IL-->WI

Just like what the title shows, yup, I moved from Illinois to Wisconsin. I have only been there for three days. My room is still a mess, probably that's why I am now at Starbucks. :P First day of my grad school class starts tomorrow. My teachers already assigned TONS OF readings, generously. Still can't believe that I am back to school, again.

OK, enough of the school talk. I know it's kinda boring. 

Results of my last few days of discovering this area, I found some local coffee shops, an awesome breakfast/brunch restaurant, a Korea/Japanese restaurant, some other nice Asian restaurants, a HUGE mall, etc. The mall is the second biggest mall in this state. Thinking to wonder around there when I am free. My roomie told me that during holiday people from Northeast of Wisconsin come down to shop and it would be jammed. Also, I am close to Green Bay. During football season, highway will be busier also. I kinda reluctant to pronounce Packers. You know, I have an accent. lol. Don't wanna embarrass myself in front of all the Packer fans >.<

People are pretty nice around. After all, this is still Midwest.. :P I met some of my classmates on the orientation day. Became friends with Miah, whose parents are from Laos. She's born and raised here though. Well...I believe we are friends now. :) Being minorities brings us together. Hopefully we will become study buddy through this tough program. Anyways, I tried to find out what kind of ethnicities are around here. Hmong is what Googled told me. I never knew about Hmong ethnicity before. So they are originally living an isolated mountain. Some are Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Laos. Pretty interesting. I need to know about about them. Hopefully Miah will invite me to her family, or I invite myself? :P 

I heard we get A LOT OF snow. Naturally and geographically, we are pretty up north now. I realize all the clothing stores are selling sweaters at the end of August already. I DO NOT like farewells, including saying goodbye to summer. I just heard a piece devastating news from my roomie that winter starts in November and lasts till March/April. Oh well, I can see tons of studying in coffee shops with hot coffee or staying in with hot cocoa winter time. But first, let's enjoy next two months. I will get fall season before my Illinois friends. :P 

So when any friend come to visit, I can bring you to this lovely yummy brunch place (who doesn't like brunch?), the big mall, beautiful lake around here, local coffee shops, and much more that I still need to explore myself. :P

The adventure just started. To be continued...

Learning English

    My English is far far far far from perfect. One thing is for sure though, it has become much much better than six years ago before I came to this country. Wanna know why? I will list some true experiences. Also, I really encourage people to go to the targeted language country to experience life or to study there. If not, maybe make friends with those who are native speakers.

    1. Overhear people's conversation, AND, understand most of it. Oh my word, sometimes I wish I didn't understand while I was studying at coffee shops or when people talk bad things about foreigners. It could be a good thing though. :P

    2. Speak up. Now I realize how intimidated I felt whenever I was "forced" to speak up. When I finally decided to say something in public, I felt my back and face were on fire. I could even feel my heart pumping out of my chest. It doesn't matter that my English is still not so great, but now I voice questions in class and in groups. I ask when I don't understand during conversation with barista, friends, and strangers instead of saying "yes" to everything or things that I don't understand. 

    3. Talk on the phone. Can you believe that I was afraid to answer phone calls for almost a year? I heard the phone ringing at my host parents' house continuously, I was so scared to pick up the phone because I didn't want them to miss any piece of important information. So I just let those people go straight to the voice mail. It wasn't that I wasn't able to understand people on the phone (actually maybe yes to this one too), but people couldn't understand me even more. Yes people, I have an accent. It is very hard to understand what people say if they have an accent. I hated to explain what I said over and over again or simply hated spell most of things that I said. Ugh. BUT. now when people ask me to spell, I will just spell instead of feeling "dang, how could you not understand me?" I make tons of phone calls now, despite people don't know me and very likely they probably will ask me to say the same thing again.
   4. Understand sarcasm. Now I realize how much people use sarcasm on a daily basis. Sometimes, I still have trouble recognizing it. Sarcasm is a big part of this culture. On Smithsonian.com, it says that 23% of the time phrase "yeah, right" was used, it was uttered sarcastically. After reading that, so many "yeah, right" from conversations popped into my head. Pretty amazing.
   5. Carry a conversation with a stranger. Thanks to Midwest friendly environment, it's quite often to have a conversation with a total stranger. Back in China, I learned that Americans always talked about weather if they didn't know each other or people didn't have anything to talk about. Actually, it's kinda true. Lots of short conversation with strangers are about weather.
  I can only think of these couple of things right now. Anyway, improving English definitely makes me more confident with what I do, act, or say. There is so much more to learn for sure though. 

SUUUUURPRISEEEEEEE!

     Life is full of surprises. It can be a good one, but also can be bad.
     Guess who is back to school? Surprise!! It's ME! Yay (yes, of course this is sarcastic "yay").
     Well...at least I had ten months of great experience as a nurse. I LOOOOOVE being a nurse. Simply loved what I did. Due to some simple complicated reasons, I quit my dream job and went back to school. (and yes, it was simple reason but also complicated.)
     Now, I am searching what's next.
     It's like all the sudden I became a child all over again. When I was younger, I dreamed of being a doctor, a barber, a chef, an artist, a traveler, and...hmmmm...Actually that's about it. I didn't dream too big, huh. As I have so much free time now, I have been thinking going school for massage therapist, professional photographer, or culinary art. I even think of my future restaurant name, settings, and everything. lol..was also thinking to open a restaurant back home then if I go back.
     Just a lot of thoughts and ideas popping up in my mind lately. Thoughts of going back home to be a nurse, going another country, volunteering somewhere in this world, studying for another major, etc etc. There are so much that I can do or I want to do. That's why it's hard. I have problems of choosing stuff I guess. Sometimes, I wish what future looked like. But, only He knows.
     Anyhoo, I do have my one clear and practical goal in my many ridiculous thoughts--go for grad school.
     Initially, my mind wasn't set for grad school after I quit my job because I did want to have more experience first. Now, going to grad school is a must. One professor from nursing school told me that education is never a waste. True that. Thinking of more opportunities and experiences after getting the grad degree, I am more determined now.
    It might sounds unreal, but I am kinda thankful for this free time to ponder about my life, despite how much disappointment along the road.
    After all, God has everything in control. :)