Chinese International Student Enjoys American Culture

By Jeremy Harper (Media Arts student)

Hui Zeng, from Jingzhou, China, came to Wesley College from Yangtze University.

Zeng’s favorite hobby is singing. She has been practicing for five years.

“I feel happy when I stand on a stage to sing,” she said.

Zeng says that one of the most popular activities that students enjoy at Yangzte is karaoke. Students go out to clubs to sing at least three or four times a week.

“Karaoke is really popular in China,” she said. “It’s popular in a lot of Asian countries.”

Zeng likes American music as well as British Rock. Some of her favorite bands are The Fray and Oasis. She also likes Taylor Swift and Avril Lavigne. Her favorite Chinese-language artist is Show Luo, a Mandarin Pop artist.

“I think American and Chinese music are similar,” she said. “The languages are different, but the melodies are similar.”

Zeng sings often and plans to sing at Wesley’s Multicultural Night, where she will perform a traditional Chinese song.

She is in the currently in a choir class at Wesley.

“Choir is a fun class,” Zeng said. “[Professor Emmons] is really funny.”

The class size at Yangtze is much larger than that of Wesley. At Yangtze, there are about 40,000 students.

“The experience is totally different,” Zeng said. “I think Americans are more independent. They have more self-confidence.”

Zeng says that the students rarely have homework in Yangtze.

“Students in China consume important information from their teachers,” Zeng said. “Students here are really involved and there are more class discussions.”

There is only one exam at Yangtze University, instead of multiple exams that lead up to a final exam, unlike many American colleges.

Zeng is majoring in English. She has studied various aspects of the language, including grammar, writing, and pronunciation before coming to Wesley.

“I came to America for an eye-opening experience of the culture,” Zeng said.

Zeng can often been seen with her electronic dictionary.

“During the first few weeks, I used it all the time to understand,” she said. “I felt lost.”

In the cafeteria, she enjoys all kinds of food.

“I really like omelets. But my favorite is fried rice, although it’s messy,” Zeng said.

Her classes are Public Speaking, Introduction to Business, American Heroes, Crime Scene Investigation, and College Writing.

“American Heroes is a hard, more interactive class,” Zeng said. “College Writing is hard as well. It’s hard to understand. But it’s useful and I learn a lot.”

“However, no matter what class I’m in, I’m always learning English,” she said.

In the future, Zeng wants to be an interpreter for businesses.

During her free time, Zeng hangs out with friends she has made at Wesley.

She is also kept busy with her involvement with the International Student Organization. Members of the ISA have traveled to Chinatown to experience different cultures.

Zeng doesn’t watch much T.V. However, she enjoys “Desperate Housewives.”

“It’s attractive and I feel like I can learn something from it,” she said.

When she leaves at the end of the spring semester, she feels that she will miss Wesley.

“Of course I’ll miss it here,” she said, laughing. “When you live somewhere for a year you get really used to it, and I really enjoy this type of lifestyle.”

Robert Ramnauth contributed to this story.