I experienced serious culture shocks since the first day I arrived at MSU. YES. It’s really embarrassing to admit that, because it’s not my first time visiting the States. Also, as a 25 year old woman, I should have more experience with new surroundings. But I still have difficulty adjusting to the new environment. I was embarrassed when I got strange, confused or surprised looks from the people I interacted with. However, I noticed myself adapting after enduring all these embarrassing moments and challenges.

Welcome to the East Lansing dark night

The first night in the Spartan Village was a “dark” night. I couldn’t find lights in my bedroom. When I turned the switch on, my room was still dark. “My light is broken!” I cried.

The next morning, I spent an hour searching for the light. After discovering there was no light fixture on my ceiling, I went to the community center. The gentleman at the front desk was confused and said “you have to buy it yourself.” It was the first time I experienced no light in a bedroom in my whole life. I finally understand there was no light because the management company needs a permit to set ceiling lights in rooms, which is very expensive.

Be a first online shopper in Walmart.com

Before coming here, I heard about how popular online shopping is in the States. Therefore, when I decided to buy a bike, I chose Walmart.com as my first online shopping destination. However, when I received my bike, I was really surprised with their packaging. Walmart separated almost every part of the bike and shipped them to my apartment. I’ve never experienced putting a bike together, but I thought, “when in Rome, do as Romans do.”

Therefore, I went to Meijer and got some tools. After spending all night fighting with my bike, I still couldn’t make it. I was so desperate. Luckily, it was easy to return products to Walmart, so I returned it and got a “pre-made bike”. It was a big surprise for me as a first-time online shopper in the States, but I also experienced the super-convenient home delivery and product return services. And I will remember to not order big things from online stores, unless I have the ability to put parts together.

Traffic roles are always the biggest culture shock

The first day after getting my bike, I immediately faced an embarrassing situation – I didn’t know when I should cross the street. With my common sense, I could tell the “white man” sign means “go”, but I was so shocked because the white man only showed up a few seconds until it became the “flashing stop sign”. I didn’t know what that meant. “The red palm” supposedly means stop. But what’s the meaning if it is flashing? Should I stop? Or should I go? To follow the traffic rules, I decided to cross the street during the “white man” sign, but it’s difficult to completely cross the street during the few seconds it appears. After observing other pedestrians, I found out its okay to cross the street during the “flashing palm”. It was a really embarrassing situation but I really learned a lesson.

Meet wonderful “Kroger Family”

Even though there are lots of things I need to get used to, I still enjoy the culture differences. One of my favorite parts of American culture is that people are easy to chat with and not very self-protective. When I walk along the road, people smile at me. When I wait for the bus, people are willing to talk to me. I met a local family in Kroger just because I was buying soaps as the same time as a mother and her daughter. The “Kroger Family” was really nice. We had a nice chat in Kroger and they invited me to their house for a Labor Day BBQ. It was a fantastic experience for an international student like me to enjoy a real American meal with an American family.

Find self-identity and know myself more

I arrived at MSU in the end of July. It was an early arrival. Therefore, there were almost no students on campus. Besides, I live by myself. At first, it was pretty cool. But after two weeks, I started to feel depressed, because I only got a chance to talk while buying things or asking for directions. Luckily, I have very supportive family and friends behind me from my hometown. Eventually, I started to enjoy living and doing things alone. Within myself, I found a “new friend”.

After staying in East Lansing for one month, I learned three lessons: First, a big city does not represent the whole country. I had stereotypes, such as Americans are always arrogant, from my travel experiences in Los Angeles. Secondly, I found my self-identity from the loneliness. I learned to endure the loneliness and started to enjoy it. The last, treat every challenge as a chance to learn. “Threat can also be an opportunity” is what I learned in my Marketing management class this semester. Try to learn things from the difficulties you meet. I figured out that a positive attitude is the best solution to help international students to overcome from the culture shock and the homesickness.

“I wish you to be strong and blossom like a Chinese plum.” These words are gifts from my mom before I came to America. The Chinese plum is our national flower. The importance of the flower comes from it’s strong will to grow and blossom through the snow during winter’s coldest days. The spirit of the blossom carries me throughout my journey. I know I can be stronger and tougher with the “new me” and find beauty in the difficulties. I believe I have embodied the strength of the flower by growing during my journey of discovering myself.