苏州中考网1月8日：My three months in the US

    我在美国的三个月（潘子超）

    圣诞假期，对于第一届的毕业生来说，尽管踏出国门只有短短的三个月，一些同学架不住思念家乡的心情，于是趁假期回国。其中，第一届的优秀毕业生肖尧、潘子超、史衍德和赵樱嫱等几名同学回母校跟学弟学妹们进行了经验的分享和交流，介绍他们在国外学习生活的状况以及心得体会，用他们的亲身经历告诉学弟学妹国外大学的真实样子。

    以下是潘子超同学就自己在美国华盛顿大学前三个月的学习和生活进行的回顾和总结。

I came to University of Washington – Seattle, WA, in September and I was nervous about this new place.

    九月，怀着忐忑的心情，我来到了位于华盛顿州西雅图的华盛顿大学——一个完全陌生的地方。

Life was tough at the beginning. Everything was new to me. However, thanks to my multinational high school experience, I did not encounter a culture shock at that time. But as I was not familiar with the way of talking of American English, I made mistakes and had some misunderstandings. For instance, I could not order correctly in restaurants. This has improved after three months. To prevent these kinds of awkward moments from happening, I suggest you, who are going to the US, to get used to day-to-day English by reading books or watching some American television.

    起初我对这里很难适应，环境、同学、方式，一切都是新的。但好在高中时期长期处于星海实验中学国际课程中心这样一个多元文化中，我并没有产生很大的culture shock，但由于对于美国语言习惯的不了解，仍旧闹出了不少笑话。比如在吃饭点餐的时候，不知道该如何正确表达自己的需要。但在美国生活了三个月后，这一类的情况就基本不会出现了。但我仍然想建议即将要踏上北美大陆继续自己求学之旅的同学们，在去之前一定要做好一定的准备。可以通过多和外教交流或者多读多看跟北美生活有关的书籍和影视来熟悉一些特有的语言习惯。

I have never seen such a way of teaching before. In China, teachers make our schedules for us and what we need to do is just following the schedule. But it is completely different in the US universities. You have to select courses by yourself and make your own schedule. This had been a great challenge to me. I have spent a long period on researching and arranging in order to select some appropriate courses and make a comfortable schedule for myself. I do see the determination of US universities in developing students’ capability of thinking and working alone in the process of selecting course and I developed my self-arrangement in the process as well.

    美国大学的教学模式是我从来没有遇到过的。在中国，从小学开始，每学期的课程都是学校安排好的，拿着现成的课程表上课就可以。但是在美国大学里，所有的课程都是由我们自己安排的，专业需要什么课，这学期上什么课，都是自己去了解，然后自己根据学分要求来安排课表。这对于我来说是个极大的挑战。我花了很长时间在学校的网站上找资料，利用网络学生端里的各种工具来搜索自己想读的专业需要的课程，然后再仔细研究哪几门课程在本学期开放申请。一系列的工作让我感受到了美国大学对于培养学生自主能力的决心，同时也锻炼了我自我安排的能力。

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