear after one year from you come to the foreign country including homesick, disorder of eating and drinking habits and so on. It just means that studying abroad are challenges for these kind of people. Most of people can cancer them .

However, there is only one kind of people don’t fit to go to study overseas from my point of views. The people who don’t have any ideals and don’t really know the reasons they come to study abroad don’t fit this kind of studying mode. In the days in a foreign country, you should set a goal avoid losing yourself. If you haven’t a goal in your life , the action you going to study abroad don’t make any sense.

In a word, it won’t be a problem that what kinds of people you are. Whether you have a goal or not is more important than anything else.

Information of Yichun Qiu

Hello guys. I'm Yichun Qiu, who comes from Shanghai China.I has just graduated from high school in China.Maybe I am the youngest students in this class. For some reasons, I came to Riverside to improve my English. Now I'm a 600 level student.The program I attended is ITT program.I love most of sport and do good in them . Riverside is a quite city and very dry .There is no air pollution is Riverside, which is better than Shanghai. Chinese food is the thing that I have missed most since I leave China. I love dumplings and noddles.Americans in Riverside are all very enthusiastic.The sky is very absorbing in Riverside at dusk.I think I will have a good time in Riverside.

FEAR

BY: RAZAN

         Fear is a natural instinct exists in every human being. It may grow or fade, depends on many circumstances but mostly on the person him/herself. The feeling that children most experience is fear of everything and anything. However, as the time goes by and with getting more knowledge of their environment, most of their fear will disappear. Unfortunately, some kinds of fear will stay or even grow more or at least will be replaced by other kinds. It is a fact that no matter how old people are, or how much knowledgeable they are, every one of them must have something afraid of. Fear is a complicated emotion that every single one of us has experienced; the difference is that each one has different things that he or she fear from.

         When I was a child, I used to sit alone, away from my siblings, and imagine different scenarios of my parents fighting with each other and get divorced. This habit created a huge fear inside my heart of living away from one of my parents. Fortunately, this fear lasted only for few years until I realized that it was only in my mind, and it was a result of watching too many movies and TV shows.

Before several years, I fell in love, so I got married, and thank God I have a wonderful husband and a very precious daughter. Luckily, I am more mature than before with less fear than ever, but a new fear has developed which is totally about my own family, specially my daughter. When I was pregnant, I used to think about the baby, is it going to be a healthy baby with complete organs and limbs? What is the safest environment to raise a child? Am I good enough to be a mother? All kind of questions was running back and forth inside my head, and I think it will be continuing till I die. All these personal fears are common among people in somehow or another.

Spring Festival - The Gradually Forgotten Chinese New Year

by Alexander Zhao

Spring Festival, the first day of the Traditional Chinese Calendar (Lunar Calender), the most important festival of Chinese solar term, is coming right up.

Just as Christmas for the westerners, the Spring Festival makes a lot of sense for the Chinese people. The Chinese New Year is deemed for originating from the state offering sacrifice activities in a legendary age. But not the same as Christmas, these offering sacrifice activities did not have fixed religious significance: China's sacrifice always focus on the ancestors, traditions and the unknown powers. Gradually, the state action evolved into a national celebration.

The Spring Festival in the traditional sense actually contains 23 days of celebration. 23 days, yes, from the 8^th day before the New Year Night to the 15^th day after it, the whole family will gather together to greet each other, celebrate the harvest of the past year, worship the ancestors and pray for good luck in the coming year. Every day in the festival has its distinct content, such as sacrificing to the Kitchen God, worshiping the ancestors, pernoctating and so on.

Speaking of traditions about the Spring Festival, people will always recall firecrackers, spring festival couplets, paper-cuts and New Year paintings. But Chinese people in different regions do have different customs. Dumplings are the most popular spring festival food in north China. Then in the South, we prefer the rice cake. Some ethnic groups from the west and southwest have their specific folk dances for the New Year’s celebrations. People in most area of China eat Yuanxiao (a Chinese food made from glutinous rice flour) in the last day of the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival. But other areas with no glutinous rice choose some different foods to express good wishes in that day.

The Spring Festival is the most exciting and anticipated days for me and other Chinese.

But, unfortunately, as some other traditions, the Spring Festival seems to be gradually forgotten in the past years, especially the last twenty years. People no longer interested in these traditions. They are more willing to see the Spring Festival as a normal long-term holiday and they no longer maintain the customs. Someone say that we are now living in a fast-paced era, and the traditional culture cannot meet this age. Some sociologists argue that the long and tedious customs could not be shored up by today’s social cultures. Others consider the “weaken” of festive atmospheres are caused by the invasion of western cultures, for example, the Christmas and the Valentine’s Day. But as my opinion, the loss of traditional festival is due to the clash between the traditional civilizations and the modern civilizations.

