American life (Xinyi Wang)

During my 30-days life in Columbus, which impressed me most is the culture combination. When searching a restaurant for dinner, there are many choices. For example, Italian, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai etc. It is the same when go shopping, in Kroger there is a whole row of shelf holds Asian food and ingredients. I also discovered that there was a Muslin store near my apartment, many foods presented there were strange to me, interesting though. 

Study in OSU not only means I can get involved in American life but also have connection with other countries’ cultures. Iraq used to be a country shaped by media and news in my mind. With the Battle for Iraq, car explosions, suicide attacks, citizens seem to be living under constant danger. News seldom talk about Iraqi’s daily life, their happiness, sadness, how a father behave when his daughter get married. I just saw some of them shoved Saddam’s statue; some of them burned American national flag on street. However, after a long chat with Usama, who was born in Baghdad and lived there for 20 years, I got to know a different Iraq which has never been presented on screen. Some snacks in Iraq are almost the same as them in china, students there also cut class, Japanese animations are popular among teenagers. I am surprised that Usama and I have lots in common. I wish I could visit Iraq someday.

This is what my first month's American life tells me, people may come from anywhere in this planet, everyone has his/her extraordinary stories. However, we are all flesh and bone, we share common things. That is the reason why America is known as a melting bot.

Xinyi