As always, if you attend any of the below events, report back and let us know what you learned! (Use the comments, the Facebook page or just email me – jstahl@voanews.com). And please share any online events you’ve found that we haven’t.

Coming up this week:

May 20

IIE: Study in the USA Presentation, Northern Arizona University
8am US eastern time
More details:  http://www.fulbright.be/2013/may-20-2013-study-in-the-usa-presentation-of-northern-arizona-university/

May 21

MBA Watch: 10 Best Practices for Indian and East Asian MBA Applicants
10am US eastern time
More details:  http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/event/early-success-10-best-practices-for-indian-east-asian-applicants-live-chat

Kaplan: Dos and Don’ts of Law School Admissions
7pm US eastern time
More details:  http://www.kaptest.com/enroll/LSAT/online/events

mbaMission: Assessing Your MBA Profile
9pm US eastern time
More details:  http://www.manhattangmat.com/Classes/Details/12101

May 22

EducationUSA: Adjusting to American Culture
12pm US eastern time
More details:  https://events-na1.adobeconnect.com/content/connect/c1/1011637095/en/events/catalog.html?folder-id=1238074207#currentSearchTag=1312381515

May 23

WES: India Focus – What US Admissions Means for You
11am US eastern time
More details:  http://www.wesstudentadvisor.org/p/webinar.html

May 24

EducationUSA: In and Out of the Classroom
3pm US eastern time
More details:  https://events-na1.adobeconnect.com/content/connect/c1/1011637095/en/events/catalog.html?folder-id=1238074207#currentSearchTag=1312381515

May 25

Northern State University: Being a Korean Student in America
12am US eastern time
More details:  https://events-na8.adobeconnect.com/content/connect/c1/1135405163/en/events/event/shared/default_template/event_landing.html?sco-id=1136433841

Look into the future…

Writing skills, Dr. Tondi said, are still the most important skill she expects any student to have. International students should expect to be held to the same standards as domestic students when it comes to assignments, she added, but while they can’t expect leniency from their professors, what they can expect is support and assistance if they’re willing to seek it out and try their hardest.

So what else do professors expect out of their international students, and how understanding are they of the unique challenges of studying in a foreign language? Here are Zuleyma’s five questions with Dr. Tondi:

1 What are the most important academic skills for a student, particularly an international student, to have?

I’m still a great devotee of the usual kinds of skills that every student needs. Unfortunately I think in many American institutions I think writing has been set aside, but I’m still firmly committed to writing skills.

One of the things that’s important for international students to know, and I know this from teaching international students and also being an international student, is that writing is also a skill that’s much more difficult than listening and comprehending and responding. When I’ve had international students I always take into account that their writing skills might be not as great as somebody who has studied in the United States the whole time, because they’re working usually in a second language. And yet I do understand that writing is a skill that is something that we all need to do, and if you’re able to read and write in another language, that makes you somebody that’s great for the job marketplace.

International students shouldn’t be afraid to try to do the writing assignments as best they can and to ask for help when they need it.

Hear Dr. Tondi talk more about the importance of writing in a U.S. curriculum:

2 What about class participation?

I know that doing reading assignments in a language other than your first language is difficult. I had to do that as well as an international student. And I spent hours reading articles that were in other languages because basically I couldn’t read them easily. I had to translate them, I had several dictionaries that I was always using. So I know it’s a challenge.

When I have international students in my class, I’m conscious that the reading assignments are going to be more difficult for them. But I would try to help them do that.

One of the experiences that I had was in a small college for sisters [nuns] from Tanzania and Vietnam. They were taking regular college courses and I realized that for none of them was English their first language and that the reading assignments would be tough. But I wanted them very much to participate in class. Some of course were much more at ease in doing that and would take the risk to speak out loud. Some almost never opened their mouth. But I kind of forced them to do it in the sense that I knew it would be good for them to try.

I love the international kind of experiences – it’s from the stories of other students that you learn a great deal about where they’re from, what their experience is, what their country is like.

