Beijing University and the interactions with a Student

     I met a a friend in China, who has made my experience great with just a few hours of conversations. His name was David. We all had went to this University in Beijing and sat through a 2 hour class, which was actually very informative. This class was a mix of us Rollins students and a few English major Chinese students whom later we were to interact with and have our own time to learn from one another. As time came closer to splitting up with our students we were touring this school and I wanted to see how the colleges here were different or similar to ours at home. The truth is it is actually fairly similar to ours, except at home access to these facilities like the gym, pool, library is all included in our tuition, where as there it student had to pay a few dollars to do them. But the cost of going to college in Beijing was nothing compared to how much we may for a year at home. It was like $1,200 for a semester. Then I decided to see how the dorms were at the school. When he showed the room, it was a small room with three bunk beds except there was no bottom bed, instead each bed had a desk underneath and literally that was it, you could barley see any room for anything else. Then I asked about the AC, and I found out that only international students had AC and if you were native to China then none for you, they felt that it was ok and that they should be used to it or if not then get used to it.  Either way it was tight squeeze for three people to share. I mean I guess it made sense since they only study day and night. The building were different for each group of people. The building were supported by the founding country. Apparently it is very hard to get into college in China but very easy to pass once you are in. I guess it was said because there is so much pressure on students if they were to do bad it would be like dishonoring their families. It was interesting, yet sad to see how the diversity of the school was so seprated. The chinese were with the chinese, the africans were with the Africans, the Arabic's, with the Arabic's and so on. At home we see small clicks of friends but overall we all interact together where as even the buildings and classes were separated. Me and David exchanged a lot of questions to one another and shared our personal thoughts and opinions about life in general and our home countries. David is in the process of completing his masters degree and wants to also get his PhD. He want to become an American politician. When he said that I was so shocked, but in a an awesome way. That was so cool how interested he was in the history and politics of the U.S. I really hope he does get his dream, he is an awesome guy. He is very smart and I just found out he had just learned how to swim, which was a question I asked about people swimming in china. We come from florida so pools and swimming is almost normal, but not in China. He watched the big bang theory and two broke girls, which is one of my favorite shows, but interestingly enough most chinese people did and this was there perception of Americans. It was funny because David was so convinced based off of the two broke girls show that dinners were big and that they take orders the way they do. I explained to him not so much. But It is amazing how even myself included in ways that people from other countries have this idea of how we are and we live based on what we see on TV. Overall we had an awesome time and still keep in touch and I hope I always do, I can't wait till he finishes and comes here so I can show him around our home like he did with his. The idea that people from China are mean is not true, at least the people in China were not at all. It probably was America that made them the way they are. They are all about staying stress free and trying to be happy and have balance in life and in nature. They are happy with food on the table and a simple life, unlike the greedy people we are as spoiled Americans. I actually enjoyed it so much I am still debating on studying abroad. I hope to meet my new friends again soon. There is so much more we can say as days go by.