Put aside the ridiculous years in the 1960s and the 1970s, the foundations of China's traditional agricultural civilization were swayed by the modern industrial civilization and electronic civilization. In an age of plenty, materials and communication no longer restricted the development. People can communicate and greet at any time through the telephone or the internet, and they also no longer try to hold food due to the shortage. Consequently, we cannot be attracted by the Spring Festival any more by those reunions and food consumption  Meanwhile, the seven day’s national holidays are not long enough to complete all the traditional ceremonies. So we continually abandon the traditions one by one until they all disappear.

Some specialists appealed to “Protect the Spring Festival” for protecting the traditional cultures. But as far as I can see, the most pressing problem is how to balance the traditional cultures and modern civilization.

Whether are the traditions still necessary in the world today? Do the traditional cultures need to be update or redefine in order to cater to now’s society? The way to solve these questions will lead us into different future.

Introducing Razan

Hi everyone,
As a new student in Reading-Writing Class, I would like to introduce myself, so you can have more ideas about me as a classmate.
First of all, let's start with my background. My name is Razan , I am from Saudi Arabia, my hometown is a holy city called Madinah. As a muslim, it is a gift from our god to live and to be raised in such a city, the city of our prophet. I grew up there with a lovely family includes my parents and my four siblings.
As for my education, I have a bachelors' degree in Microbiology. I worked as a lab specialist in the Armed Forces Hospital for several years in my country.. I really loved my work there. It was a wonderful experience.
As for my personal life, I am married to the man I loved from the bottom of my heart, and we have a beautiful angel. She is almost two years old.
My time is always occupied with either studying or taking care of my family, but sometimes I still love to do some interesting and crazy stuff with my friends like bungee jumping or sky diving.
Finally, I am so happy for meeting new people because now I can make new friends from several countries with different backgrounds, which may enrich me by experiencing many kinds of different things in one place.

Believe In Yourself - Minji Lee

How wonderful it would be if  everything goes in the way we want!

     There is a Korean song titled "As I Say" which I like the most. It is saying "Just go after your own heart, and live your life with the way you believe in." Yes, definitely. We all know this eternal verity already. However, it seems to get more and more difficult to make it real with advancing years.

     Everybody makes a lot of choice, and faces a lot of challenge in one's life. There would be little reckless or dangerous but really necessary thing in your life among what you decided. Whenever you hesitate to put something into action immediately, is there anybody who can say your selection was totally right and you can surely succeed in your challenge?

     If there is someone like that, who is it? Your parents? Of course, our parents always trust us although we are not very great, actually. Then, your best friends? So do they. And then, your boyfriend or girlfriend? Well, maybe they'll do, either.

     However, even though all of them trust you, it is no use if only one person doesn't.

     It's you, yourselves.

    Let's say you challenge something that has lots of possibility of discouraging and trampling on you. Maybe all your parents and friends will try to stop you from keeping that choice. Because it could hurt you with its sharp claws. If you don't believe in yourself in front of such that reckless challenge which everybody desperately oppose, it never give you anything you want.

     This is what had happened when I was a high school girl.

Actually I studied well until I was a middle school student. But my grade started to hit the bottom since I became a high school student because just I loved playing. And, I became a senior. The time I had to take the College Scholastic Ability Test was just around the corner! O.M.G! It was really, totally, sincerely darkness.

     "What can I do? Can I enter the university? I need to enter Chung-nam National University AT LEAST!"

     Chung-nam National University is the most famous one in my province. However, in honest, I am was not good at studying. You'd better believe it. Then, guess what I did. I believed! I believed that I could enter there at least! Of course it doesn't mean I just believed without anything to do. I studied hard with this confidence. And as you see, now I'm a beautiful senior of that univ. 

     That's not all. After I entered a collage, some of my friends began to have studied abroad as exchange students. I envied them not only because they seemed to be great people, but also because I  had a strong desire of learning English in United States. In my univ., there was a program to help students study abroad and financially support them. To apply to it, high TOEIC or TOEFL scores were needed. Even though, my father was little pessimistic about my aspiration, I hold fast my own dream and kept to study hard to get high scores with a certain belief. It was not easy. But, as expected, life is going in the way we believe. Finally I am studying English in UCR in U.S. as an international student.

     How do you feel, guys?

Actually the examples I took were not huge things, and they were not much boast of. However, these are a part of real facts that made me think everything goes in the way that I believe.