3 What do you expect from international students when it comes to class assignments?

If a student has been accepted at USD, my expectation is that they are able to do the coursework that is given to everybody else. So I don’t make any exceptions that would say, “You have a different syllabus, you’re going to do only 2 writing assignments instead of 4.” However, as soon as I get some assignments, especially writing assignments, I can tell right off the bat whether or not a student has great difficulty in writing in another language.

In fact, last semester I had a student from Mexico whose speaking skills were fairly good but clearly the writing skills were not as good as they should have been at that level in a college. So I talked with him, I explained to him that this wasn’t a situation where he was going to fail the course or that I wouldn’t try to work with him, but that he needed to go to the campus writing center every time he had a writing assignment. He should work on it himself and then bring it to the writing center.

I think almost every campus I’m familiar with has a writing center. And they may be student tutors, but they’re certainly going to be people who are well-versed in writing in the language of the country where you’re studying, and will help you to do better in writing assignments.

Hear Dr. Tondi discuss how being in a foreign education system can stretch your mind:

4 How do things like office hours fit into what you expect from your students?

Office hours is an interesting concept, because in the United States we are expected as professors to have a certain number of office hours for each class. So there’s an expectation that you will be in your office a certain number of hours every week available to students and even beyond those hours if needed, if requested by students.

I have to tell you, when I was an international student in Rome, I was having great difficulty with a class being taught by an Italian priest – all the classes at the university I went to were taught in Italian. So I said to my fellow students, “I’m going to make an appointment with this fellow, because I don’t have any idea what he’s talking about.” And they said to me, “Oh, you can’t go make an appointment with a professor in this university, that’s not how it works.” And I thought, “Well, I don’t care if that’s how it works here. I need to talk to him.”

So I made an appointment and sure enough when I walked in he was very cordial, very interested to talk to me. There was nothing about the encounter that made me hesitant about it. And he kind of chuckled as I came in. I introduced myself and he said, “I know why you’re here. You can’t understand what I’m saying. I have the same problem when I study in another country.” So that automatically put me at ease and we had a great relationship from that point on.

5 Have you ever taught someone who you would consider a star pupil, and what set them apart?

A star pupil has to do with two things. One of course is academic ability.

But I would also say that another part of being a star pupil is something that each of us can work on, just like the academics, and that’s the personality skills that let you put yourself out there taking risks. Somebody who is willing to try to formulate an answer to a question even if she knows her English isn’t going to be terrific.

The other students are always very supportive and encouraging. And I always try to say to my American students, for example, “Well, think if you were trying to say this in Vietnamese.” It would be very difficult, and we need to constantly be trying to put on the shoes and hats of someone who’s doing it in a language that isn’t his or her own language.

Bonus: Dr. Tondi talks about how students can get more involved on campus

David Foster Wallace’s 2005 commencement address to Kenyon College, called “This is Water,” is often cited as one of those favorites: Here it is at the top of Time’s list of best graduation speeches … and Policymic’s, and Quora’s, and Inspyr’s. But whether or not you think it’s one of the best commencement addresses of all time, it’s now almost certainly the most-watched, thanks to a short film interpretation that’s been going viral.

The nine-minute-long YouTube video (an abridged version of the original speech) has received over four million views in just about a week.

Why reinterpret this speech now, eight years after it was given? The Glossary, the video production company behind the video, told Adweek, “Our main goal was to expose people to the content of the speech,” adding that “we felt like this message actually changed the way we thought about life in a way that went beyond the typical cliched advice into something actually useful.”

Watch for yourself. Does it rank among your favorite commencement speeches of all time? What else makes your must-watch list?

Since I’ve been at Mount Holyoke, I realized that this is only one way to think about academic excellence. Here students are judged quite differently with, I think, mixed results.

