Before coming to Arizona, 22-year-old Qingyu Zheng had never seen a desert. More than 4,000 miles from home, Zheng was excited to feel the dry heat, see the prickly cacti and experience a whole new culture.
“There are all kinds of [cacti] here,” she said. “I always take pictures of them. … I just love them.”
Zheng is part of Barrett, the Honors College’s first exchange program with another honors college.
While her home is in northeast China, Zheng attends the National University of Singapore and is part of NUS’s honors program.
“From our point of view, it is wonderful,” honors dean Mark Jacobs said of the new program. Through the program, students from NUS come to Barrett, and Barrett students can go to Singapore.
Zheng, a junior studying industrial engineering, arrived in January and will stay until the end of the semester. She has been to America before, but never to study abroad.
“It is very important and interesting to have this kind of experience to go outside of the country and experience the American culture,” Zheng said.
Zheng had a former classmate at NUS who traveled to America and told her about the desert landscapes. She said Singapore is very green, rainy and humid, and she wanted to see what a desert looked like.
“The sunshine here impresses me the most,” Zheng said. “It makes me feel better whenever I miss my home.”
Zheng also said she was surprised to see students at ASU chewing gum and smoking on campus — two activities that are banned in Singapore. The cleanliness of both ASU and Arizona impressed her.
Zheng said she really likes her ASU professors, and mentioned how one of her teachers tells stories about his family.
“It makes me feel good to hear about his life. It is touching to hear,” Zheng said. “In Singapore, teachers don’t really talk about their families.”
Zheng said she initially struggled in her global governance class taught by Anne Herbert, assistant dean for undergraduate programs at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
Herbert reached out to her and made time to provide the necessary help for Zheng to understand the concepts of the class.
“I’m really thrilled to have her in class,” Herbert said. “She is a brave student with an open mind and interest in learning.”
Herbert said her class is a challenging course about international law and global governments.
“What’s great is we can bring her perspective as an exchange student from China into a class about international law and human rights,” Herbert said.
Before coming to Arizona, Zheng said one of her NUS classmates told her ASU was a party school, and that everyone parties on Thursdays.
“I was surprised because I’ve never been to a bar, pub or even a party in Singapore or China,” she said.
Zheng said she would eventually like to visit Mill Avenue and experience the Tempe bar scene.
She lives at ASU’s Cholla Apartments near the Tempe campus with exchange students from other countries.
“It is comforting to share the new experience with others living so close,” she said. “I enjoy learning about their culture, language and food.”
Biology in society junior Glenda Ramirez, who works at the apartments, said the fact that Zheng is Chinese but goes to school in Singapore brings two different cultures to the apartments.
“She’s really friendly, wants to talk to people and gets involved in the global village in several ways,” Ramirez said.
History junior Rebecca Miller was part of an exchange program in Australia last semester.
When Miller returned home she decided to help exchange students who came to ASU. She was assigned as Zheng’s “buddy,” and helped the Chinese student find her way around campus and Tempe.
“When I first got [to Australia] I would have liked to have people take me to Target, drive me places and show me where everything was,” Miller said. “I thought it would be nice to do that for someone visiting ASU.”
When Zheng first arrived, Miller took her to the grocery store, campus and bank to open an account.
Zheng said she appreciates having someone show her the ropes.
“Hopefully she felt that I helped her out,” Miller said. “I told her that if she ever needs anything like a car ride, dinner with a family, a mother or do laundry she can come to my house. She’s always welcome at my home.”
Reach the reporter at tchavez3@asu.edu