     Everybody, life is just a series of selection and challenge which is large and small. And in front of such those decisions, you might shake with fear. But please let's don't run away. Just believe in ourselves. Just believe that W.E. C.A.N D.O A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G! Even though there is a very slight chance. Our belief and principle must help us, 

.

Have you heard about Palm Reading?

By Stella Nam

Palm reading, known as palmistry, is one of the fortunes telling reading line on your palm. It is originated from the Far East and it has been used in the cultures of India, China, Korea and even some countries in Europe.

If you are looking for a fun way to pass the time and impress your friends, this Palm reading would be good choice.

# 1.     To choose hand.

	Right Hand	Left Hand
Female	What you are born with	accumulated throughout your life
Male	accumulated throughout your life	What you are born with

But it can also be whichever hand is dominant, which can be your present/past life hand and the least dominant hand could be your future life hand.

# 2.      How to Read

  There are 4 main line which are the life, head, heart, and destiny line.

Line 1 is a life line.

This line is believed to show the person's vitality and physical health. Long and deep line means a person may live healthy and long life. On the other hand, short or chopped line means a person may not live a long life. Shallow or faint line means that you are not healthy.

Line 2 is a head (brain) line.

It tells your learning style and intelligence.  If you have a deep and long line, it means you think clearly and focus well . Curved and sloping line tells you are creative. People with a wavy line show short attention span and people with short line prefer physical achievements such as sports. Also when this line approaches near the end of the hand, it means you are genius!

Line 3 is a heart (emotion) line.

It is related to emotional stability and romantic perspective. If this line begins below the index finger, it means you are selfish when it comes to love. If begins below the middle finger, it means that you fall in love easily. If this line is wavy,  you are absence of serious relationships and broken line tells that you have emotional trauma.

Line 5 is a destiny line and not everyone has it (I don’t have this line).  

It indicates the degree to which a person's life is affected by external circumstances beyond their control. Deep line shows that you are strongly controlled by fate. If this line starts joined to life line, it means you are self-made-individual and develop aspirations early on. If starts at base of thumbs and crosses life line, you are supported well by family and friends.

I can see that some of you guys say , "Nah, I don’t buy it! "

but who knows?!

Even Marilyn monroe had tried it ;)

Humor me, just for fun!

Introducing -- Chris Huang

  Hello my all classmates.. im Chris...I believe that everyone wants to know more about each other,
so today I would like to introduce myself.

  My chinese name is Feiteng Huang, and it is difficult to pronounce, so you guys can just call me Chris.

   Im from China, and im 19 years old. In China, i was a high school student. i came to USA for studying English and Medical Management. I have been here for one year, however, i will go to irvine next quarter, so I cherish the time now, like i want to meet more friends, i want to improve my english skills.

   My hobby is playing basketball, and i was playing in my high school team. I love sport, how about you guys? Do you like sport? like football, baseball, even running...

  I really want to talk with you guys, if you have any question about me, just come to ask..


  thank you for reading my blog ... and hope you guys enjoy the times in USA~

Introducing> Abdullah Tours

Hey everyone, I'm Abdullah Tours,

 I was born in 1989, Dhahran city, Saudi Arabia. I am a Saudi National .In June/2012, I had successfully graduated with major in Law from King Abdualaziz University in Jeddah, with a bachelor's of Science degree, from the faculty of Economics. I came here in the U.S to improve my English language, after that I'm planing to complete my master degree in Business Law for L.L.M program at Harvard University one of the best Law school in the U.S.Currently I'm studying at U.C.R Ex, for English program ESL, I live at University Village Towers, Riverside,CA. On the other hand, let me tell you about my hobby I love all the activities at the beach in general, for example: fishing and diving, also I love to play volleyball in the beach.

Thanks you all for your time reading my personal statement. I hope you all enjoy reading it, and if your interested to know about me more please just leave a comment with your question. I will be more than happy to answer your question am like an open book.

Introducing Minji Lee

     Hi, everyone. My name is Minji Lee. I am from South Korea.