Russians believe there are good students, who always work hard and succeed at everything, and bad students, who don’t do well at anything.  This is how students were defined in my high school and when I got to university it was quite the same.  There were students who were good at every subject – we were motivated and tried our hardest in every class. We only got As. And of course, there were those who got Cs or Bs, if they were lucky.

There is even a word in Russian used to refer to this kind of people who work hard enough to excel in every subject – otlichniki. This word has a positive connotation and literally means “people who are different from others in some good way” or “students who only get As.” Interestingly, there is also a word applied to students who don’t excel in anything – troechniki – “students who only get Cs.”

During finals, every university student in Russia carries a copy of their transcript, and the professor puts their final grade right on that transcript copy. This means that every professor can see all of a student’s grades when giving their final grade. Some students believe that once you get all As your first couple of semesters, it’s easier to get As in subsequent semesters because your professors will know you are a strong student and will be more inclined to give you yet another A. The opposite is true for troechniki.

From these experiences I came to believe that you can’t be good at one subject and not good at another. You are either motivated to succeed or not. Good at everything or not at anything. You are either otlichnik or troechnik.

Yet at Mount Holyoke, a few weeks ago, one of my professors told me, “You can’t be good at everything. You’ll go crazy.”

Why shouldn’t I be able to juggle all this?

“But I have been good at everything,” was what I thought in reply.

My geography professor was surprised when I told him that I was also taking three math classes that semester because I speak more than any other student in his class, which made him assume his subject was my specialty.  When I go to Mount Holyoke’s writing center to check my paper for a politics, they are confused when I tell them I am actually majoring in economics and math.

At my university in Russia it was mandatory to take a wide range of subjects, from art history to finance, law to math, philosophy to marketing, and if I wanted my reputation as a good student, I was expected to get As in all of them.

There are, of course, students at Mount Holyoke who work hard in every class and get all As, but getting all As is not the only way to be considered a good student. At Mount Holyoke, if I get all As and one C, I can still graduate with honors based on my total GPA. Here, I feel more that I am expected to excel in only two or three particular areas and just try to do my best in all other areas.

This scenario wouldn’t work in Russia where excellence cannot be lopsided – recognition is only for students who excel in every subject.

But from this belief that absolute excellence is the only acceptable outcome, it also follows that if I don’t excel in a class, it must be because I’m not working hard enough. It makes me feel guilty and angry with myself. And when I realize that I had put all the effort I could put in a class but didn’t succeed, I get frustrated.

Better than this. Not by much.

This semester I am taking tennis. I had never played tennis before. Naturally, I was the worst player in my class at the beginning of the semester. Halfway through the semester, I realized that I was still the worst player. I was upset with myself because I blamed myself only for failing to learn playing tennis.

My tennis instructor told me, “Relax. Don’t worry about it. Tennis is just a game.”

In my yoga class last semester, when I struggled to do some exercises, the professor reminded me, as she kept reminding the class throughout the semester, that I was taking the class for myself and my own pleasure. I was expected to do what I could.

In fact, in many of my Mount Holyoke classes, including the academic ones, the professors don’t expect anyone at all to reach the maximum standard. Grades are awarded on a curve, meaning that if no one in the class scored an A, the highest grade is adjusted up to an A and all other grades are moved up accordingly.

In my classes in Russia this wouldn’t happen. There were always standards that everyone had to meet. In my PE class, everyone was expected to run a marathon of a certain distance and cross the finish line at the same time. The standard of excellence was absolute. No matter what your major is. No matter what your background is. No excuses.

It’s not that American professors necessarily expect less of their students, but that the definition of success is different. In the U.S. students are expected to be motivated to work hard and do their best. If they do that but still can’t score an A, the belief is that their effort and other achievements should not be invalidated. Not everyone can be good at everything. Scoring an A was beyond their ability, not beyond their effort and motivation.

In Russia, students are assumed to be lazy and trying to get away with not doing the work. If they don’t score an A it’s no one’s fault but their own for not trying hard enough.

