Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Getafe

A personal experience essay, by Aiwen Yang
Guest speaker at EOI Getafe. Aiwen kindly accepted to give a talk on November 28, 2008, to Advanced students about her experience taking the TOEFL examination and applying for grants to the USA . In February she took a plane to Buffalo and then journeyed to Batavia, to the Genesee Community College in the state of New York. She had been granted a scholarship to study Fashion there for 2 years. In March 2009 she sent this essay for us.

About my stay in the USA

It has just been a couple of weeks since I left Madrid, the capital of Spain, the city where I have been living for more than half of my life, from where I just bid farewell with a heart filled with curiosity and excitement, and came to pursue my further studies at GCC in Batavia, a city flooded with glaring white snow which would last the entire winter and a temperature much below than I am used to.

The first week was a week of excitement, a week of worries and a week of confusion. I had mixed feelings when I first reached GCC, the college where I will be spending two of my most wonderful years. I was excited about the new experience. I was worried about the new environment. I was confused about all the courses that I had to take. However, I was pleased because I soon made many new friends, most of them international students like myself. Maybe because of our similar background and experience, we were soon getting on very well and hanging out together every single day — from going up to school to walking down to the dorms — as if we were a big family where we all looked after each other.

Saturday the 24th was a sunny cold day. Everything seemed to be particularly quiet in GCC during the weekend. It seemed that only the wind and the snow kept these isolated buildings company. Even my new friends, these people who I was spending most of my time with, were not in. I was disappointed, as if I were a little kid that had been left behind by her parents.

As the night fell, dorm lights seemed to be brighter than they used to. I saw the light on in one of my friends' dorms. I quickly called but no one answered the phone. As I could not stand my loneliness any longer, I rushed to their dorm as fast I could, tons of questions on my mind. Where was everybody? What new things had they seen? I don't know this town — there should be a lot of things to discover... All of a sudden, I realized I was already facing their door. I looked up, their light was off. I was about to knock, but a scary dead silence stopped my hands in the air. I realized my ice cold hands were trembling. I knocked softly, but no one answered. With my stomach full of anger I turned away, willing to leave.

Unexpectedly, the door opened, but still, it was just darkness in the room. With a certain weakness and an uncertain voice I said, "Hello?! Is anybody there?" Suddenly, a soft golden candlelight was raised, I was dead curious, but before I could see a thing, a pair of warm hands covered my eyes. I stopped breathing for I did not know what would be next. In that precise moment, something unforgettable happened. A sweet voice sounded in my ears, "Happy birthday!" I couldn't believe what I had heard. Wasn't that Tenzing's voice? How did she know it was my birthday?

I opened my eyes and soon recognized that familiar face. She has got long black straight hair, like a waterfall over her shoulders — so beautiful! She has got a cute baby face on a wheat-colored skin. She likes smiling and I also like to see her smile. When she smiles, she closes her small slanted eyes. In her face two small dimples appear. Her nose and her pure white teeth look as if they were perfectly sculptured. She is very pretty, although she never admits it. Still, her inner beauty, her honesty and sincerity make her look even nicer than what she actually is.

Just in that moment, a memorable instant: a birthday song could be heard in each corner of the room. Just next to her, there were Pablo, Chihiro and Yen, three wonderful guys, holding a candled birthday cake. The candlelight lit up their smiling faces — three angels that had just landed to the earth! They carefully came to me and said in unison, "Happy Birthday!" For a while, I could not even react since never before had I had such a pleasant surprise, as if I were in a movie. I was deeply moved.

Like a family, we celebrated my birthday together. I would never have expected to be surprised in such a way. Never before did I have such a good day. The greatest thing is having met such lovely people. It also helped me to understand how beautiful it is to coexist with others in harmony and to build a great friendship.

Before that, I felt homesick, I missed my family, my friends and all those things I left behind in Madrid, but from that moment on, I knew I wasn't alone. It was these special people whose gave me the first welcome to this new journey of my life, a journey full of hope, excitement and dreams.