Rider University > Sanda Student Blog

Summer Class

2006-05-23T12:38:00.000-04:00

posted by: Karen
Is there any difference between summer class and regular semester class? Do you find it harder or easier? What have you been doing in your free time?

Commencement

2006-05-15T15:03:00.000-04:00

posted by: Karen
Please tell me about your graduation experience.

Spring Semester

2006-05-08T10:59:00.000-04:00

posted by: Karen
Please describe your semester. What are some important lessons you have learned in or outside the classroom?

Summer Plans

2006-04-24T15:09:00.000-04:00

posted by: Karen
Do you have any BIG plans for the summer? (Trips,internships, traveling home?)

Carrot's Intro

2006-04-18T11:45:00.000-04:00

My name is Carrot, Chinese name is Yanjie Zhao. I am interested in
piano and music, especially Japanese music. I have been here about
three months. During these three months, there happened many
interesting experience and many cultural shocks. I’d like to share
with you if you are interested in hearing it.

Q&A FINALS!

2006-04-18T11:33:00.000-04:00

posted by: Karen
How are you feeling about finals? What are you doing to prepare?

Senior Ball

2006-04-11T15:15:00.000-04:00

posted by: Karen
You have come so far! Graduation is near and the celebrations are beginning. Tell me about the Senior Ball.

International Festival

2006-04-10T12:03:00.000-04:00

posted by: Karen
Special thanks to Monmouth University's International Club for the invite to their International Festival. The evening was filled with great food, music and dancing. We hope both International Clubs can collaborate on many more events in the future. Thanks again :)

Q&A Regarding Leadership

2006-04-03T10:34:00.000-04:00

posted by: Karen
Tell me about your Team Blast experience.

Q&A Regarding Culture

2006-03-27T11:56:00.000-05:00

posted by: Karen
April is Asian Heritage Month. What is the one thing you would like American students to know about your culture?

Stacy's Intro

2006-03-27T11:48:00.000-05:00

Hi my name is Stacy. My friends prefer to call my Chinese name—Qin. Time passes really fast, I enjoy almost every second of my life in the United States. Two months have gone, but I really hope the time could slow down a little bit. I love the big environment here. The people here are friendly and polite. Besides, it is really a place of freedom as I learned before I came here. There is almost no big culture shock at all since Shanghai is also a modern and open city nowadays. I feel quite comfortable and pleased with the way of life and studying here. For those who want to come to Rider University, I want to emphasize again the importance of oral English and the English reading skills. With little language barrier here, students can enjoy anything in this wonderful place. Up to now, I have been to New York City, Disneyland in Florida and Washington D.C. They are all fantastic places to take traveling. The journey experience allows me to enlarge my knowledge and to learn more about the great country. Innovations and high technology can be found almost everywhere. As long as you are active and enthusiastic, you will enjoy the school life in Rider and you will have many friends in such a new environment. “Don't be shy" and "Take a try" are the two most helpful sentences for people to blend in the American culture in the U.S.

Jade's Intro

2006-03-24T21:54:00.000-05:00

My name is Jade Hu. In Chinese, Jade refers a stone with wisdom. My Chinese name is Yu Yan. Jade is translated from “Yu”. I am an upright and open-minded girl.
I am very happy to find I am here when the sunshine kisses me in the morning. It is not the first time I leave my family, but is the first I leave my mother land. I almost forget what I had worried about before I left China because everyone here is very friendly. Besides my mentor, who I had known before I came here, Karen is the first Rider student I meet on campus. She is so nice and warm hearted. She helped me to assign to the volleyball club and play that game with me which make me very exciting at a moment. She helps us to make the plan to travel Disney land and Washington D.C. as well. Within one week, we visit the two famous places and both of them deeply impress me. That’s a wonderful spring break!
About daily life, I believe that I have a happy life at Rider. I have experienced a period of depressed time before I come to Rider. But now I am very happy everyday because I have some local friends and my schedules are always busy. I can get a kind of achievement after a busy, but exciting day. I write this for the following students in Sanda University because I think it is important to know what happens here if you are interested in studying abroad. We work hard because all of our efforts will contribute to the rest of our life.
It seems that I have too much to say. Is that funny? It all depends, I think. I’d like to share my magic experience to all of you in the following two years. Thank you!

