Written by: MingWei Xu
It has been almost a year since I came to study in the U.S. Looking back at the past two semesters, it really feels like a dream.
It feels like my very first day arriving here was just yesterday. When I first stepped onto this campus, everything was so overwhelming. I faced so many daily struggles, and the cultural shocks hit me hard—from the completely different language environment to the way people communicated. I was so lost and clueless, and I didn’t even know how to fit in.
But when I look at myself today, I can see I really changed a lot.
I went to campus activities, joined a university research project, and maintained a straight-A GPA for two semesters. I got these results, but to me, the most important part of this whole year was the classroom that taught me how to handle these struggles and take my first step: my Intensive English Institute (IEI) courses. Without that first step, I wouldn’t be doing any of these things today.
How the IEI Classroom Solved My Daily Struggles
This is why the IEI courses were so helpful to me. It didn’t just teach dry grammar from textbooks; it actually looked at where we were struggling and helped us through tests and daily activities. Whenever we hit a wall or felt too scared to speak up, they didn’t just tell us we were wrong. Instead, they slowly guided us and taught us the exact ways to learn.
A real example was our culture class, where we drew maps together. We used those maps to show our journeys and talk about our homes and our lives before coming here. This simple activity broke the ice, stopped me from feeling so alone, and helped me start to understand this new place.
The best proof that we were getting better happened at the end of the semester, when our IEI class had a speaking competition. I worked with two classmates for a three-person presentation. We did the research, formatted our ppt and practiced how to speak together. Finishing that competition successfully showed me exactly how much our English had improved.
Learning from Others at the Global Symposium
Right after building this foundation, I attended the Global Symposium hosted by the Rinker Center for Global Affairs.
During the symposium, I listened to the professors share their insights on culture maps. Melissa Gentry and Dr. Martina Schiavo shared their original purpose for creating this map activity and showed us the works of previous students from every year, explaining how the maps weren’t just about hometowns, but also about showing each student’s personal imagination.
I also heard other students talk about how useful learning English really is for their futures. As an international student, sitting there and just listening to their presentations gave me a strong sense of empathy. Hearing their experiences made me feel exactly what they felt—the struggles and the hopes.
It made me realize that we are all on this journey together, and it made me appreciate the early foundation I was building even more.
Turning That First Step into Real Courage
The basic skills I practiced in IEI and the things I learned from students’ experience turned into real courage in my daily life, helping me step out of my safe zone.
With the confidence I got, I started to try things I was scared of before. I joined the Benny Buddies program on campus and learned how to actively socialize with people. I am so grateful to the friends I met there—they were always so patient and never minded listening to my broken English.
Armed with that support, I pushed myself even further during International Education Week. I stood in front of a big audience to give a presentation on Chinese Kung Fu. Instead of just talking on stage, I actually invited people to try some simple Kung Fu moves with me. In that moment, the cultural exchange wasn’t just words on a slide anymore; it genuinely touched my heart as we laughed and moved together.
Because of this experience, I stopped being scared to casually small talk with my professors when I saw them on campus, and I also had the courage to walk into their office hours to talk face-to-face. More importantly, that first step in IEI gave me the heart to try even bigger things later—like joining the Teacher-Scholar Program and worked with my mentor, Dr. Fu-Shing Sun, to do big data cleaning. Working on this data project really opened my eyes and helped me understand my major classes so much better. I finally felt like I belonged to this university.
I Am Still Finding My Way
Looking back, I am so grateful to my teachers. They did much more than just teach a class. When I was totally lost and confused, Dr. Susan Luo sat down with me and gave me real, honest advice that helped me through. Because of them, I learned how to speak up and stop hiding in the back of the room.
But I don’t think I’ve cleared the script of life yet. I am not perfect at all, and I haven’t figured everything out. I am still just a student who is trying to find who she really is, and I still have to break through my own fears every single day.
To all the international students who left home for a new country: none of us are perfect, and this path has a lot of uncertainty. But looking back at my year, I know that as long as we take that first step—just like I did in the IEI classroom—we can navigate the confusion together and slowly grow into a better version of ourselves.