     I am 22 years old and have blood-type O.
I think I am typical O-type girl. That means I am usually outgoing and open-minded to people.
Especailly I love to communicate with new friends and to hang around with them. That makes me alive.
So, if anybody who reads this post has any interest in me, just comment under this post. Let's have lunch or dinner together!
     My family is consist of father, mother, an older brother, and a lovely dog. All my family members have very positive and enjoyable personalities. Because of this feature, usually my home is full of laughter. So, I laugh a lot. However, it doesn't mean that I laugh at you. Please do not misunderstand when I suddenly laugh in front of you.
    I continuously lived in Dae-jeon, which is small and peaceful city in Korea. The schools I graduated from are all located in my home city. For that reason, actually I was very tired of that area. So, when I was a senior of high school, I really tried to hard to get high scores in SAT. Because most of high level universities are in Seoul, capital city.  And to enter such those universities, high scores in SAT are needed. I wanted to move to another city by entering high ranking university but  failed. Consequently, I had no choice but apply to Chung-nam national university located in Dae-jeon, again. But, now I am very proud of my self because my school is the most famous in that province.
     My major is German language and literature. I can speak in German as well as English. However, German is more complicated than English. So, I much prefer English, honestly.
    When I have spare times, I call my friends and go outside with them. Actually, my home is in downtown. So, I can do pretty many things with my friends there. Usually, we go to a coffee shop and chat with each other. If it is tiring, we go shopping or go to a pub. Though it is not very special, it makes me high. I think happiness is always around our ordinary life.
     Now I finish my introduction. Thank you so much for reading my post. And, as I mentioned above, if anyone wants to be a friend with me, just call me! You're always more than welcomed.

Introducing Jen

Hello, my dear classmates.

My name is Jen, and my Chinese name is Yu-Chieh Huang(黃郁潔).
I'm from Taiwan. I live with my parents, elder sister and younger brother in Taipei which is the capital city in Taiwan. We have one dog and five cats.
I came here last September. This is my second quarter. I will stay here until June which means I have one more quarter. I came here to improve my English. After this I will go back to my country to find job.
I live in IV dorm now.

I like to watch movie and drama in my free time. Also I play basketball for 3 years and volleyball for 5 years.

I like to go to gym recently, so if you guys are interested, you can come with me.
Nice to meet you guys!
Hope we can have a great time in class.

I Am Stella!

Hi guys :) I'm Stella from Korea and  I'm living with my parents and youger sister in Seoul.
I'm majoing in "Library and Information Science" which sounds  boring but very essential studying...
I used to live in New Zealand for studying English about..5 years ago. It's really nice place not only for studying English but also for weather or people etc.. you really should go.. Foods are nice , Kiwi (people from New zealand) are very kind , the view and so on . You have my word that you can enjoy living there to study English and meet great people there too. I also lived in Japan for a month to study Japanese too, but I don't really remember japanese anymore because it's been a while to speak Japanese... 

I like learning foreign languages so much that I  have travelled a lot , Sydney at Australia is one of my favorite place.  I love every kinds of music such as Classical, pop, rock and so on. One of my favorite musician is John Lennon from The Beatles because I love his philosophy and the style of music... Also I enjoy playing the Chopin (Mozart is too difficult for me ).
It does NOT  mean that I always stay at home to play the piano or listen to music. I really love hanging out with friends for drinking or shopping something like that...

Glad to see ya guys :-)

Introducing Alexander (Ji Fang) Zhao

Hi, every one.

It's so great to meet you all and introduct myself to you.

My name is Zhao Ji Fang. Or you can just call me Alex. Zhao is a very common family name in China and it's also the first family name in Chinese Family Name Dictionary "Bai Jia Xing". My family named me Ji Fang for blessing me lucky and smart forever.

I come from China, the main land. I was borned in Shanghai, the economic center of China. I am totally a city boy and I never left Shanghai for more than a month.

I was graducted from Shanghai Tongji University. My major is Environmental Science, a broad subject. After my graduction, I was hired by the government for environment protection. Three years later, I transfered to ERM, an international environment, health and safety (EHS) consultant company, as a EHS consultant for two years.

I love sport and art. The soccer and chinese pop music are my favourites. And I'm insterested in pop-classical music too, such as Adele and Sarah Brightman.

Nice to meet you all.

Hi I'm Erin

Hey my dear all
    I love u guys ^0^
                          

                                           Erin

WELCOME!

Welcome to the Reading-Writing 634 class blog!

You are encouraged to use this blog as a place to keep notes, to present your ideas and opinions, or to start a discussion about a topic that you find interesting or important.

Here is a basic truth about writing:

The more you write in different contexts and situations, and the more you spend time writing, the faster your writing improves! 

Much like learning to play the piano or ride a bicycle, writing is a physical process; more than most people think! Consequently, the more you write, the more comfortable you'll feel about writing in English, and when you get more comfortable, you can better concentrate on improving specific skills, like paying more attention to word choices, or finding different ways of developing an idea, as well as learning how to find your own grammar and syntax problems.

Writing is the best way to get a deeper understanding of the complexities and flexibilities of a language. It can also help you organize your thoughts and ideas, think about situations you may not feel comfortable about discussing with others, and it can even help you create alternate realities if you so wish. Some say that you don't know what you really think about something until you write down your ideas!

Best wishes to everybody, and I hope we will have a great learning experience this quarter!