Du+Fei

=Fei Du 杜飞=

**Good Job (10/26/11)**
====Hello, everyone, my name is Fei Du, transfer student from China. My major is Corporate Finance, and I will graduate in May, 2012. I want to keep studying after graduate from St. Mary's University, because studying can improve my skills and knowledge. I miss my parents and friends when I stay here along, because I cannot have fun with them. In China, I have no brothers or sisters, so parents and friends are very important to me.====

__Reflection of Dead Men's Path:__
====This story talks about the conflict between tradition and modern methods. Through this story, people know tradition is especially influential to the present, so we cannot omit the tradition in our daily life. Obi and his wife represent the modern minds and new life, but villages represent the traditional views. There is also a culture confliction between Obi's family and the villagers. In addition, Obi's wife is a white person, and villagers are black. Obi's wife may be influencing Obi to think against his clan. This story also reflects the different cultural belief between Obi and the local people because Obi is educated and he received new ideas.====

__Summary and reflection on "The Story of Stuff"__
====This video tells people the life cycle of material goods. It includes five steps: extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal. She thought these five steps make up a linear system, and people cannot run this system on a finite planet (earth) indefinitely.==== ====I agree her point that is few natural resources in our planet, and people should adopt some measures to protect our earth. Thus, saving resources and protecting the environment for sustainable development is a new topic to everyone. ====
 * 1) ====The main point of extraction is “people utilize natural resources infinitely”. She said one-third of earth’s natural resources have been consumed, and people using too much stuff that are not necessary.====
 * 2) ====The key point of production is “Toxics”. She said people use energy to mix toxic chemicals in with the natural resources to make toxic products. People also pollute the environment while they produce material goods.====
 * 3) ====In this step, she told people a hidden cost of material goods through an example of radio,. Common customers do not really pay goods. Some people pay with the lost of natural resources and clean environment. So, she thought companies externalize the real cost of production.====
 * 4) ====She thought people consume too much in their daily life. Companies use advertisements to tell people fashion and persuade customers to throw away goods which are still useful.====
 * 5) ====Last step just suggest people recycle stuffs in our life.====

“Thesien”: It is a very common German name, and this name from her father. Her father’s name is Leon Thesien.
====“Sherra”: Her mother told my professor that when she was born, she did not look like her other siblings. Her mother said she looked like an eastern princess. So her mom named my professor after “Shherizaad of the 1001 Arabian Nights”.====

__Narrative assignment__
The English teacher that I loved

=
Miss Li was my first English teacher, and she taught me for three years during my primary school life. At school, Miss Li was not a teacher of many words but she had built such trust with me that I did anything she asked me to do. She helped me a lot when I was studying English. Li was a very kind and patient teacher to my class, and she showed great love to me which is deeply appealing to our heart. Li taught me how to read a paragraph, talk with other people, write a paper, and she even made efforts to encourage me to understand the beauty of the language and enjoy the cultures of foreign countries. Whenever I made progress, she always smiled. =====

=
When I studied English, the first difficult skill was reading. I could not read a complete paragraph fluently. When Li found out this problem, she gave me a suggestion: listen to radio carefully and read books loudly every morning. She said these habits could help me understand books and help me improve my reading and listening skills. After that, she also encouraged me to read a lot of English magazines in order to improve my reading skills. Based on her recommendations, I could read a paragraph easily in the class. When I finished reading, she smiled. =====

=
The next step I learned is how to communicate with other people. She knew I was too shy to talk with other guys. She established an “English Corner”, and many students talked with each other there. I joined them and talked with them. After a few days, I could speak with my classmates fluently. In order to correct my pronunciation problem, Li also took me to her foreign friend’s house two times each week. In the beginning, I was afraid to talk with her friend, because I thought I said some wrong words or phrases. However, Li gave me confidence and helped me talk with them. She said, people should talk with their friends in English often and that this is the best way to practice your English communication. Within days, I could talk with Li’s friend independently, and she wore smiles again. =====

