The International Life

Hazel walks into an unfamiliar room and sits down. She hears a language she isn’t comfortable with and the classroom. She looks around but sees no one to talk to and feels like she is trapped somewhere she doesn’t want to be. As the class starts, the teacher starts rambling on and on as Hazel slowly sinks deeper and deeper into her seat.

This life has become common for international students like Hazel. Many students continuously come to the US from all over the world for better education and ultimately a better life. They sacrifice so many things just to come to the US. Senior Hazel Wang was one of those people. Hazel Wang has been studying in the US, at EC. She first came to America in the first year of middle school for a summer camp. She later came back as a sophomore and joined the EC community. She loved the US because she felt like there were so many more opportunities.

“After coming to the summer camp I really liked the environment, the education, and I have a lot more options in the United States.” She wanted to open up her choices as a student but also as an individual.

Hazel also felt times where she felt out of place. Specifically, her first history class was difficult. “My first class in sophomore year was world history by Ms. Roniet and I don't like reading but there were a lot of reading assignments. That was difficult because I wasn’t used to the language fully.”

It took a lot of time for Hazel to adjust to the new system, environment and language. One thing she really missed was the Chinese food. “I would watch videos of people eating Chinese food and imagine eating it as well.”

Even though she had a difficult time, there were good aspects of it as well. For example, she was able to help her friends when they were struggling like she was. She doesn’t want to be stuck with a career that she’s not happy with or enjoys. She wanted to pursue something that she enjoys. In China, it would have been difficult to achieve her goal. “You don’t have to take the SAT and the SAT isn’t the only way to get into college, but in China you have to take a test to show that you have the ability to go to college and the grade of the test shows what kind of college you are going to go to.” She wants a job where she can always be with people and communicate with them. Hazel can’t wait for her life to unfold even after high school.