Jingxue Xu

I was brought up in a family that values the importance of independence, and am also fortunate enough to have parents that are both supportive of my own decisions. They encouraged me to think independently from a very young age, which made me quite clear of what path I want to follow in the future. Studying in the U.S., for example, is a hard choice that I made when I was only 14 years old. Despite all the difficulties that I encountered, it proved to be a valuable experience and the right decision to make.

The open and student-centered atmosphere of my new school really fascinated me. Apart from the excitement, however, I did anticipate the hardships I would endure as an international freshman, and living off the care of my parents was the last thing for me to worry about. As Merit Student in my home city for nine years, I fell behind in my studies for the first time because I was enrolled without attending any intensive English programs, I had to make additional efforts to better my language skills. Instead of complaining, I decided to be a fighter, because I am not the kind of girl who would flinch easily. In order to keep up with the class, I kept recordings of every lecture, then I would sit up quite late and listened to them over and over again until I digested the knowledge completely. I kept this a hobbit, and half a year later, I finally had a very good command of the English language. I even took up French as a second foreign language and made it to the Honors class! It turned out that adapting to a completely new environment was no trouble to me, instead, I was enormously enriched by the diverse life styles.