Feeling

I’m so lucky to join the group to study in Monash college. This exchange activity which lasted five weeks is a very memorable experience to me. I have learned a lot.

The first day arriving in Melbourne is Saturday morning. We were driven to our own homestay. The exchange activity began. When I just arrived my homestay’s house, I was so nervous, I did not know what to do, so I spoke a little and did not give any request. I always stayed in my room and got out only when it was meal time. But this situation did not last for a long time. I tried to communicate with them actively, and I found that itiswas not so hard to get on with others. Coming to a totally unfamiliar place, I hope I can improve myself, be more independent and enhance my interpersonal skill. Luckily, I made it. I opened myself and became more confident. Maybe because I was in a totally unfamiliar situation, nobody knew me, or in other words, nobody had a built-in impression on me. I could easily try a new style, that’s to say, I had the courage to do things that I hoped to do but I did not dare to do.

As for the study in Monash college, although just studying language, I had still learnt something from it. Firstly, teacher always divided us into small groups and let us discuss in groups. By the way, the grouping was random. In this way, unfamiliar classmates could know each other quickly, and also, avoid the situation that only sharing ideas with familiar classmates. I thought this way can enhance our teamwork awareness. In our following professional studying, we could also always share ideas. Secondly, some instructions in class I could not understand, for difficulties in language or not clear with the operation. When it came to this case, I would ask questions and ask for details. However, in my professional studying, I was afraid to ask questions. I was afraid that my question was too stupid. Well, some questions could be solved on my own, but when I could not handle it, I was supposed to ask question, in other words, change my mind of afraid of asking questions.

In addition, during the five weeks of language learning at Monash University, I felt that there were indeed some differences between East and West education.

The first is group discussion. The classroom is very spacious. The chair and the desk were integrated. There were pulleys underneath to allow everyone to change their position. This also facilitated group discussions. In the classroom, the teacher would randomly let everyone form a group of several people and talk about their own opinions on a certain issue. First, the teacher will organize and randomly group by some methods. In this way, you could familiarize the less-known students, and avoid the exchange of opinions only in familiar circles, and never hearing the unique insights of others. And before giving a new topic, knowledge, or “standard answer”, this kind of discussion could urge the students to actively think and actively discuss. In the process of sharing with others, explaining one's own reasons, listening to other people's reasons and correcting their own answers, the process would enable them to understand the problem more profoundly, and communication with others would also improve their ability to persuade others. For new topics, the discussion could also be divergent. And group discussion could enhance everyone's awareness of cooperation and collaboration. In China, there are very few discussion sessions in the classroom in the university. Even if one gives them time, the students are very constrained and will not say much. Generally speaking, classrooms are not active and people may think positively in their own minds, but they do not often discuss each other. Of course, it does not mean that all issues should be discussed, but this degree is very difficult to grasp, and it may be possible to hear special insights in the discussion of a particular issue.

The second is to ask questions. In the classroom, the teacher would give some instructions to explain some of the knowledge, but because of language or understanding, we would have very active questions which were about the details of the operation or about something that you didn't quite understand. First of all, maybe because I arrived in a new environment and only studied for 5 weeks. I was not as nervous in the country, I am afraid of asking questions, no matter what the problem, as long as I do not understand, I will ask questions.

However, at home, I am really scared to ask questions. I always think twice before asking questions. Think about this issue and I will solve it if I think about it again. Or do I have to think carefully enough to avoid the teacher explaining Clearly, or subconsciously, fearing that the teacher is not clear about him is still embarrassing to let the teacher speak again and say that he will understand. This is not to say that there is no advantage in this way. Before we ask questions, we should first think for ourselves and resolve ourselves. But I'm always scared to ask questions, and I'm afraid the questions raised are too simple to be stupid and the like to teachers or others. The difference I feel here is that kind of atmosphere. The West encourages questions, and the problem is good. The teacher naturally says "good question!". Domestically, it also advocates asking questions, but it is still not too much to ask questions, or It is always part of people, not everyone. This requires everyone to work together rather than unilateral efforts. For me, I now find that asking questions is not as scary as I thought.

