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作者Josephine Chu是美国驻华大使馆的“e-实习生”（e-intern）--Virtual Student ForeignService
你好！我是Josephine Chu。我是个三年级的美国大学生。我家在新泽西州，在纽约市的南边。我的大学是AmherstCollege。我的学校离波士顿两个多小时。我是政治和经济的双专业，也上了很多中文课和中国文化课。
我的学校真的是很小，只有一千七百个学生。学校是在乡下，附近有个野牛农场！很多大学生会比较喜欢热闹的地方，可是我很喜欢我的学校的环境。
我选择去AmherstCollege因为这个学校是美国顶尖文理学院。文理学院是专门注重学生的通才教育的学校。除了专业，学生还需要上很广的学科。这种文理学院通常很强调理论，写作，和学生思想。比如，我的学校一直到最近才提供工程专业，因为他们一直认为工程研究不会培养学生思考能力。
在美国的许多文理学院没有研究所，所以教授集中他们的竞争教育大学生，而不是跟研究生作研究工作。所以，许多这种文理学院非常小。你能认识学校所有的人。有一次，我一个下午能看到同样的朋友五次。
我的学校真的注重写作。我一个学期必须写很多报告。有时候，一个星期里面，我需要写几个四张的报告。有时候，我必须写几个长达十二张的报告。虽然这个样子，我还是有时间做别的活动。
许多美国学生喜欢参加运动或者其他活动。这样，他们能认识朋友和同时运动。去年我参加我们学校的舞蹈社，每个星期去几次！前一年，我上了学校开的溜冰课。我一个月也去了几次健身房。除了这些活动，我也参加AmherstCollege的辩论社和政治会。
我附了两张照片：一张是我在香港，第二张是我的学校。
以后，我还会写根多关于学校生活的文章，还有其它有关于美国大学的话题。有这个机会，我很兴奋!
Hello! My name is Josephine Chu, and I’m from New Jersey in theUnited States. I live about an hour south of New York City, nearthe shore. Right now, I’m a junior at Amherst College, a liberalarts college in western Massachusetts that’s about two hours awayfrom Boston. I’m working towards a double major in PoliticalScience and Economics, but I’ve also taken a lot of classes inChinese and China in general.
My school is extremely small, with a student population ofroughly 1,700. It’s located in a very rural area; there’s a bisonfarm right down the road. It’s not exactly the type of excitingenvironment that some students prefer, but it’s really a greatplace!
I chose to attend Amherst College, because it’s one of the topliberal arts colleges in the United States. Liberal arts collegesare schools that focus on a comprehensive undergraduate academicexperience. Students are required to take classes in a wide rangeof subjects, in addition to their major. These types of collegesgenerally also have a strong emphasis on theory, writing, and thedevelopment of a student’s mind (as opposed to purely technicalknowl edge). For example, my college actually didn’t offerengineering as a major until very recently, because it wasoriginally believed that the study of engineering wouldn’t helpdevelop the way a student would think!
Many liberal arts colleges in the United States don’t offergraduate schools, so professors place more emphasis on teachingundergraduate students- instead of focusing on research withgraduate students! That means that a lot of these colleges arequite small, and you really get to know everyone on campus. Once, Iran into the same friend five times in one afternoon!
My school really values writing, which means I have to writequite a few papers every semester. Some weeks, I have to writeseveral four-page papers in one week. Other weeks, I have to writeone long twelve-page paper. The work is really manageable, though,so I get to do some extracurricular activities.
A lot of American students like to participate in sports, orsome kind of activity where you can make friends and get exerciseat the same time. Last year, I joined our Ballroom and Salsa Club,where we learned different Latin and classic ballroom dances everyweek. The year before that, I took ice-skating lessons that wereoffered by my school. I also go to the gym, a couple times a month,to work out. Besides these activities, I’m also part of the AmherstCollege Debate Society and the Amherst College Political Union.
I have attached two pictures: one is of me (in a cable car inHong Kong, actually) and the other is of the grounds of AmherstCollege.
Throughout the year, I’ll be writing in more detail about thesedifferent aspects of my life at college, and the life of anAmerican student in general, as well as other topics related to anAmerican university. I’m very excited about this opportunity!
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