Communication
The first time I arrived in school in January, the ambiance presented a mixed feeling considering I had never interacted with people from diverse cultures. I also did not expect to encounter such a diverse population predominantly using English in their conversation. Unlike the situation in my home country where the many aspects of Chinese language influence face-to-face communication, many people in the US use English as the first language for both online and face-to-face communication. It is also characteristic for the Americans to welcome foreigners into their classes by organizing open forums where people express their views on various issues affecting the relationship with strangers. Since I was a student in the exchange program, the students in America welcomed me in the same fashion. However, most of their practices were unfamiliar to me. For instance, it was normal for the people to engage in deeper conversation with strangers yet the same was uncommon in Hong Kong. Another practice that almost exposed me to a culture shock is the social habits of the Americans. Most of them discuss private issues in online forums contrary to the practice in Hong Kong where people share abstract information about themselves. Aside from the chilling weather affecting learning, another puzzling experience emanated from observing

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