=
The last skill that she taught me is writing. Li prepared a lot of word cards and helped me to remember them. She said to me, if I study these cards every day, little by little my English vocabulary would increase. After I memorized many words, she said that keeping a diary in English is one of the most effective ways to improve my English writing ability. Thus, she made me write regularly, keep a diary, write a short story, and summarize the daily news. These assignments helped me improve my writing skill quickly. She smiled when my paragraph appeared in the school newspaper. =====

=
Li left a very deep impression in my childhood, and I am really appreciative of her help with my English. She is such an excellent teacher and I learned so much from her; not only knowledge, but also kindness and diligence. These traits will be useful to me all my life. She took me to the English world, so I will never forget her in my mind. =====

__ Process assignment __
How to go to the US as an exchange student Nowadays, a lot of students want to study abroad, especially study in the United States; because America has the best quality of education in the world. During their study in the United States, international students are also offered opportunities to understand American culture and make new friends. However, studying in the United States is not an easy thing for Chinese students. B ased on my experience, the following five steps may prove useful in assisting prospective overseas students in their preparations to study abroad. Firstly, students must not fail any courses in order to graduate from from their high school. On the certificate, GPA is another important factor before students apply to the university abroad. Students should remember this rule: a higher GPA means a better school, and an opportunity to receive a scholarship from their university of choice. In order to get a high GPA, I studied hard in high school and got high grades in my courses. Therefore, I received the Paul Goelz Scholarship from St. Mary’s University. Secondly, students must get their passport from the police station. I applied for my passport after I graduated from my high school. I provided my biographical information and official documents to the local police station when I applied for the passport. After two weeks, I was so happy to receive my passport. The next step is choosing the university online. Based on my GPA, I applied to some different business schools because I could compare the advantages in each of them. My parents in this area gave me some suggestions. They reminded me to pay attention to many criteria while I chose a university, such as the cost of consumption, ranking of living, the local people, the weather, and the level of safety. They told me that private universities were a good choice because class sizes are wonderfully small and I get lots of individual attention from professors. In addition, I need to wait for an I-20 form from the American university, and then bring it along with other official documents to an American Embassy. I remember waiting for five hours when I applied for the visa because there were so many people in line. The visa officers asked me some easy questions and looked at my documents. I answered the questions honestly and got my visa easily. Finally, I booked my plane ticket on the website. After comparing many airlines, I chose United Airlines. I thought this company had a good international reputation. United Airlines provided good service and made passengers feel comfortable during the eleven hour trip. Before I departed to the United States, I hugged my parents and took a picture with them. When I was going to the terminal, I was not crying because I chose to study abroad by myself. This is my story about how I got to the United State as a student. I want to tell other Chinese students who wish to study abroad to make a plan with these steps. Arranging the schedule is very important when you apply to a university overseas. Therefore, go only if you are ready to study abroad!

