My First Week in the US 8.11-8.17

It’s been a week since I arrived in the United States, and I’m recording my life here.

The past few days have been busy and fulfilling, with a lot to do every day. Today, I finally have some free time, so I’ll jot down some thoughts.

The environment here is great, with sunshine and fresh air, unlike Beijing, which is always hazy. At first, I thought Buffalo, as a declining industrial city, would have poor air quality, but that’s not the case at all. I’m renting a large house with two other people, and our backyard often has wild rabbits and squirrels (unfortunately, we can’t catch them… today, we tried putting out vegetables and fruits to lure them in).

The house we’re renting is huge, with two floors and a massive basement. The second floor has three bedrooms and a bathroom for the three of us, while the first floor has a bedroom and a bathroom for a female student we found online. The living room is enormous, with great lighting. The basement has a washing machine and dryer. Our landlord is a Chinese person who works at UB, an ‘89 graduate who has lived here for over 20 years, and they’re very kind.

The person who picked me up, Chen Rui, is a PhD student in EE, and he’s very nice. When I first arrived in Buffalo, I didn’t know anything, and I wasn’t familiar with the area, so I’m grateful for his help. My current roommates are all very nice, and I feel very lucky.

The school’s hardware conditions are great, with two campuses (north and south, like the east and west campuses of an agricultural university, haha). The north campus is huge, and except for the art college, all the main buildings are connected, which will be convenient during the cold winter. Both campuses have free gyms and swimming pools. The school library can lend an unlimited number of books (this is what I’m most excited about), and the facilities inside the library are very complete, making it very comfortable to read and browse the internet.

The school’s teaching buildings are very beautiful, with a modern style on the north campus and a classical style on the south campus.

Not having a car in the United States is like missing a leg, extremely inconvenient. Once the semester starts and things stabilize, I’ll definitely buy a car as soon as possible.

The cars on the road in Buffalo are very powerful, with many SUVs, which look very cool. Black people drive with high-volume rap music, just like in GTA.

These past few days have been busy with buying furniture and daily necessities. It’s very difficult to fill such a large house. My two roommates and I have been buying a lot of things every day, carrying large bags back home, but once we spread them out in the house, they don’t seem like much at all.

In the United States, you need a DIY spirit, because labor costs are very high here. To save money, you need to do things yourself — all the furniture we bought requires self-assembly. These past few days, I’ve assembled a floor lamp, a computer chair, and a bookshelf. Although it’s been tiring, it’s also been fun, reminiscent of when I used to assemble four-wheel drive cars. Seeing the furniture we’ve made ourselves in the house gives me a great sense of accomplishment. Yesterday, I ordered a huge L-shaped desk online, so I’ll probably be busy again in a few days.

Since arriving here, I’ve felt that my English is not good enough. When the other person speaks quickly, I often can’t understand, especially when it comes to Indian English — I can only make out a few words in a sentence… However, fortunately, I’m thick-skinned, and after so many days, I haven’t encountered any major problems. I’ve been able to handle situations that require a lot of spoken language and listening, such as ordering food at restaurants, renting houses, buying second-hand furniture, opening bank accounts, and paying for phone bills and gas.

In short, these past few days have been about gradually building my home in the United States from scratch. I’ll post pictures once everything is set up.