A Turning-Point
When I was born twenty one years ago, God put me in a little country called Vietnam, and he gave me a family. I got a name, and it sounded like an animal, so I got my nick name “Turtle”. When I started going to school, my nick name was known and laughed at (most of children have the same situation when they have this name), and I really hated it. However, people only laughed on my back because my father was the school principal, and he got his power over there; then, I was a “turtle” in the “shell” which was held by my father. I meant my father took care of everything like I was always newborn. Eighteen years in the “shell” turned me into a real turtle. I lived, studied, played…in the shell, and also, my thoughts was limited in the shell. An eighteen-year-old boy but I still did not know how to manage my own life until I was told to immigrate into another country named United States.
The first year, I had the chance to experiment a different academic environment. This time my parents had not gotten their jobs yet, so I got my part-time job in a Vietnamese restaurant to afford my own needs. Since I got my job, bought my first car, my parents started letting me go on my own; then, I felt my freedom. I spent most of my time with ESL classes and my part-time job. Just a few months living in this country, I learnt so many new things about this country, and the most important thing according to me was how to really study. In Vietnam, studying means follow exactly teachers’ direction unless it would be a failed grade at the end of semester, and that was a huge pressure on me; thus I had a really horrible time studying in Vietnam. On the other hand, according to my experience, studying in the United States is on a different side. Sure I should follow professor’s direction, but mostly the responsibility to do the work is mine, and I think without pressure from other people, I can do anything well. Since I came to the United States, there were many...