__Classification assignment__ My Professors in St. Mary’s University During my study at St. Mary’s University, I have met many professors in different courses, and they have been very nice and patient. My professors make learning very comfortable because English is not my native language. Professor Iyengar, Dr Thesien, Dr. Zhang, and Dr. Sommor have all been helpful to me, because they give me confidence and interest in the courses. They have different backgrounds and teaching methods which allows me to learn about their course well. My English instructor is professor Iyengar, a very kind woman from India. She teaches me how to read from a variety of texts and how to write exemplary academic papers. Because English is not my first language, she often provides a lot of help when I study for her English course. She teaches me how to write different kinds of papers, such as, narrative paper, process paper, definition paper, classification paper and research paper. After I write the final drafts, professor Iyengar helps me check the grammar problems in my papers. How patient she is! After writing these papers, I learned how to write different structures of English articles. This skill is very useful in my life because it improves my English reading and writing abilities. Sherra Thesien, my philosophy professor, is a San Antonio local; however, her family emigrated from Germany many years ago. She teaches me about ethics and aesthetics. In her class, she often gives us a lot of thought experiments to explain the concepts. My understanding of ethics has improved after attending her course. She always says, “Never do harm”, in her class, because she thinks all living things are equal. She is a very welcoming professor, and even invited me to her house in Dallas last Thanksgiving. That trip was meaningful to me because it helped me to fully realize the significance of that particular America’s festival. My favorite business professor is Feng Zhang, and she is from China. There is no language barrier between us because I can speak with her fluently in Mandarin. She teaches me about international business and marketing. She uses Powerpoint to teach the class. She often prepares some business videos from YouTube, and lets students talk about the details of these videos. In her class, she often makes students prepare presentations, because it encourages us to participate in the course. She helped me a lot during my stay at St. Mary’s University. She helped me find the dean in order to deal with my class credits. Last Christmas, she invited me to her house to celebrate this festival. I am overall very grateful her help. Professor David Sommer, my finance professor is from San Antonio and he teaches me about risk management. He is friendly and modest in his class. He likes us to participate in interviews in order to create more job opportunities for ourselves. He likes to give us many articles from newspapers and magazines, and then has us publish our own opinions. This teaching method trains us to increase our self-study ability. He encourages me to seek interviews, saying, “ Don't be afraid of failure, failure is the mother of success.” I feel so lucky that I have met many accommodating professors during my study at St. Mary’s, and that they all have helped me to become someone who I have dreamt being instead of only who I dream to be.

__Summary of “Are you OK?”__

Summary 1—Introduction
====This story starts with a taxi driver taking the author outside the hotel. There is a conversation between them during this trip. The driver asked three times “Are you OK?” to make sure the author feels comfortable and safe during the whole ride. That is why the author uses “Are you OK?” as the book’s name. Compared with the other taxi drivers she has drove with, the driver she meets in the story was very kind.====

Summary 2--Fabric Thrown over the City
====This plot happened in New York City in a morning. The author was going to Columbia University to see her teacher. On the way, she took a taxi which had a meaningful driver. This driver told the author to not reject unexpected things that happen to you, but to let them happen because this is real life.====

Summary 3--Way to Go
====In this chapter, Peace Pilgrim was a woman who was walking across the cities of the United Stated. She did not bring money when she walked in these cities. She slept everywhere, even in a card board box under an overpass. People should get a theory: the inner peace is important than living comfortablily in this world. And people could control their lives by themselves because they know themselves.====

Summary 4--Shopping for Nothing
====Grandma Marie liked to take a bus ride because she would communciate with other people and felt a sense of belonging in human society. She liked window shopping and buying nothing because she was timid to go into the store. Grandma Marie and the author ate many different kinds foods in this story====

Summary 5--Take Me with You
====The author wrote five riding experiences with different people in her childhood. Such people were neighbor boy, father, Irama, taxi driver, and mother. However, she suffered accidents in all of these rides. The author liked riding in new paths. She also thought that having a big life is important than being rich.====

Summary 7--Taxi, North from Jerusalem
====The author kissed her friend in the backseat of a taxi in Arab country. The Arbian taxi driver was very angery because kissing in public is a rude thing in his culture. This taxi driver left a deep impression to the author because she learned to respect other cultures.====

__Read two articles and write reflections__: First article:More Women Directors Will Improve Risk Management, ABI Says

Reflection:
====The article addressed the concern brought up by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) that having more women added to the Board of Directors for publicly traded companies will add to better active risk management. According to the article, ABI represents insurers that manage $2.7 trillion in assets.==== ====The main problem that ABI is targeting is group thinking. ABI believes that group thinking can be broken apart through diversity, in this case gender diversity. A recommendation of 30% female board of directors was made to publicly traded companies on the FTSE 100. While ABI recommends that females occupy seats as board of directors they warn that companies should not just try to meet quotas as it will lead to women being inadequately equipped in seats acting as board of directors.==== ====In my opinion I generally agree with gender diversity for board of director seats. My more important concern rather than focusing on gender diversification to manage risk appropriately is to be more concerned with in-depth business understanding of the company. While group thinking can occur, knowing the intricacies of the business will allow better guidance and more insightful management of the business. In specific fields this would be a problem bringing women into the board of director seats because many women may not be prevalent in the industry.====