It means that professors here can actually set their standards higher, challenging each student to work towards their own ability in reaching towards them. If no one reaches the maximum level, they simply adjust the grades accordingly.

But it also means that students here have more excuses, and are good at deflecting the blame, when they fail. Because the standards are negotiable, if they fail they can say it’s because the professor made the class too hard or didn’t teach properly. Or they explain their failures by the factors they cannot control, like the way their brain functions. They would say that this particular subject is not their subject, meaning it is not the subject they are particularly good at.

That’s the downside of the U.S. approach. In recognizing and allowing for differences in how students think, it also puts, I think, too much trust in students and too much reliance on their self-motivation.

It makes me feel truly grateful that my Russian background has influenced me in a very profound way. It convinced me that there are no boundaries to my performance in any subject. My performance is entirely the result of my work and motivation.

When I register for a 300-level class in math or geography, I don’t expect one of them to be easier for me than the other. I believe that I can excel in any subject if I put effort in it. If I had more time at Mount Holyoke, I would take chemistry, neuroscience, and computer science, just out of intellectual curiosity. And I wouldn’t expect those subjects to be any harder for me than an Economics class. This is the belief instilled in me by my Russian education – I can excel in any subject if I want to. I don’t know if American students have had the opportunity to believe this about themselves.

As always, if you attend any of the below events, report back and let us know what you learned! (Use the comments, the Facebook page or just email me – jstahl@voanews.com). And please share any online events you’ve found that we haven’t.

Coming up this week:

May 13

EducationUSA: In and Out of the Classroom
10am US eastern time
More details:  https://events-na1.adobeconnect.com/content/connect/c1/1011637095/en/events/catalog.html?folder-id=1238074207#currentSearchTag=1312381515

May 14

CollegeWeekLife/CollegeBoard: Destination: College
5pm US eastern time
More details: http://www.collegeweeklive.com/en_CA/guest/college_events 

EducationUSA: Adjusting to American Culture
3pm US eastern time
More details:  https://events-na1.adobeconnect.com/content/connect/c1/1011637095/en/events/catalog.html?folder-id=1238074207#currentSearchTag=1312381515

May 15

CollegeWeekLive: Asia Day (virtual college fair)
More details:  http://www.collegeweeklive.com/en_CA/Guest/College-Events-Asia-Day

Beat the GMAT/mbaMission: Assessing Your MBA Profile
10am US eastern time
More details:  https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/792911655

C2 Education: Changes to the Common App
8pm US eastern time
More details:  https://events-na3.adobeconnect.com/content/connect/c1/1027159351/en/events/event/shared/default_template/event_landing.html

Look into the future…

I think many American graduate students are nice, but certainly some of them are overtly unfriendly to me. For instance, some of them ignored my greetings and pretended they did not see me from like 3 foot distance (which is absurd). After it happened several times, I don’t bother to say hello to them.

And certainly there are things that they do not expect me to do (but they can do). For instance, I approached a female graduate student (there was some chemistry between us) and one male graduate student literally blocked my way. Since then there have been couple of occurrences where he tried to physically threaten me, e.g. following me really close in the hallway. I have just ignored these weird behaviors but can not help feeling very uncomfortable.

This was totally unexpected and I believe the demographic factor certainly plays a role in the way people behave toward internationals (~90% population is white in my college town). I hope it would be different in other areas of the country, e.g. NYC, CA, ….

If this student is truly threatening violence, there are authorities at the university who can help. There’s a difference between someone who is unfriendly and someone who is menacing. But apart from that, how would you suggest he deals with this situation? Have you ever encountered something like this and how did you deal?

Tutorial

In general, a tutorial is any sort of specialized or intense instruction. It’s related to the word “tutor,” and technically describes a session taught by a tutor. These days the “tutor” tends to be someone on the internet who has prepared learning materials on a specific subject. So you could watch a Photoshop tutorial on YouTube if you wanted to learn how to color correct photographs, for example.