Simon's Intro

2006-03-24T21:50:00.000-05:00

Hi, my name is Shang-Qin Chen. I think it should be easy to memorize if you call me Simon, so you can call me Simon without hesitation. I am one of the Cohort II students from Sanda.
You know, I have come here for more than two months. Now, I feel more comfortable to live in U.S; live on campus. During the two months, one thing is surprising. I have never missed my family. The most important reason, I think, is that there is too much homework to do. You even haven’t any time to miss you parents, your friends.
When I first set foot on the U.S land, I felt so nervous. Before I came to Rider, I had no idea about the campus life at Rider. You know that in the next two years, I have to talk with people who can not speak a Chinese word. But now, my two months’ experience told that I will be ok living with the English speakers. Do not be shy. If you can’t catch the words, you can ask them for repetition. I do such things very often.
The United States is a beautiful country. I saw many things I haven’t seen before, such as the heavy snow, Disney World, and etc.
In the end, I hope everyone that has come here could be successful, and everyone feels happy in the foreign country.

Q&A Spring Break

2006-03-20T11:53:00.000-05:00

posted by: Karen

What was your most memorable moment this spring break?

Q&A Regarding Class

2006-03-06T13:10:00.000-05:00

posted by: Karen

What is your hardest class at Rider? What can Cohort III do to prepare for this class?

Q&A regarding English

2005-07-08T09:18:00.000-04:00

posted by: Rider University
topic: Were you prepared enough in English to adjust to the U.S. classroom format? What have you done here to improve your English skills? Are there ways you would like more help that Rider could assist with?

Q&A regarding class styles

2005-06-16T14:16:00.000-04:00

posted by: Julie
topic: How do class formats differ between China and America?

Emma's Spring Break

2005-03-28T17:10:00.000-05:00

Spring break has come to an end so fast, and we have to face the heavy the work again. Did you have a good time during this vacation? Some may have traveled to the beautiful beach, some may have gone back home and had an emotional reunion, etc. I wish all of us feel refreshed after the break.

Reviewing the past spring break, I am very grateful for to our dean, Tom Kelly. He did a lot of work to organize three activities for us. He took us to visit two large companies, and the last day, we went to the Statue of Liberty.

The first firm we visited was Bear Stearns, which is one of the premier global investment banking, securities trading and brokerage firms, and the second one was National Starch, a chemical company which is the only company in the world with dual capabilities in natural and synthetic polymers. Through the visit and communication with the staff of those two companies, I was deeply impressed. It helped me to think about my future career. The earlier you decide what you want to do, the better you can prepare, one staff member said to me. I will be a senior student in the fall. It is high time for me to begin with my career plan now.

Although, spring break is over, spring is around us. Someone told me that New Jersey is the Garden State. I can’t wait to see the delightful scene of this state in spring.

Cookie's Spring Break

2005-03-28T16:52:00.000-05:00

Spring Break is too long for a lonely people. But we were not lonely at all. Dean Kelly had arranged three days of activities for us.

Those were three really significant days. We went to two companies, sailed to see New York, and visited Ellis Island and the Statue of liberty. But what most impressed me most were the dinners we had those three days.

The first day, we were taken to a Chinese restaurant (Ya Ya Noodle). Because our dinner was ordered in advance, the restaurant prepared special Chinese food for us. To our surprise, they offered us traditional steamed dumpling with pork from Shanghai. We were all pleasantly surprised. The food was so delicious that we all became gluttons.

The second day was St. Patrick's Day, which is a traditional feast of Ireland. Our dean is an Irishman. He wore a strange green tie that day and brought us to eat special food for St. Patrick's Day (at a Tiger's Tale). To tell you the truth, the food was not so good. But, it was an interesting experience for us.

The third day, we went to a restaurant (Hillsborough Diner) to have New Jersey food. They offered huge dishes full of food. It expanded our knowledge about the good appetites of Americans. We all tried our best to stuff ourselves with plenty food and made ourselves so full we could barely move at all.

Thank you to the school for giving us so many beautiful memories from spring break. For most of us, this spring break will be the first and also the last spring break we have in America. But we will never forget it and will never forget all the things our school, our dean have done for us so far. We are so thankful for these "foreign family members."

