A LETTER TO MY GRANDPA

Dear grandpa,

How are you going these days? Have you spent this Spring Festival in Shanghai? Hope you enjoy your eightieth New Year. Before I came to Singapore, I always spent the holiday with my family—may dad, may mom and my brother. Now it is was the first time and it was special.

Of my first Chinese New Year abroad

On the eve of the Chinese New Year, seniors from Xiamen University invited us, fellows from the SCUT, to get a get-together. It is a tradition here. Students from the same university in China should treat their juniors to a meal, if lucky, a big meal! It mainly aimed at strengthening the relationship between these alumnus and alumna, and in case of an emergency, they can take care of each other. And the seniors are more experienced than those freshmen, so they can provide many useful advises. However, our university is in its first year to join in this deal, so we have no seniors from the SCUT. Fortunately, seniors from Xiamen University have no juniors from their mother school either. So we accepted their invitation without any hesitation. Yes, it was a chance to “give”, most importantly; it was also a great chance to receive. Hehe. On that rainy night, we went to NTU(Nanyang Technology University). It was because the room there was larger and they could cook in their dormitory. A girl and a boy did the cooking that night. There were dumplings, fish, chicken and some special lettuce. A group of students from many different provinces in China gathered to enjoy the delicious. Up to now, I even did not remember their names. The outside world life was like this, we gathered, and then we parted.

About English learning

Two months passed so fast, and now I felt time flies even faster and faster. It is because we have so many things to touch, to understand, to absorb and to digest every day. When I put myself into these learning courses, one week, one month has no difference. During this period of time, the lectures on math and c program language are much less than before. It seems that I am sticking in the English learning. The tutors here focus on the ability of writing and presentation. These are all the things we lack enough exercising when we study English in China. We always spend a lot of time in preparation, writing, revising, and reciting. But the result is always like this: the tutor say, keep going on but don’t expect yourself so high. I do not know if I am truly expecting an unrealistic goal or I always feel unconfident in myself, I definitely have a sense of crisis. It was not easy if I want to completely master one foreign language. Even though, I believe diligence can make up for lack of intelligence. So I am still sticking on to it. Other than just studying English in class, I also seek for every chance to improve my English. Sometimes I take part in some activity held in NUS, or attend some open lectures. Things are always like this: those students sitting beside me are from all over the world, some of them are from English-speaking countries, and they speak English fluently. On these occasions, I must accept the fact that my future classmates also speak in this way. Many students think that language is not the most important part,. Probably, it is true. I can even say the studying in university is not the most important part either. I remember somebody once said that the last thing left when you forget all that you have learned in college is the essential meaning of education. I agree with this point. Actually, this is the reason why I treat English learning very seriously. I remember not just new words, or repeat the same mistakes, the things that make western countries what they are today conveyed by the language are what I truly fix my eyes on. For instance, it needs a well-organized thinking, which may help us work more efficiently. And the originality is also what they emphasized., that is they focus more on your own ideas and your honesty. So they take many soft and hard measures to prevent students from plagiarism. Now China also tries effort to improve the bad situation, but the consequence is not satisfactory. I believe without the society developing , it will become better.