In July 18th, with expectation and apprehension, I began my visit to Atlanta. The 15 days of visit brought me many different experiences and surprises, I learn more about American culture, and also see a real America. I would to send my gratitude to UIBE, GSU (Georgia State University), and every teacher and classmates!
GSU has many summer exchange programs. This year, students from mainland China, Taiwan, Egypt and other countries took part in different projects. The exchange program I participated in was iSPEED, including face-to-face lectures, outdoor mobile classes, special scenic spots visiting, and theatrical performances, which were rich in content, vivid and relaxed, and I gain a lot from the program. Among them, human rights, American street art introduction, Shakespeare drama appreciation course and visiting Atlanta City Hall impressed me deeply.
A lecture of two-way interaction and virtual-real synthesis
Human rights
The first lesson in the visit is discussing human rights. For our students from China, this is a sensitive and attractive topic.
At the beginning of the class, Professor Debra Snell posed a question to us: what is human rights? The students have put forward their views one and after, and some think that human rights refer to the basic rights of natural people, such as the right to health, the right to education and so on, and some think that human rights should be the political rights of people, such as the right to vote and the right to be elected... Professor Debra Snell affirmed students’ answers, and gave a more comprehensive definition. Next, Professor Debra Snell, taking Martin Ruud Kim striving for the rights for black as an example, introduced the history of the American human rights movement and its influence on American politics and culture. In order to give us a more intuitive impression of the whole history, Professor Debra Snell himself took us to visit the history museum of Martin Ruud Kim.
In the museum, I saw Martin Ruud Kim’s efforts and achievements for the free rights of black Americans, and the history of the American human rights movement, which made me think more about the situation of human rights in China.
Street Art in the United States
While I was still thinking about such a serious problem of human rights, the next class about street art relaxed my nerves and refreshed myself.
In my impression, street art is almost equal to hippie. But through the introduction of Professor Diana Wrenn of the Academy of Arts and Sciences, I know that street art includes street basketball, hip-hop, graffiti, HIP&HOP, RAP songs and some other specific cultural behavior of American street, they are representative of American contemporary society and culture, and especially, Street graffiti has been regarded the representative of contemporary American rebellion culture. Although many city managers have taken various anti-graffiti measures in the face of public security and property management, graffiti art is still full of vitality in expressing the feelings of urban change.
After listening to explanation and illustration of Professor Diana Wrenn, everyone itched to have a try. Without the basis of painting, I have painted the graffiti under the guidance of the professor. While experiencing the freedom and pleasure of graffiti, I also changed my attitude to the street art, and began to get the uniqueness of the street art in expressing emotions and ideas.
(The graffiti creation inspired everyone’s imagination and creative potential, and graffiti was full of imagination. Every teacher and student’s graffiti work is great!)
(The graffiti in class did not yet give us a profound experience, so the professor took us to the graffiti wall under the train bridge, and we had a real experience of a street graffiti.)
Shakespearian Plays
Although I often heard about Shakespeare, I know little about Shakespeare’s plays. So when I saw Shakespeare’s Drama Appreciation on the curriculum schedule, I was really surprised. In particular, Professor Louise Marie Gobron, who studies the history of Shakespeare, gave us a vivid and wonderful lecture, and brought us to the local theatre that is classically decorated and has a comfortable atmosphere, to enjoy the classic play “AMidsummer Night 's Dream” of Shakespeare, all students gained great spiritual satisfaction in experiencing the authentic Shakespeare drama.
(Thanks for the exquisitely prepared and illustrated lecturer by Professor Louise Marie Gobron)
(Students’ improvisation in class was so funny, they are all good at acting!)
(The theatre in the pub is very special - watching the drama at the same time having dinner, and the actors’ performance was so professional that exceeded our unexpected and left us a great impression. Thanks GSU and Professor Louise Marie Gobron)
Characteristic cultural experience
Atlanta City Hall
In addition to class, considering we are MPA students, GSU also arranged a special visit to the parliament building of the Georgia capital in the iSPEED program. Walking along a few blocks along the Georgia State University dormitory where we live, we can see the golden roofs of the parliament building glittering with blue sky and white clouds. When approaching, we found that there are green ancient trees, exquisite statues, pruned gardens and simple paths around the solemn and majestic classical architecture.
The parliament building was thought to be just a museum in my mind, but when I entered it, I knew that the public office area in the United States are open to the public. The parliament building is still the office of the State Council while it is open to the public, in weekdays, the staff of the State Council are working in the building. We found that although it is open to the public, and staffs are coming in and out from time to time,
the whole Parliament building is very neat and orderly. It can be seen that the management there is great and it must be an enjoyment to work in such an environment.
In addition, on the hallway walls of each floor of the building, paintings of American presidents and successive officials are suspended, statues and showcases are placed on the wall. I addition to artistic appreciation, public can also learn about and American electoral system, the differences in state tax policies, the American parliamentary system and the local customs and practices of Georgia state. These are very different from the management system of the Chinese government, which gives me a lot of inspiration, and I again exclaim over that the differences between China and the West are not only cultural differences, but also the differences in government management, which is worth our deep thinking.
(see the introduction of this picture to know that the original statue of New York statue of liberty is originally a "free lady" in Georgia. It's very interesting!)
In addition to government culture and art culture, I am also impressed by the American business culture and corporate culture. When I saw the iSPEED schedule, I knew that the world’s top five hundred corporation Coca Cola and the world’s most advanced news agency CNN International News Network are located in Atlanta.
At the center of the Coca Cola Corporation theme park, listening to the narrator’s vivid introduction to the development of the company, seeing the creative and powerful visual advertisement, and tasting various Coca-Cola drinks that sold to all continents around the world according to their unique local characteristics, we have to admit that the Coca Cola business empire has its unique reason for lasting over one-hundred years, -- they are not only selling drinks, but also spreading an enterprise spirit and culture.
I learned the process of making the news, the challenge and the danger of the news workers, and experienced the sense of pride and dedication to the work of the journalists, during the visit to the CNN.
Come with nothing, return with fruitful results
Time flies, two weeks of visiting was over. Although it was only a short two week visit, GSU International Institute had carefully prepared a graduation ceremony and a graduation party for us, and the vice principal, Professor Dr. Wolfgang, issued a diploma for every student. At the graduation ceremony, the video recorded by the iSPEED program moved each of the students there, and let us see the team spirit of the program group; students from all over the world broke the boundaries of the country, forgot the differences of age, just enjoyed ourselves...
In two weeks, I not only knew a different American, experienced different cultures, but also knew the lovely teachers and students, and gained friendship and back with my full load of luggage. Thanks for being able to take part in this visit, I will remember all the experiences forever.
