A Painting Consisting of Diverse colors

In 2010, I travelled to Tibet, and I was fascinated by its unique culture. I decided to stay there for a while, so I found a job in a hotel in Lhasa of Tibet. I worked in that hotel for a year. During the period, I served many guests from different counties, and I enjoyed communicating with them. I established friendship with local Tibetan young men, and they taught me a lot about Tibetan culture and made me have a different view to see life. Unfortunately, I found out that in Tibet, there were a lot of conflicts between Han Chinese people and Tibetans because of different opinions, languages, and beliefs. Sometimes the conflict could cause a fight. The experience in Tibet triggered my awareness of the importance of tolerance and appreciation of other cultures.

In January of 2011, I came to America. Like most international students from Aisa, I experienced culture shock during the first period of time. I was surprised by the diversity of my neighbourhood. There are neighbours from Africa, Mid-east, Japan, Korea, China and South America. Although we speak different languages and have different life style, we live peacefully with each other. At the first three months being in America, I had always been worried about living in America because my English ability was quite limited and was afraid that I could not handle all the transactions and issues in daily life. However, most of the native people who I met were very helpful and patient, and they would speak slowly and explain clearly to make sure I understand their meaning. In my college, my classmates and club members were very willing to help me learn English. They taught me many slangs and idioms, and they would correct my mistakes in pronunciation and grammar. Now English is no longer an obstacle to me, and I feel confident to succeed in acdemics. I have been enjoying my time in classes. Most of students are immigrants from various parts of the world. Although we are different from each other in almost every aspect of life, we are all linked together by English and Academics. I often exchange ideas with other students, and I find it important to know how people from other countries think about my country and thoughts because effective communication can prevent underlying conflicts. Group discussion has been an interesting activity for me because some group members have distinct opinions and views, and our lively discussions always generate good ideas. For this semester, I joined the AGS volunteers club in my college. Members of the club are bonded through various voluntary activities. We helped the blood donation event on our campus, and we served the homeless with foods at the Midnight Mission organization. I enjoyed the feeling of help and contribution. I established friendship with many members. The most valuable thing is, I have become much more outgoing, liberal and friendly to people than I used to be.

Just like a good painting consists of different colors, it is cultural diversity that makes our world beautiful. We should never discriminate any culture, for every culture has its distinct beauty and principle which we can apply to our life. By living and studying in America, I gained liberal spirit, and I will effect my family and friends in China through the spirit in the future.