<p>Well, Now that my time in UPENN is getting closer, I just want some advice on relationship with people..</p>
<p>I am a Chinese international student and I don't really know how to talk to American people... Yea..Depressing..
I used to be really active and social in China but after I moved to US, I just lost confidence in myself.
If I wanted to, I could probably just talk to Chinese people and join " ONLY chinese circle" but I really want to have a diverse relationship..</p>
<p>Basically, I just need an advice on how to talk to people... What do you guys usually talk about?? Especially to girls?</p>
<p>What do you think of people with bad pronunciation, or grammar? </p>
<p>Well this post seems stupid..but I am actually serious.</p>
<p>The fact that you’re from China, in my opinion, gives you a leg up. Talk about culture differences; a lot of people don’t know that much about China. Americans, I think, are pretty open with their problems/failures, but they talk about them in a funny way I guess. If someone says they slept for 10 hours on Saturday or they have been seriously slacking on homework or something, most people just laugh about it in response. People don’t like really confronting problems, only in certain situations. Hopefully that makes sense. Bad pronunciation or grammar is not a big deal. Seriously. I don’t even notice</p>
<p>relax and just speak how you reg. would. Using a ton of idioms or doing a lot of “american” things is a no-no.In terms of girls, your international status will boost you up probably.Just b yourself UPENN is awesome,welsoming and quite diverse. Congrats~~~~~~! :D</p>
<p>Your grammar seems fine. This is me personally - I wouldn’t care at all if your pronunciation was bad. Actually I worked with a Chinese post doc at my lab who had <em>terrible</em> pronunciation, but he was so friendly and took himself so lightly that he was actually one of my favorite people to talk to! </p>
<p>Americans like foreigners. We like comparing our culture to others and talking about what you think of America and what’s different about your country. This is especially true for university students!</p>
<p>I’ll be blunt about “talking to girls”. If you’re going to talk to us in a manner you’ve decided is “for girls”, we’ll notice. We’re people just like any other people, so talk to us like people! I guess you are talking about looking for a potential girlfriend - well, the best girlfriend is the one you were friends with first.</p>
<p>So in conclusion, just be friendly, talk to people because you’re interested in them, and take yourself lightly. Americans are pretty easy to get along with. Have fun and congratulations on UPenn :)</p>
<p>This might sound weird but personally, when i meet someone foreign who is OBVIOUSLY foreign then i make an extra effort to be their friend and talk to them and make them feel welcome since i know that they’re far from home and may not have any friends so just be yourself! Most people here are fairly friendly so if you just say hi or ask a question, they’ll probably keep the conversation going themselves. this is probably more true of freshmen in college since everyone is on their own for the first time and looking to make new friends anyway </p>
<p>I guess I could get into more “in-depth” (a.k.a awkward question…).
Well, I can actually manage to talk to people but I just do not know what to talk about… you know?
even if someone starts conversation with me, I just do not know what to talk about next and it becomes awkward…Especially when I am talking to girls, I literally have no idea what to talk about. For guys, I guess I can talk about gaming and sports but girls… men! Its toooooo hard for me!</p>
<p>What do you guys usually talk about with your friends? </p>
<p>You can probably talk about the same things with American friends as you would with friends back home. What really helps me (because I’m not good at one-on-one conversations) is hanging out with people who are very social. So what usually happens is you end up in groups of three or more people. Then you don’t have to carry the conversation by yourself. Everyone contributes and offers up their own topics to talk about, and it will just keep going and going. My friends like to talk about everything: religion, school, politics, art, TV…</p>
<p>For girls you can ask them about themselves. Show genuine interest. Where they came from to go to Penn, where they grew up. What they are majoring in. Perhaps they are studying something you know noting about and you can learn something beyond your superficial impressions. People love to be asked advice. You might try asking for some recommendations of what to do to experience American culture. What they think are top things to experience. What trips to take, which city or natural location is best to visit while you are here. If you have interests, ask how to peruse them here.</p>
I guess you are talking about looking for a potential girlfriend - well, the best girlfriend is the one you were friends with first.</p>