As a matter of fact, I did not expect to be so busy for the first week here, and I was glad that I don’t need to sit in front of the computer for days. As much as I would love to make myself busy, I sort of start to doubt how long I can last in this kind of condition. I begin to get used to the new environment and I did not really have time to sit down quietly to think too much each day. But I guess when time goes by, the view is getting clearer. Whether I am going to like it or not, I shall see. I have been asked by many if I like this country, but my answer was always ambiguous, since I haven’t known this place well enough to make a decision yet. The first impression was good, yet gradually I find it’s not much different from where I came from. It’s more developed for sure, but it surely has its problems as well. I haven’t started to miss my home yet, but when I was walking back home alone around 7pm with my stomach grumbling, my feeling was quite overwhelming today. Although most of my days here were nice and new, I had some bad days as well. It’s not perfect, and I know it’s not going to be; although I am trying to make everything perfect.

Today is supposed to be remembered as it’s the department orientation day today. We had pizza in the Lindner Hall at 12pm and then the orientation meeting went on until 4pm. One interesting thing I noticed was almost all PhD students in my department are either Chinese or Indian-I could barely see any Americans study for the degrees beyond MS. As I quit my good job and came here for my PhD, I have always hoped I had made a good decision, yet as the excitement and curiosity fade away, I gradually start to ponder where I should fit in here. When I could scarcely see any of my peers younger than me, I am a little concerned, although I have expected this before I came. Yes, it’s different, because I need to fight for what’s good for me instead of sitting there to wait. The first several times when I tried to look for help, I was sort of frustrated by the tight schedules that everybody was having, because they could not stop to just take care of you. You are new here? Good, go and figure out things by yourself and ask questions. Because they don’t feed you stuff like the way I was used to in China. Although I do appreciate the initial help I gained from people in the church, when school really begins, I am kind of worried. Maybe this is called the cultural shock they’ve been emphasizing since our arrival. The way they are dealing things here is different and as my manager used to tell me, being active is really important. It is true that perhaps 2 years later one day when you wake up, you think it’s the day for your graduation while you have been doing nothing and your advisor has no idea where you are, because you are just sitting there and being passive. That kind of methods don’t work here any more.

The first two weeks here are so busy and I have to make a list of things I need to do each day. As I found myself adjust to the new life here quite easily during these days, I am really not sure about the academic life here until new classes begin next week. There are lots of uncertain things so far, and I can only hope for the best and try my hardest.

Well, since I am already almost settled down here, it would be ok to put a new nice pic on for my blog logo for a while. Downtown of Cincinnati reminded me of Shanghai somehow, but people there are nice-since we still got greeted by total strangers on the road. Maybe it’s because it was during daytime when it was relatively safe, or maybe Cincinnati was misunderstood by most people. Anyway my first impression of downtown was awesome-I’ll give it an A.

I guess for any normal people, it’s no fun to move 3 times in one month, but this time I am glad I can finally have a place of my own for a while; so I won’t worry about moving until next year. Although all those packing, assembling and unloading things gave me a headache, I was quite relieved in the end somehow. Also cooking spaghetti is not as hard as I thought-once you put the sauce and noodles in two different pots and all you need is to is to wait. The taste is not much different from that in restaurants in my opinion.

So far there are many things I like here, such as loads of different varieties of food and magazines you can’t buy in China. But the public transportation system here is not something I could get used to for a short period of time-I miss the subway system. That’s why almost everybody here has a car-it’s like the bike in China.

Still, there are many things I need to do for the first month, but I think it’s getting better…

I have to admit I am not familiar with Italian or American food here, but the Caesar Salads I had today were just great and I had them for both lunch and dinner at Dayton. Burgers are bigger and Pasta is nicer here-I don’t know what else to say. Shoes in the malls are generally bigger, and it’s a little harder to find shoes of my size. I was so stuffed today after each meal. I was just wondering if I might get fat after 1 month but when seeing those overweight people walking around on the street, I am kind of released, really.

It’s been interesting so far, although I know new potential challenges are down there somewhere.