The third is the concept of time. There are deadlines for handing in homework. In China, there is no major problem in the work one or two days later. However, when handing in Monash, if the time for handing in the work is over, the normal channels for handing in the work are forbidden and need to be sent to the teacher. The email explains why it was sent to the teacher by email. Although this does not affect the operation of the pass or not, it will make the job impossible to be rated as excellent.

The fourth is computer work. My major is more about paperwork. Most of the work in Monash’s learning process is done online. Daily work can also be viewed at a computer school’s specific website. And the online work uses shared documents, which are the same kind of assignments, or need to be done in cooperation with the sub-groups. In the form of shared documents, everyone's ideas can be shared and inspired by others.

Next I want to talk about my life in Melbourne this time.

First of all, before I went to Melbourne, I did not make adequate preparations to properly understand the culture. So much to make jokes. For example, when I first arrived, I stood casually while riding the elevator, or standing habitually to the right. At that time, there were few people on the lift and sparsely crowded people stood on the left, but I did not care. Soon after, once, I was standing on the right, and a stranger behind me said "excuse me?". I thought that such a large empty space on the left should be enough, and moved to the right again to make room for the left. Bigger position. The man said again "excuse me?", I said it was strange, I feel that the man was helplessly walked from my left. At the time it was only a bit strange. It wasn’t until later that we found the elevator when there was more people. Generally speaking, people who did not have time to catch the left of the station where the elevator did not move, and left a smooth road to the rush to the right, could take both There is relative movement in the elevator. When I knew this, I only felt hot on my face and I was embarrassed. To give an example, I mainly want to say that before I actually did not pay attention to talk about customs and ah and so on, until this time it really awoke me, since it is to live there for a short time, these preparations are It is very necessary, otherwise it will be a joke.

Then, I want to talk about getting along with my host family. I was very nervous when I first arrived at my home-stay home. I didn't know what to say and what I could say. As a result, except for dinner, the rest of the day was spent in his room. Later, I slowly tried to communicate and found out that the parents of my host family were very good. In particular, my host family's mother was a person with a very strong sense of equality. It also made me feel very warm. In the home-stay family, I adhere to the principle of “do not understand first, follow rules, and respect life habits”. The host family I went to has just moved to a new home, so the whole house is very clean. My mother is a housewife, and she is also a loved one. Many furniture also need to be treated with care because it is just installed. And my host family's mother was a budget-conscious person, which made me not tell her in the first week when lunch was not enough. Later, I thought I should still say it. As a result, the mother would ask me "is that enough for you?" in the next few days. Later I realized that the mother just didn't know my appetite. I was afraid that it would be too much to give me more food. So, in estimating my appetite, I needed to give me the idea to help her understand my true appetite. When I first went there, I wondered why I didn't eat dinner with them. I knew a few days, and when I asked again, I realized that they were just not eating together. In short, it is to discover that we must dare to express our own ideas and make reasonable demands. Communication is very important, not always trying to figure it out. Just as I thought home-stay was a trick, it didn't take long to discover that they were just saving but the quality of life was not low. In the end, I established a very good relationship with the host family. Before I left, the mother said that I was someone who could express her thoughts and feelings in so many Chinese students she had received. She liked it very much.

In the end, through this exchange, I considered it to be a bit of a comprehension to “read thousands of books and walk thousands of miles”. This time abroad, although it is not completely independent, it is considered a relatively independent environment. On the outside, without the care of parents, friends and teachers, many things can only be faced and resolved. For example, after my host family introduced me to the school’s route, although I’m afraid I’m going for the first time on my own, the host family is obliged to take us to school again, because I’ve just gone I am sorry to trouble others. When I asked if I could go to school myself, I said "Yes." A person still does not remember the road after leaving the train and uses the mobile map software. This also made me really understand how to get the information I wanted from the map.

In short, this short-term exchange is really rewarding.

                                              Jiang Qi