The Transfer Student
Andrea Pelose
Issue date: 2/9/09 Section: Bold Miami
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"This is the best way to make yourself to be a very independent person. You live in a different country. You don't just study for the classes, you study the life," says Maoxiao "Ariel" Xia, a 20-year-old business economics major from Xunyi, China. Ariel transferred to Miami this past August and will stay three years to get her diploma from Miami.
The friendly sophomore is a Tuesday afternoon staple behind the flaming pots and pans at Bell Tower's Wok This Way.
"When I was in China, my mom and I would cook together and those were my happiest times. So this is one of my favorite parts," says Ariel. "I love that I can make money. In China, we will not work a part-time job if we are a student. Here I make money for myself, even if it's not much."
Family is the driving force in Ariel's life. Her decision to study outside of China stems from a fatherly influence in childhood.
"My daddy is an architect. He brought me to travel a lot of places. I like to try to figure out what people are thinking. Different people have different opinions and I want to see the different culture," says Ariel, who is anything but shy.
Though Switzerland was her first choice, she eventually steered toward the United States because of its educational reputation.
"I thought [Oxford] was a very small and friendly city. It is a good place to study. It is not somewhere like New York that has a lot going on to interfere," says Ariel. "I lived in very small traditional Chinese city more toward the South, so I also wanted to live in a place with snow."
While Ariel always tries to maintain rugged optimism, the transition to life at Miami is not always easy.
"I prefer to see people as friendly, but not always people will be. Some can be mean, which can make it difficult because I am away from my family and can't go to them when things are hard," says Ariel.
The language barrier alone, especially in classes, presents problems.
"If I focus on what a professor said, I will not take notes. If I take notes I will not know what they say," says Ariel, who jokes about her English, saying she thinks of what she wants to say in Chinese then translates it to English. "If you read for one hour, I will read for two when it is the same thing. My hardest part is writing papers. I have to go to the writing center to get help."
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