At university you will encounter this meaning of “tutorial” as a set of instructions for learning a specific skill. Here are some tutorials that the University of California offers to help students learn how to use their library.

But at universities, a tutorial can also imply something much closer to its original meaning. You may have heard of the tutorial system in connection with Britain’s Oxford and Cambridge Universities, where students meet each week in groups of two or three to engage in deep discussions facilitated by a faculty “tutor.”

A small number of American universities offer tutorials based on the Oxbridge system. But it’s more common for American universities to use tutorial-style sessions as a discussion-based companion to traditional classes. At many universities students meet outside of their class sessions in smaller groups, often led by a teaching assistant. These sessions are intended to talk about the class material, to reinforce what was taught in class with additional practice, and sometimes to teach material not covered in the lecture.

Not all universities hold tutorials, and many that do don’t use that terminology. Princeton University, for example, includes small discussion sections as a component of its classes but calls them “precepts” (and the facilitator is called a “preceptor”). Many other universities that include discussion sections as a component of their courses call them “recitations.”

What can you expect if your university asks you to attend tutorials?

The University of Pittsburgh’s guide for teaching assistants is useful for getting a sense of what a tutorial might be like. It suggests that the discussion in a tutorial should help “to clarify confusing materials and to develop students’ critical and evaluative skills.”

“In a discussion section, students are encouraged to express their own ideas and to discover applications for the concepts and theories they have learned in the lecture class. In a math class, discussion may be used to explore alternative approaches to solving a problem; in a literature class, you might critique D. H. Lawrence; in a political science class, you might spend your time examining the practical consequences of environmental policy.”

Essentially, you should go in having done the necessary reading or homework, and ready to discuss some of the concepts it raised. The guide suggests that discussions could take the form of: small group conversations, case studies, exercises, role-playing, question and answer, and group brainstorming.

And, with all its tips for TAs who are struggling to start discussions or to keep the conversation flowing, the guide’s also useful for something else: remembering that no matter how intimidated you are to speak up in a discussion session, your TA is just as intimidated worrying that the discussion might not go well!

Our Glossary of Confusing Words is entirely made up of words submitted by you! Share words that have confused you or that might confuse others about studying in the U.S. and we’ll add them to our growing list! Leave your suggestions in the comments, or use the form below.

Sunny – Sharing a house with friends

I am living off campus (we call it “off grounds” at UVa because we use “grounds” instead of “campus”…). We five girls rent this house. This is a funny “house picture” taken outside of my house with my housemates a while ago. Virginia has had weird weather, and spring/summer just finally arrived.

Tom – On campus, but apartment-style

I live in ‘Leonardtown’ which is like a little community of around ten separate blocks of individual self-contained apartments. We live on campus so it is university housing, which I applied for through their online application form. I applied when I was still in England, and was placed with 3 other Americans. Our apartment has two bedrooms, with two of us in each. It is my first time sharing a room, which was quite daunting at first but myself and my roommate are good friends now!

It’s not the most attractive spot so here’s another picture of the view if you walk about 1 minute away from my apartment. This is the back of Fraternity Row.

Phillip – The traditional dorm experience

That is my bed with the Zimbabwean flag hanging on the wall. Zimbabwe recently celebrated 33 years of independence so I just decided to put the flag out for the day. I also have postcards I have amassed from my travels on the wall.

That is a photo of our closet, in the back room. We share it among the the four of us. I live in quad with three other roommates.

That is a photo of our door. Our JA, an upperclassman who lives with incoming students, made the wooden labels for our door.

That is a photo of my roommate’s desk. He studies at his desk most of the time.

Hein – An apartment in the city

I am most fortunate to live in a trendy neighborhood at a very cheap rate where everything is accessible within walking distance. I got this apartment through an aunt of mine, who used to live here and she referred me to the landlord before I moved to D.C. for school. I just couldn’t be luckier.