Emma's Introduction

2005-03-02T12:52:00.000-05:00

posted by: Emma Lu

Hey, this is Emma Lu. I come from Shanghai, one of the biggest cities in China.

Time goes by so quickly! It has been over one month since I arrived at New York's airport. Frankly, everything is going well except for a little homesickness. It is the first time for me to be away from my parents. But, I think it is high time for me to learn how to be independent.

At first, I was worried that I could not adapt myself to a totally different country. However, in fact, there was no need to worry about that. All the students at Rider are very nice. Even a stranger will greet me with a friendly smile just like an old friend. Especially, I am grateful to my cute mentor -- Faby -- for all her warm-hearted help. Thanks a million! Also, I have met some good friends in the past month. I think people get along with each other because it is just like looking at themselves in the mirror; when you smile, you find people in the mirror will all smile in the same way.

Secondly, all the professors are very kind and patient. They encourage us to ask questions and introduce us to tutors. The learning center arranges conversation activities in a vivid way each week for the purpose of enhancing our oral English. It is natural that there exist some differences between American education and Chinese education. Under the help of so many people, I have the confidence that I will get better and better.

May everyone here enjoy our campus life! May all the luck and happiness be with us through the year, 2005! I will cherish the challenging year at Rider University!

Last, but not least, I want to say, Shanghai is a very beautiful, modern city. I welcome all of you to my Shanghai, China!

Cookie's Introduction

2005-03-02T12:36:00.000-05:00

posted by: Jiang Cookie Qi

My name is Jiang Qi. This is a Chinese name because I am from China. I know it is a little difficult for you to remember so I also picked an English name for myself: Cookie.

I have a lot of things I want to tell you but I don't know where I should start. There are so many novelties around me since I arrived on U.S. land.

I think I will start from the first day I arrived at New York airport. I imagined in my mind when I was still on the airplane that a staff member from Rider University would be standing at the exit of the airport and he would raise a big board with the name of the school on it. And everything would be prosaic at the beginning.

But, I was totally wrong. While I was walking out of the exit, I saw Santa was smiling at me with a lot of beautiful balloons in his hand! Perhaps, I am a little too magniloquent. But it is true that America gave me a big surprise at that time. Maybe it is ordinary to you but it was really special for me. In fact, it was our dean, Tom Kelly - a fat smiling old man with white whiskers. He is so genial and has not even a little haughtiness as a dean. I can never forget that day. It was snowing outside. The beautiful snow, a cute dean and the lovely balloons made me suddenly start to love this place at that moment!

I told myself, perhaps, it will be easy to get along with people from America with hearts full of love. Don't you think so too?

Steven's Introduction

2005-03-02T12:24:00.000-05:00

posted by: Steven Chen

My name is Steven Chen. Steven is the name that I have used since I was a child; however, my Chinese first name is Jun.

First off, I am excited that I have this opportunity to come to your great country and to study at Rider University as a transfer student. Since this is my first time so far away from home, it's really a big challenge for me. However, this is an ideal chance for me to test myself and to adapt to a very different, unfamiliar and strange environment. I am glad that I am on my way.

Secondly, as mentioned before, it is natural that everything here is new to me: people, culture, food, lifestyle, money and even values. It seems there are a lot of things waiting for me over here. Maybe, it will be a lengthy process, but I will get use to these differences, I have to.

Thirdly, the most impressive thing, since I have been in your country, is that you are friendly. Everybody here is so kind that it just makes me feel like home, and it is helpful for me to be myself in these strange surroundings. And I will never be nervous when I am talking with an American, who is amiable and affable.

Additionally, I have to mention that my mentor, Matthew Stevens, who was assigned to me before I came to Rider, is a very nice guy. He treats me as though I were his brother. So, I believe I definitely will be a member of yours in possibly a short time, with your help and consideration. Thank you for your help so far.

Welcome

2005-02-25T14:23:00.000-05:00

posted by: Rider University

Through its educational partnership with Sanda University in Shanghai, Rider University will welcome its first cohort of 23 undergraduate students and three faculty advisors from Sanda later this month before the start of the 2005 spring semester.