A summer English program

June 8, 2016

My first day at the StepUp program was very impressive. The instructors were all beautiful and nice. They were also extremely helpful. I felt like there is no gap between us. I was also impressed by the solid teamwork they performed in front of and around us. Surely, a lesson to be followed.

Meeting students from different countries in a classroom is one of the best educational experiences in my life. It is great to meet and get to know each other better. Before I came to the United States, to Lehigh University to be precise, the only media through which I could connect and communicate with people from other countries was Facebook. It had been great so far, but still, I did not feel a real relationship or connection.

Now at Lehigh University, I am experiencing the real relationships and connections between teachers and students, students and students, me and the American people, and in general between me and the world. As we introduced ourselves to each other, I personally learned lots of new things much more specifically about cultural traditions of American, Chinese, Spanish or Latin American, and even a bit about our instructors from Hungary and Russia. If more people could experience this wonderful moment, I believe this world would be a better place to live in. We do not only share intellectual stuff but also emotional.

Another great thing I enjoyed on the first day of StepUp was a campus exploration. This time we were divided into small groups, which was a very effective way I would like to imitate when I finish my studies here and get back to my institution in Indonesia as a teacher again. What was more interesting, was that I got to know better about one of our instructors, a very beautiful and nice woman with a good sense of humor and of course, exceptionally smart. We explored the campus facilities with her guidance happily even though it was sometimes raining, and the weather was so cold that I felt my body was trembling.

All the campus facilities we explored are just wonderful. I was so much impressed with the beauty, the cleanness, and the silence of Linderman library. When our instructor explained somethings about the library, she would lower her voice as low as possible even though there was no one studying in there. I straightly thought to myself “How disciplined people here are!” It was really a beautiful lesson of how we human should appreciate intellectualism and academic works being protected, maintained, and highly valued in a place called the library. I do hope that I will have the chance to share this with people in my home country.