Dandan – A “suite-style” dorm

This is our dormitory, Niskanen Hall, and here’s the hallway that leads to my room. It has only two floors and girls and boys live in this same building.

Ok, here are my roommates. They are all Americans, but all of them have mixed blood: Alyssa’s grandparents come from Poland, Sam’s parents are half-Swedish, while Mallory is Polish, German and Dutch.

When you come in, the first room you see is the living room. It is huge! I never imagined a dorm room could have such a big living room! The sofas, the air-conditioner and the heating system come with the room, but Mallory and Alyssa brought the TV set, the CD player and the bookshelf.

Our dorm room also has a kitchen. We have several dining centers on campus and we can go there whenever we want. Yet Alyssa and Mallory still prefer to cook on their own because it saves time. You can see that our kitchen is a typical American kitchen. The machine for making coffee has filter paper inside – my Serbian friend said that Serbians don’t use filter paper, but Americans in North Dakota do. And of course, there is leftover pizza on the counter.

As always, if you attend any of the below events, report back and let us know what you learned! (Use the comments, the Facebook page or just email me – jstahl@voanews.com). And please share any online events you’ve found that we haven’t.

May 7

MBA Watch: Why Applications Get Rejected
12pm US eastern time
More details:  http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/events

May 9

CollegeWeekLive: STEM/Health Sciences Day
More details:  http://www.collegeweeklive.com/en_CA/Guest/STEM_DAY

EducationUSA: In and Out of the Classroom
12pm US eastern time
More details:  https://events-na1.adobeconnect.com/content/connect/c1/1011637095/en/events/catalog.html?folder-id=1238074207#currentSearchTag=1312381515

mbaMission: MBA Admission Myths Destroyed
12pm US eastern time
More details:  http://www.manhattangmat.com/Classes/Details/12027

Wolfsdorf Immigration: Life After OPT
3:30 pm US eastern time
More details:  http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=60b7a496a76e8b4c55e7846d2&id=89cdee0d31

May 10

EducationUSA: Adjusting to American Culture
10am US eastern time
More details:  https://events-na1.adobeconnect.com/content/connect/c1/1011637095/en/events/catalog.html?folder-id=1238074207#currentSearchTag=1312381515

Look into the future…

When I got off the plane in Washington, D.C., I found myself in a fast-paced world. People were streaming back and forth like disco lights in the mumbo-jumbo of a New York night life. Young kids were banging their way past me, ogling at me like a nuisance. Everyone seemed to know where they were going. I felt lost with my thick-rimmed spectacles, my small backpack and my overactive imagination.

“Oh my… I’m gonna get lost! I’m gonna get lost!” I thought, as people trotted out of the Ethiopian Airlines, with cellphones clung to their ears.

“And so Jimmy dont forget to pick me up in thirty minutes…”

“Sasha.. Josh…??”

“Andrew!!! You what???”

They were calling their families and friends and telling them that they’d come back home from Africa. They’d seen lions, giraffes, warm smiles and clear azure skies. They’d been on safaris in splendid Savannah forests that stretch for eons like green carpets.

I, on the other hand, had just left home in Africa. I’d found myself in a meandering maze of unfamiliar faces, foods and sounds. I clung onto my backpack like it was my life. Then I resorted to following everyone else. I soon ended up in a long snaking immigration line, being watched by a barrage of cameras. They stared at me like a criminal. I was waiting for my passport to be stamped, and I hoped that I wasn’t going to be deported and sent straight home…

About 40 hours earlier I had been in Marondera, breathing the dry dusty air, and listening to the familiar sounds of home. Life was laid back. I’d drank a cup of tea, talked about the corrupt police officers who mounted roadblocks everywhere when what we needed were more schools and hospitals. We’d talked about the never-changing political landscape and the millions of Zimbabweans who were fleeing the country in search of a better life.I saw supermarkets that only a few years ago had been empty due to our recent economic crisis. They were now packed with people fleeting back and forth with groceries. I saw streets that I’d grown up around, streets that I’d roamed around and people that I’d hung around disappear behind me through the rear-view mirror.

