When I first arrived in the United States, I suffered from "dollar exchange phobia"
Many China people come to the United States for the first time to study and live in the United States, and they all go to the United States alone for 30 dollars (at most 100 dollars). Then a few years later, he became famous, gave up the temptation of high salary and returned to his hometown with an unknown amount of dollars.
And my experience is a different version. I came to America with a lot of dollars. Because before I was admitted to Harvard, I had graduated from Tsinghua University School of Journalism and Communication with a master's degree, and worked as an English teacher in Xi 'an Campus of New Oriental for more than two years, completing some "capital accumulation". Moreover, Harvard gave me a "half prize" of $7,000 per semester. But before the scholarship was in place, I paid the tuition and living expenses in advance. Besides, I also brought 10 thousand yuan in cash. Because of this pure pocket money of $10,000, I am particularly "emboldened" to go abroad-the pocket money of American college students is only $500 a month, which is equivalent to nearly $65,438+$0,000 a month in a year.
When I saw me off at the airport, my parents shed tears and my mother cried even more sadly. Until I entered the customs, my mother said to me uneasily, "son, don't forget to deposit the money in the bank early when you leave."
I arrived in Boston safely and walked out of the subway station in Harvard Square. I saw a small building like a small European castle, and I felt as if I had just come to Harvard through an underground tunnel. Because of the time difference, I woke up after sleeping for less than three hours. I started in running all the way early in the morning-registering, opening an account, applying for a job and applying for a student ID card. What the school arranged for us to do in a week, I finished it all in one day. An American girl in my building was dumbfounded when she saw me working tirelessly at such a high speed. Finally, she couldn't help asking me, "Alex (my English name), do you want to graduate tomorrow?"
After a busy day, I finally got used to the time difference. At 6 o'clock in the afternoon, after finishing the last procedure, I went back to the dormitory and fell asleep in bed. I woke up at 2: 00 in the morning. I just realized that I haven't eaten for nearly two days. I didn't want to eat because of the jet lag at first, but I was too busy to eat later. I am so hungry that I have to go out to find food. I remember that there is a 24-hour supermarket called CVS in Harvard Square. This is my first time shopping in America. Walking into the supermarket, I found that everything was more expensive than I expected except Haagen-Dazs ice cream. A large tube of Haagen-Dazs ice cream costs $5, which is surprisingly cheap compared with a few balls with a domestic price of 100 yuan. But strangely, everything else is expensive. For example, a box of potato chips costs 2 dollars. If converted into RMB, it is about 16 yuan (at the current exchange rate); The price of an orange is 1 USD, which is close to 8 yuan money when converted into RMB. Finally, I really could not bear to part with it, so I just bought a bottle of water and brought a box of potato chips back to my dormitory-this was my first meal in America.
I used to spend a lot of money when I was in China, and I had to take a taxi if I walked for more than 10 minutes. When I arrived in America, I began to save money in particular. Because if you spend an extra dollar, you will lose a dollar in your bank account. What if the money runs out? Like many people from China who have just arrived in the United States, I also have dollar exchange phobia. The biggest symptom is that when you see the price tag of the shopping mall, you will multiply all the prices by 8 in a conditioned way, then stick out your tongue and whisper, "Why is it so expensive?" Finally, after shopping for a long time, I finished shopping empty-handed.
In addition, Harvard restaurant is compulsory. As long as you live in Harvard's dormitory, you must eat in the restaurant, because the meal fee has been given to Harvard, and you have to eat if you don't eat. For me, a China native from Hubei who is used to spicy sauce, going to Harvard restaurant to eat bread sandwiches every day is simply torture. But I don't have much money to eat in a restaurant outside. Going to a restaurant for a meal costs at least 20 to 30 yuan, and my "dollar exchange phobia" will make me quickly convert it into more than 200 yuan. I won't give up eating more than 200 yuan a meal. Although among Harvard students, I am a "rich man" with a "huge" deposit in China, I live a "poor man" life like other students. Because I am determined to plan my wealth well, I'd better "dig a bucket of gold" to make America's "poor days" interesting.
Work-study program, earn money by working, and travel all over America.
Once, when the professor was giving us a class, he said that in Massachusetts, people with an annual income of less than $3,000 belong to absolutely low-income families. I immediately thought of myself. Because I didn't have any income in the United States at that time, I wanted to apply for the minimum living allowance in the United States. American low-income families may be better off than me because they can find ways to generate income. I once met a low-income uncle in Harvard Square. Besides receiving relief, he is also the cleverest beggar in the world. First of all, he has a lot of brains and chose Harvard Square, a "business place" where people come and go. Good choice of location, he has succeeded half way. Secondly, he begged with wisdom. Americans are a country that likes pets. About half of people like dogs, and a small number like cats. The old gentleman adopted a dog and a cat. In winter, he sat there wrapped in a quilt, then a cat in his left hand and a dog in his right hand. The cat and the dog cooperated well, curled up in the thick quilt and showed sad and moving eyes. So passers-by donated money to dogs and cats. Begging to such a state can't be regarded as a "beggar".
On a cold early winter night, I was sitting in Harvard Square, watching the cars coming and going, and I was thinking: Is it worthwhile for me to come to the United States and give up such a comfortable life in China? What am I doing?
Fortunately, this pressure has also brought me motivation ―― I want to work and study! In America, a person's credit record is very important. At first, I couldn't even buy a mobile phone because I didn't have a "social security number" (similar to China's ID card). If I want to buy it, I have to pay a deposit of 300 dollars. So my first thought is to apply for a social security number quickly. At Harvard, it is very easy to get a social security number, and all international students who have a legal campus job at the school can apply.
But finding a suitable * * * is not so easy. I called my classmate adviser Radhika and asked her for help. Radhika is a warm-hearted Indian girl. When I was still in China, we chatted through MSN, and she gave me whatever she wanted. That afternoon, she took me to the library and found a very suitable * * *-library media assistant. As an assistant, I have nothing to "manage" at all, just sitting in my office. If some students can't use computers or need to borrow any media equipment, they will come to me. In this way, I can easily get about $300 a week.
Soon, my scholarship of $7,000 per semester was also approved, which greatly improved my financial situation. Fortunately, I met a rich American family. Their son is learning Chinese, and I am his Chinese teacher, earning $400 a week. Therefore, my financial situation has greatly improved, and I can earn about $700 a week by working as a media assistant in the library.
In this way, I slowly passed the psychological panic period of "shopping mall price multiplied by 8". Here, I also want to tell my friends who are going to study abroad in China: When choosing a school, we must inquire about the financial aid ability of the school. If the financial aid ability of the school is not strong, you will have a particularly uncomfortable and depressed life abroad. Because in the United States, the work control of international students is very strict. It is illegal to serve employers outside the school except on campus, but there are many opportunities in the school, such as teaching assistants, research assistants, sleep helpers and so on.
After work-study, due to my reasonable economic planning, in addition to daily expenses, I also have
Harvard nuggets