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<p>Alexandra, didn’t you know what UCLA stood for when you matriculated?</p>
<p>U C a Lot of Asians.</p>
<p>Blame yourself for not knowing that ahead of time!</p>
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Like I said, God save our education system.</p>
<p>@ spydersix: I lived in Irvine for 10 years (and their schools are considered top-notch, especially University High) before coming up to UC Davis–both are heavily populated by Asians. In fact, I am an Asian (Vietnamese) myself, and everyone who has met me knows I’m an extremely quiet person who would rather listen than talk. :/</p>
<p>Hey I’m also an international SE student (vietnam) and here are some of my experience when i first came to the states</p>
<p>1- Americans highly value accents, the more fluent you are in English, the better you are off. If you have a British accent, you could generate a conversation right there since people could start asking about the origins of your accent and then you could tell them your story. </p>
<p>2- I don’t know about you but I came from a tight knit private school, our class was pretty small so we tend to be dependent on each other. When I came to the US, I was shock that each student have an independent schedule. Moreover, I feel its harder to make friends since they are constantly on the move, and sometime you won’t see some them until the next meeting or the next class. </p>
<p>3- American culture. It was definitely hard to understand what “meme” or “pwned” is. In high school I hang out with geeks (since they were definitely much more easier to get along with than other people) and I couldn’t get their language nor their jokes. Granted that internet provide us with all globalization and most people do know about by now, but back then I didn’t.</p>
<p>4- Asian-Americans. No offence, but I couldn’t get along with Asian-Americans, they are just in a whole different world for me. When I first came to california, they treated my like **** because I was ignorant of their culture (American). I always get a feeling that Asian-Americans are snobby just because they were born in the states. Even though I manage to do better than them academically and know more culturally they still treat me like **** because I wasn’t cool the American way.Also I see many Asian-Americans lack politeness and I just hate it when they say “hella” or “hecka”.
Now in college, I don’t feel the same way but high school still traumatize me until this day. </p>
<p>5- One of my biggest mistake is not asking. Even in college, I feel awkward to ask about a pop culture information that everyone seems to know. It doesn’t hurt to ask especially when you flip out the card “I"m an international student so I don’t know this kind of thing”.
So I think you’ll handle well if you ask, be polite, be friendly and charming!</p>
<p>Good luck :)</p>
<p>^“Hella” is primarily a west coast term and has nothing to do with Asians specifically. Do people really say “hecka”?</p>
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What world or country do you live in? </p>
<p>Based on my experience and my friends experiences at top schools in the nation, I’d say it is the opposite. Aside from fobs, who will obviously congregate as I am sure you would with other English speaking people in an Asian country, most minorities tend to get along with each other. White people, on the other hand, almost always are never seen with minorities, except for a handful that are extremely liberal and considered to be “hippies”. The only time I have ever seen a white person with a non-white person is some white guy dating an Asian girl. Most white people do their best to avoid minorities and would rather not have to deal with them, based on my personal observations, of course. Nothing wrong with that, however, it does make you look like hypocrites when you call out fobs for only congregating with other fobs or Asians.</p>
<p>as i didnt see it was mention(or maybe i just missed it) , im curious … what’d americans view on international asian who doesnt have the fluentest english(good enough to have conversations) but open-minded and try their best to communicate/ fit in with english speakers? ( and avoid being stick together with bunch of asians that speak in their own language most of the time)</p>
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<p>“hella” is also used only in northern California. I’m from southern California and we certainly don’t say “hella” down there, and it’s not only Asian-Americans in northern California who say it, it’s almost everyone. I refuse to use “hella” even though I now attend college in northern California.</p>
<p>@ archi: I’m sorry that you had such bad experiences with Asian-Americans at your high school. But please don’t think all Asian-Americans are like that just because of the ones you’ve encountered at your high school. 
Whenever I meet an Asian who isn’t from the States, I get excited and want to learn more about their culture than what I’ve been taught or have read in books (although with Vietnamese culture, I just ask my family, but if I want to know about the latest, I’ll ask Vietnamese people who are around my age group because I know that how Vietnam is back in the 1930s-1970s is waaaaay different from how it is now, especially in the entertainment aspect)</p>
<p>@ ts1810: I think it’s wonderful that they try to speak in English, even if they’re not very fluent. I know how tough the English language can be–even though my mom came here from Vietnam in 1975, she still struggles with speaking it without making grammatical errors. If what they’re asking is confusing me, I always ask them to try to clarify their question more until they arrive at one that I can understand, even if it’s in broken English. And they don’t have to give up speaking their own language, either–they can continue to honor their own culture/heritage while also assimilating into American culture as well.</p>
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<p>Um, Irvine Valley College. 40% white, 24% Asian/Pacific Islander. The rest are under 12%. UC Irvine (my dream school) is jokingly known as the “University of Chinese Invasion”. Their population is 47.3% Asian (whites only make up 19.9% of the population). My second safety school, UC Davis, is 42.2% Asian (equal in population with the whites).</p>
<p>Also, Irvine is one of the most populated Asian cities in Southern California.</p>
<p>Dang, that sixer guy trashes Asians and everybody hogpiles on him (and rightly so), but PurpleDuckMan can trash Southerners and it’s okay? One or the other, peeps.</p>
<p>Anyway, six guy, I have heard a lot of stereotypes but I’ve never heard of Chinese people being stereotyped as loud and brash. To the OP, I wouldn’t worry about anything. In any large university there will be other students from your country. If it has an engineering college, there will be Asians there. At OSU I could jump from one Asian to the next and get all the way across North Campus (where all of the science and engineering buildings are). You’ll also be able to enjoy foods from home by going to an Asian grocery store. I have two within walking distance and another big one about ten minutes’ drive away. I can get live frog, whole frozen duck, haw fruit candy, you name it.</p>
<p>My only concern is with remaining a constant outsider, rather than integrating somewhat. I don’t know if you plan to live in America for the rest of your life, but here are some tips:</p>
<p>-the better your English, the less barrier between you and others, make an effort to understand people (Chinese accents can be very hard for us to understand, as I’m sure our accents are to you), because you don’t want people to speak with you once about something, realize you didn’t understand them, and decide not to talk to you in the future
-join clubs, organizations, attend a church group, something like that, but don’t just show up and leave, introduce yourself to people
-make friends with other Asians who speak your language, they probably already know where to buy noodles and things like that (although American grocery stores carry more and more Asian things these days)
-I don’t know what the custom is in Asia, but in America most professors are willing to help and answer questions during special office hours</p>
<p>And here are some things I’ve seen Asian people do that (I think) make Asian people look bad:
-falling asleep in class. Yes, maybe you had a really hard day but wait until after class to sleep.
-a lot of Asian guys grow these thin, “peach fuzz” mustaches and don’t shave them. Some white people do this too. Whether you are Asian or white, it looks weird and women definitely don’t like it. So I recommend shaving it.</p>