All those familiar images vanished into thin air. Eventually we found ourselves driving to Harare, speeding past the unrelenting police roadblocks. Pot-belled police officers were soliciting for bribes. Cars were lined up and were being inspected. I’d hated what my country had become, I’d hated the corrupt climate that made police officers more worse criminals than convicts. I sighed. I hoped one day I was going to help change things – one day, after getting my education.

Being at Harare International was the most emotional part of my journey. Tons of people were walking up and down like ants, pushing suitcases, bags etc. New arrivals from UK were being greeted with huge hugs. There were intermittent power shortages on the airport.

“ZESA yaenda!” joked some people. A man who’d come from the U.K. stormed into the waiting area fuming with anger. He was angry because he couldn’t get his bag since the conveyor belt worked with electricity. He shouted at the guards, the managers, and even at the other travelers, not knowing that this was very normal here.

My family gave me all the attention they could.

“You’re gonna get shot, bro!” said my brother. “You been watching the news ain’t you?” I swallowed. Indeed I’d heard about the university massacres. Chances were that everyone in college had a gun and I was going to get shot.

“Now don’t forget to eat healthily, most of the food is processed there,” said my mom, worriedly.

“Don’t worry, mhamha,” I said. “If they can live on it, so can I.” She’d wanted to pack me dozens of peanut butter bottles. She feared that I wasn’t going to adjust well to all the sprawling fast-food chains, and deep fried treats. But I was willing to take my chances.

I stood in front of immigration, and looked at my family from afar. My little sister smiled with her saintly eyes, trying to hide her fear of losing me. My brother saluted me like a soldier and my mom withheld the tear that was twinkling in her eye. It is at that point that I reconsidered my decision, at that point that I decided to put my backpack down and run as fast as could towards my family. But, it was too late. My passport had been stamped and I had officially left the country, even though I was still standing on Zimbabwean soil. Now I was on my way to boarding the plane, on my way to Winthrop University. Was I going to make friends? Fit in? Was I going to be asked many strange questions about whether I lived in a tree or ate with my feet downside-up? Or whether I’d seen Simba from the Lion King in real life?

I started to think about the times we’d spent together as a family. A few years ago my country was hard-hit by its economic crisis. The Zim dollar had melted almost overnight and we’d found ourselves foraging for survival. My parents had worked day and night, to send us to school. In the most difficult times we’d had eacher to cry on, but that family chain was about to snap.

I decided to look forward to hide my guilt and fear. This was the best way of moving on.

I faced the forest of people flocking on different seats, waiting for the plane to board. I was now officially a traveler, in the same style as people going to Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Sao Paulo. I was now a citizen of the world, watching strange people streaming back and forth around the airport. In a just two days I was going to leap over to another continent to start a new life.

I got onto the plane and looked through the window. As the metal bird took to the clear blue sky I watched as Harare’s skyline disappeared like a dot. The control tower and the gargantuan Joina City building were tiny blips on my window. I sighed. Then I started to think about the Washington. I imagined a Hollywood-style city with high-rise buildings and an adrenalin-filled life. I imagined gunshots racing after lavish Bugattis and Lamboghinis. Then I imagined Tom Cruise cruising through to the Capitol, in an effort to save the president of the United States from danger. Within a matter of hours I was going to be a part of that movie that I’d watched eagerly since I was a little child in dypers. Hopefully my plot was going to end well, hopefully I was going to get rid of all the bad guys…

I couldn’t help myself. I got so wrapped up in the story that I had to ask Keith how it ended.

“So, was it like the movies?”

I love the place. It’s very quaint and colorful. The people are friendly and positive. It’s not like the films… But it’s still quite thrilling: I hear the sound of the siren every day, the police. So it’s an action adventure flick of it’s own. There are many different things such as the food, the environment, but I’m getting used to it, in fact I love it.