Today, I went to an American couple's home for dinner. This experience is impressive to me. This is a first time for me to contact with local american residents so directly.

 

Around 4 o'clock, The host picked me up at my aparterment. They lived in Radford town, about 30 minutes' distance away from Blacksburg. They first drove me to a place of which till now I dont really know the name. There is a big plaza where there are so many clothes, choes, makeup, and many other stuff I can purchase, just like the Shopping mall in China. The host,unlike the typical American guy, was very generous to me. He said he could buy me some clothes and shoes. So I selected a NIKE shirt with Virgina Tech symbol on it, but only cost 10$. After that, we went back to his home next to Radford University. Their three-floor house looked very very amazing with delicate decoration. I was a little puzzled that so big house with so many rooms only hold a couple to live? What a waste!

 

The dinner was very simple, one burger, some salad, a bit of Italian noodles and ice creams, but it was enough for me. Because the young couple having no baby plus I am the only guest, so at the table there were only three of us. The ambience seemed a little embarrassed since I can not speak out exactly what I really want. Of course I tried my best to communicate with them and got knew some interesting stories and American culture and life style. After dinner, we watched a comedy movie together and have some talks. These family was very interested in Chinese words. When I wrote down their Chinese names, they were so excited to learn how to write and pronounce them. Haha, I though being a Chinese teacher may be a decent job in US.

 

今天是最后一个没有压力的周末了，下周一开始，科研，项目，课程就要纷纷上马了，昨天参加了SBI课题项目的meeting，自己其实是个旁听的，第一次参加组会，还没找到感觉，希望尽快把自己的状态调整过来。

晚上参加了BBC的一个活动，BBC其实就是一个小教堂。好像有100年以上的历史了，去的目的主要是为蹭一顿free dinner。不过有句话说的好，天下没有免费的晚餐。吃了后就得听它们对关于基督教的宣传。自己虽然不信教，但是感觉基督教某些教义还是我们应该学习的。

这里是周六晚上，不过已经赶上中国的情人节七夕了。在这里祝天下有情人忠诚眷属吧，有了的好好珍惜，没有的继续努力吧。哈哈，我也要努力。嗯，晚上吃多了，去clubhouse做做器械去...

来美国4天了，一切在有条不紊的进行着，多亏了这里的师兄们的帮助，这几天感受到了美国社会的一些点点滴滴，Blacksburg是个美丽的地方，这里的人们非常的淳朴友好，不认识了见了面都会对你微笑甚至打招呼。在学校里感觉这里的工作人员，老师都特别的热情，总是不厌其烦的帮助我们，非常和蔼。不过自己的口语还要多加练习。总结下几点感受：

1.这里的胖子特别多，似乎这里40岁后的人都挂着硕大的啤酒肚。

2.这里饮料特别便宜，24罐装的pepsi也就几美元。

3.这里所有设施都是免费的，想想清华综体租场地打球要多少钱。

4.这里上网比国内快很多

5.这里消费用卡和支票很普遍，几乎不用现金

6.这里的汽车种类多如牛毛

7.这里的街道路面一尘不染，几天下来鞋底还是干净的

8.这里的人都“胆小”，10米外看到你就停车让你通过，所以笔者眼睛过马路没问题

9.最重要一点，这里的人太nice了，比如今天在clubhouse去找bathroom，正打电话的工作人员放下手边事情，热情把我领到那里，告诉我怎么怎么做，晕~我老娘都没这么有耐心。这几天没少说thank you，所以至少现在没觉得什么歧视之类的

总之在这里感觉更符合所谓和谐社会的定义。

大前天见了Dr.Wang，非常和蔼的人，说话时总是挂着微笑。简单的告诉了我们他来美国的经历，从在加州读书，到GE工作，再到回上海工作再到来到这里。他从他的经历中告诉我们如何在这里学习，生活。前天见到了导师Dr.B，见之前还有些紧张，毕竟是从来没有和外国学者打过交道，但是见面后打消了自己的疑虑。Dr.B非常nice，说话声音浑厚响亮同时有风趣幽默，他告诉我们做PHD需要做什么，可以说在这里学习是非常忙得，一堆堆的项目要做，同时还要兼顾科研论文，可以说压力不小，而且毕业时间也会很长至少要5年，但是心里还是很开心的，因为可以学到很多很多东西，又碰到这么好的导师。

今天下午和实验室的师兄一起去了体育馆打球，一下来了15个人，打全场3拨，挺爽的。晚上吃了第一顿自己做的饭，我和CZ弄了四个菜：鸡蛋炒西红柿，青椒肉丝，麻婆豆腐，油闷茄子，吃的饱饱的，吃完饭晚上跑到clubhouse游了泳随后作了几组器械练习，这一天下来累得够呛。可以说生活开始慢慢走向正轨了，那天给CZ开玩笑说两个男人开始过日子了，啥时候换成女的呢？嗯，还是不想这个问题了。

这几天很多兄弟姐妹也开始启程了，祝一切顺利吧。

After nearly 15 hours' air travel, I finally got to land onto US. Now I am in my leased apartment using my IBM laptop. It is not far away from here to VT. These days we are busy going through many procedures of enrollment. I would write down more details after everything handled well.