Reflection:
This article talk about a survey: “Excellence in Risk Management VIII: Greater Expectations, Greater Opportunities”. This survey emphasizes the importance of risk management in the enterprises, and it also gives a pressure to risk managers. Risk managers should use their management within organizations and let other staffs understanding the crisis. Most of responses suggest risk managers not only deal with problems in the financial crisis, but also communicate their analysis in the total company’s strategies. In the last, the article recommends risk management department should participate in strategic-planning of an organization, and risk managers improve relations with senior executives. My opinion: If a company wants to have a better operation achievement than competitors, it should use the smart risk management. Staffs pay attention the risk management, because it is one of important decision-making and operation activities in a firm. Risk management also reduces market volatility and lowers the cost of capital. Risk managers often use variety ways to solve different types of risky situations, because they can identify, assess, and manage risks in the face of uncertainty. It is a very important step of operation to a company, because it can help company predict potential loss in the market. Based on risk managers’ analysis, board of directors can choose a best strategy of their companies.

__Definition Assignment__ Culture Shock People experience culture shock when they are in a new country. It happens very often to people who live outside of their familiar environment. In today’s world, students abroad often face this problem during their stay in a new country. They should adapt to many new factors in the countries that they visit, such as weather, food, language, local customs, and the lack of friends to support them. Study abroad students experience culture shock, and it may be difficult to adapt. Many international students cannot adapt to the weather in the foreign country. Some countries have four distinct seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter, while other places only have two seasons: winter and summer. For example, I am studying in St. Mary’s University, and I cannot adapt to the hot weather in San Antonio. In my hometown, the weather is warm and clear all year. The rain water is abundant, and the sunshine is ample. However, in San Antonio, it is very hot and sometimes it does not rain all year. I do not like hot weather; the hot weather gets me down while I live here. Another aspect that study abroad students may find it hard is to adapt to the foods. People always like food from their hometown. Also, people have different tastes, which influence how they choose their foods. For example, most Americans like to eat fried food, such as french fries and chicken. When I first arrived at St. Mary’s last year, I could not adapt to the American food. on the other hand, In my hometown, my mother made homemade foods, such as dumplings and noodles. My taste buds and preference for Chinese food makes me feel American food unappealing. I miss foods in my hometown and the ethnic dishes that my mother makes. This is a serious problem that contributed to the culture shock I faced during my stay. Language is another barrier. It is a shock for the first timer when a person goes to a country where he does not know the language and the culture, which are completely different. Language is the most testing problem to international students. For instance, my mother tongue is Mandarin Chinese, not English. When I attended my first class at St. Mary’s University, I did not understand the sentences that the professor used. It was a horrible feeling because I looked like a deaf-mute at that time. Thus, a limited understanding of the language can put students in a depressing mood while they study abroad. The fourth obstacle is local customs. This can be another factor of culture shock while students study in foreign countries. Because of the differences in social habits or customs and the existence of taboos in different cultures, international students must learn to use euphemisms to avoid misunderstandings and misconceptions. For example, I experienced the typical American holiday, Thanksgiving, last year. The biggest impression Thanksgiving left in my mind is that people brought food to the host’s house. This is a surprising behavior to me because in China, the host family should prepare all the food when they invite people to a festival. The final problem is making friends. This can be challenging while managing culture shock when studying abroad. There are a lot of friendly people, but it is hard to find true friends as an international student. People cannot live happily without friends. For instance, I often miss my friends and parents when I feel lonely on campus. Because of the communication problem, people have difficulty understanding my moods. This is a prominent culture shock to me. Hence, culture shock is a situation of loss and disorientation predicated by a change in one's familiar environment, which requires adjustment. International students should face and conquer culture shock during their life abroad.

