Listening post

I went to the Starbucks in downtown Lawrence and had a conversation with a woman. This is her third year in the United States. She came here in 2010 with her husband. Before she came to the states, she had worked as a journalist for five years in China. 

This took me out of my comfort zone, because I didn’t know her that well. So it took me awhile to get comfortable around her and to hold a conversation with her. Also, I felt uncomfortable talking to another man's wife in a coffee shop.  

She cares about arts and children. She spends a lot of time studying the arts. In fact, she is going to start studying public arts in Washington next summer.  She thinks that art is everywhere around our life, even the clothes that people choose to wear, or the case that people choose for their phones is a way for people to display art. She thinks that sometimes people make art harder to understand than it really is, and she wants to make art easier for people to understand. Therefore, any one can enjoy art. Also, she wants to start an art school for children from age 5 to 14 in China. She wants children to be able to  enjoy creating and drawing anything they want to in school. 

1.     Why do people choose to come to the United States to study? People who come to the United States have many different reasons, and not all of them are just for a better education. There is a deeper story behind it.

2.     What is a typical day for a married woman in Lawrence? She works at a Chinese restaurant, and she goes to the Lawrence library on her free time. Also, she wrote a book, and just recently published it.    

3.     How can international students use what they learned at KU and be success back in their country? There are many international students that graduate every year at KU. Most of them choose to go back to their countries. How do they use their skills or the things they are taught in school help them working out back home?   

Reported by Hao Hsuan Niu in Lawrence Kansas.