blog#4

                                             My previous school

                                                                                         Lei Chen

                                                                                                               #650

                                                                                                               4/26/2012

I am a transfer from Merrimack College-a small college in North Andover, Massachusetts. When I first came to OSU, I was so surprised by the huge campus, almost 10 times larger than my previous school! The faculty in charge of the orientation told us OSU has 12 libraries; almost each major has its own library; that’s awesome! You know, in my previous school, there is only one small library; therefore, it is hard to find an empty table sometimes. Moreover, OSU has campus buses giving students convenience to studying in different buildings, but in my previous school, you don’t need to worry about being late between two different classes, because it only costs 2 minutes by foot from one building to another.

   However, when I began to take class, I found the small college had its own advantages, for instance, the size of class was small, there were only 20 students in one class, so the professor could easily to take care of every student, furthermore each student had enough time to show their opinions; we have more chance to do presentation in the class and more group works. Therefore, the atmosphere of class was good; every student focused on the class. By contrast, the size of class in OSU is much bigger, I take the biology 110 this quarter, and there are nearly 600 students in the classroom! The professor stood on the front stage and talked through the whole class. Some students don’t focus on the class, but rather than talk with their friends or check their Facebook. Fortunately, the English 106 has a small size; it helps us cover the language barrier more smoothly. 

Besides studying, living in OSU and Merrimack College is also different. In Merrimack, 90% of the students live on the campus. Because students all live together, we have more time to get in touch with each other, and help each other. The RA will take care of all students, and hold various activities, for example, the match of table tennis, BBQ party, Pizza Night; these activities make our life more colorful, on the other hand, in OSU, most of students live off campus. Most students will rent an apartment and take the bus or drive to school. Anyway, living off campus is much cheaper and more convenient. Now I live in University Village, it is near the campus and providing shuttles to school. My roommate here is very nice; he also comes from China, sometimes, he will cook Chinese food for our dinner, that’s my favorite time.

 My first friend in American is Petar Golijanin; he was my roommate in my previous school. Petar is not an American even his English is every good now. He comes from Serbia, and he has studied in Merrimack College almost 3 years, his major is Biochemistry, he told me his goal was getting a PhD degree. At the beginning, I felt afraid to talk to him because my English was limited, but he told me that in his first year in America, his English was even worse than me, doing more practice was the only way to improve my English. Thus he suggested we could have a daily-talk before bedtime, actually, my English was improved quickly during that time. Before the exams, we would study in the library until 1 am, we encouraged each other when we felt tired and wanted to give up, sometimes I could help him do some math problem and he helped me check the grammar in my paper. Finally we both got satisfied grades in our final exams.

  Although I only studied in Merrimack for 4 months, it really gives me a wonderful memory—the building in school, the helpful professor, my roommate. Now I transferred to OSU—a totally different school from Merrimack College, I believe the life here will be a new adventure.