__Reflection of Hand in Hand presentation (+ 10 points)__ Last Friday, I attended a lecture that is given by two high-school girls in University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). They were to introduce their high school which has a new model education system (Hand in Hand): integrated, bilingual schools where Jewish and Arab children learn together, helping their families and communities live together. This education program is creating a more peaceful, pluralistic, and democratic society in Israel. Arab and Jewish children can study side by side, learning each other’s languages and cultures. They can become friends, not enemies. Hand in Hand program is a huge and revolutionary change to Arabs and Jews. However, this education model will help these children establish the right values and reduce the potential hatred between Arabs and Jews.

Story Reading Event (+5 points)

President Peace Commission... (Extra credit) Peace and development are two main themes of the world today,but we still have rigional conflicts or even local wars in the middle east or places alike. Comparing with prosperity and peace, war and death would be last choices for human beings,but why people choose to behave so radical and cruel, I think there are many factors acount for this: 1.power politics and hegemony pactising by major countries like the U.S. 2.religious and belief difference of people. 3.the ever growing gap between the western countries and their counterparts. Maintain peace of the world is by no means an easy task at all, it entails combined efforts from all walks of life,narrow the gap between developed nations and the poor ones politically and economically,bring international roles of organizations like the UN and WTO into full play thus stop war at the first sight. Globalization is progressing with each passing day and we have already in the bracement of the new centry, we are and we should be confident that we can stop the evil spirit of war by jointed efforts.

__Movie Reflection: //My Name is Khan//__

// My Name is Khan // really touched my heart. Since childhood, Khan was diagnosed with the Asperger syndrome since childhood. He cannot communicate with others easily, but he is a very virtuous person, sincere, enthusiastic, and good-natured person.

In the movie, Khan’s mother draws a simple picture to tell him that there are only two kinds of people in the world, good and bad. Khan knows every religion is same in this world. After Khan grew up, he remembers his mother’s words. So, he married with Mandira regardless his brother’s prevention. Mandira, a divorced Hindu woman, is another important person in Khan’s life because she gives her love to Khan. Sam, Mandira’s son, becomes Khan’s good friend. Thus, Khan has a perfect life with his wife and son.

In the movie, everything looks beautiful before September 11. Khan’s son, Sam was killed because of his last name Khan and of his Muslim religion. Mandira cannot forgive Khan unless he talks to the president of United States that Khan is not a terrorist. In order to accomplish Mandira’s wish, Khan starts his tough journey. At last, he talks with the President Obama and accomplishes his promise to Mandira.

I think the theme of this movie is the representation of equal rights within different groups of people. All religions coexist in the world, even though they are different and have different beliefs. I want us to push our own human boundaries to reach beyond the division of race, region, and religion that keep us from seeing the best in each other.

__Mid-term: Summary of Judy Brady's article “ Why I Want a Wife?”__
In this story, author Judy Brady describes the attitude of men wanting a wife in his life. In her article “Why I Want a Wife”. She writes to show how men treat wives unfairly. She presents how men believe that the wife must to take on responsibility within the household in addition to fulfilling all of the man's needs and wants. Men want their wives take care of their children, physical needs, details of social life, and sexual needs. In the husband’s mind, a wife is the perfect accessory to anyone's life. Brady uses a sarcastic and irony in her article. She discussed this topic through a man’s point of view with the thought of how easy it would be if she had a wife and how nice it would be. Brady repeats, “I want a wife who will,” to express the dissatisfaction of the wives’ situations. By the use of irony in the essay, it sends a message to all the male readers a description of having a faultless wife in their future life. Readers all know she is not serious in this story, but is trying to get her point across of men’s description of an ideal wife. In her mind, men are a selfish group in society and do not share any household duties in the family. She supports equal rights for women, fights against male chauvinism, and wants to protect wives’ basic rights. I agree with her point that wives are not only a work machine, but also, an equal member in a family. Humans should eliminate sexual discrimination and prejudice and promote equality and justice between men and women. We should remember that wives just as important as husbands.

