Name:TEMELIDI YULIA 尤丽娅
Nationality:RUSSIAN
Division:Humanities and Social Sciences
Year of Enrollment:2020
Tsinghua—A University Where you will Truly Have a Sense of Belonging
On the 20th of December, when I first received the letter of admission from Tsinghua, I was both excited and nervous, and many memories quickly poured up: the repeated confirmation when I submitted the materials, the tense pressure before the integrated test, and a relief and relaxation after I handed in the materials. At that time, I didn’t know what to expect from this university, whether I’m going to make friends easily or not? Is it going to be hard to study using a foreign language? But the time I stepped into Tsinghua, every question answered itself. Students here are not just thinking about studying but are actually trying to make friends by helping each other. Adorable Chinese students aren’t judgmental about your accent and teachers are always happy to help.
A true story that happened to myself once. When I first came to Tsinghua, pretty much half of the material was really hard for me to understand. One of the economy lessons was hard by itself not mentioning that was all in Chinese. While I was struggling with using a dictionary and taking the notes at the same time, my teaching assistant somehow found out about my worries. She consulted the professor and asked for help, whether he can change the presentation and add some necessary English words and expressions. At the same night, the professor sent me the copy of presentation with a lot of translated words, and promised to keep it that way until the end of semester. On one hand, that helped me in understanding the material, but on the other hand, in an unknown country, this warmed my heart and made me feel like I’m not just an outsider.
As for everyday life in Tsinghua, you’ll never feel left out. I was so impressed by the variety of students clubs. There is even a special day for the recruitment. During this time, the street in front of students dormitory is full of tents of different associations. I’m currently a part of AICE and TsinghuaShuo—two international students associations. Here, I’m trying to organize different parties for foreign students to participate. With these activities, students will get to know not only Chinese but also other foreign countries’ cultures. Here, I made a lot of new friends, who taught me to respect every point of view and be open to people with different cultural backgrounds.
Probably as each and everyone who wants to be a part of Tsinghua University, I thought that in a different county, people will treat me bad. As a person who does not belong here, I was afraid of being alone and having bad results because of the misunderstanding. But believe me or not, here in Tsinghua, people are more open to different cultures than in any other universities and somehow kinder in a way. Different clubs, activities, and fun assignment will allow you to feel like you never even left your hometown. Come to Tsinghua and find your own place in this beautiful campus.