__Brochure：The Great Wall__

__Summary of Tolerating Intolerance__ This report is about a teacher who is tolerant to teach his student who has a narrow view of the race problem. This teacher gives his student time to prepare the paper about the student’s topic and lets this student to realize his wrong opinion through this experiment. This moderate and rational way can give a deep impact to this student and help him understand better about racial discrimination . In this case I am so moved by this teacher’s habit, because he is not direct against the student’s view. This teacher is very patient, and he gives a chance to help his student find the real answer about the topic. Students need teachers like him, because teachers guide us to benefit in life. This tolerance in this case happened in the school. However, I think it is important to note that being tolerant is not the same thing as being obligated to tolerate everything. To me at least, being tolerant means accepting behaviors or beliefs that I may disagree with, but that do not do any harm.

__Research paper__

Reasons to Study Abroad

Du Fei

St. Mary’s University

The Reasons to Study Abroad
===In today’s world, students choose to study abroad. It is becoming a trend and students believe that studying abroad can be conducive to being a competitive candidate for employment. Many students think studying abroad is a good method to help them fulfill their dreams of living in foreign countries. Thus, more and more students, especially Chinese students want to study abroad,. Based on Li’s (1998) statistics, 270 thousand Chinese students have chosen studying in other countries. Some reasons in creating this phenomenon are: students are open to new experiences, cultures, language, advanced education, and skill building for future employment. === ===Study abroad is an opportunity to help students open their eyes and their mind to have a brighter future. Students not only gain the knowledge and skills from the university, but also enrich their lives. Hence, “students need to become ever more competent in understanding, talking with, relating to, and working with persons who differ from them politically, socioeconomically, and religiously” (Neal &Larry, 2009, p. 23). Also, students look at their own country from foreigners’ opinion because foreigners can tell their thoughts about the students’ homeland. Studying abroad will widen students’ vision and broaden students’ minds. === ===Studying abroad not only teaches about the culture and academics of a different country, but also learning about different lifestyles. Students also can travel to different cities in a new country. They visit famous scenic spots and learn about different cultures. During the trip, they can make new friends with the local people. === ===Studying abroad also can help students improve their second language quickly because of immersion. Neal and Larry (2009) advised students that: “study away recognizes that students can have experiences that open their minds, hearts, and behaviors to difference and allows them to experience such difference firsthand, either internationally or domestically” (p. 24). Also, studying abroad can improve students’ abilities, such as global working experience, self-identity formation, and interactions with others (Neal &Larry, 2009). === ===Most Chinese students also have other motives to study abroad. Most Chinese students believe that the education system in America is better than in China. Many Chinese students want to receive the advanced education, so they choose to study abroad. The yearning for higher education and studying abroad has increased according to studies. People desire to study abroad because scientific research standards in China are too low to satisfy the thirst for knowledge among young students; this is the most important reason for the continued rise in temperature of the “going-abroad fever” (Li, 1998). === ===Many Chinese enterprises prefer to hire people who have studying abroad experience; because they think these students have a stronger ability to satisfy work demands. Li (1998) stated that, “Doctorates who come back from studies abroad is able to teach three or four different subjects and teach them very well. But [a] locally trained doctorate is, in general, only capable of lecturing on the little that figured in their graduation thesis, and not very creatively at that” (p. 81). Their advanced technologies and language ability can help studying abroad students find a good job and have a good quality life in China. Many Chinese overseas learners will choose to come back, using their abundant knowledge from studying abroad to serve for the motherland. === ===<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">In recent years, study abroad has flourished. The reason for this surge in student travelers is higher self-esteem with an edge on competition. By communicating with foreigners or staying for preposition a long time in the foreign country will help students understand the world through a new view. Studying abroad even helps students get a better degree and find a better job when they come back to their mother country. Therefore, studying abroad is an amazing experience and provides opportunities to students. ===

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> References
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Li, N. (1998). Why It Is Hard for the “Going-Abroad Fever” to Cool Down. //Chinese Education and Society 31// (2), pp.80-85. Retrieved from: []

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">Sobania,N & Braskamp,L. (2009). Study Abroad and Study Away: It’s Not Merely Semantics. AAC&U. Retrieved from: []