On July 13th, Beijing time, 15 studentsfrom the Optical Zhejiang University respectively departed from Shanghai andBeijing. After 13 hours of flight, they finally arrived at Chicago O'HareAirport on the afternoon of July 13th. After more than a dozen hours of flightand customs inspection, everyone finally got a break on the bus to the school.
At 9 o'clock in the evening, we finally arrived atUIUC, and under the leadership of Mr. Liu Meng and the school staff, I got toknow the school, stayed in the dormitory, and had a certain understanding ofthe next study and living arrangements. When I first arrived in the UnitedStates, the communication in English made us somewhat unaccustomed, but webelieve that we can better adapt to it in a few days.
On July 14,2019, US time, at 9 am on Sunday, we gathered at the first floor lobby ofNugent Hall to prepare for the group treasure hunt on the morning of the day.The person in charge of the event broke up and randomly divided the teams fromSouth Korea and Shanghai Jiaotong University, each group of 5-6 people, distributedto each group a campus map to explore the famous and interesting buildings onthe campus. Following the guidelines for maps and guides, we passed theUniversity of Illinois University's undergraduate library, the Foellingerauditorium, the Lincoln Hall, the Illini Union, and Alma Mater.
Among them, the University Library of the University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign is the second largest university library in the United States,second only to Harvard University; the number of auditoriums at the Universityof Illinois is large, and there are about 30 auditoriums throughout the school.We visited several of them. The large auditorium; Alma Mater is the most famoussculpture in the school and is also a symbol of UIUC. Students at the school ortourists visiting the school will take photos with this sculpture.
After the end of the campus tour, at 2:30 pm, we gathered at the EventEntertainment Center (ARC)'s Function Room No. 7, and together with about 100students, experienced the free atmosphere of the American university and theatmosphere of the game. We have competed in 3 small games - relay running,towering, knowledge quiz, learning to communicate in English in the game, andfeeling the importance of "college cooperation awareness" in Americanuniversity education.
At 9:00 am on July 15, 2019, US time, we followedthe person in charge, Liu Meng and others, to Everitt Hall to listen to LiuMeng and others to explain the points that should be paid attention to inIllinois, the University of Illinois, and the life of American universities. Intheir explanations, we have more detailed knowledge and understanding of this university,and we are ready for the next two weeks of study.
We take 2 courses during our stay at Universityof Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), including Control Science lectured byPro. Petros and Data Science CREATIVITY lectured by Pro. Wade, who is an expertin computer science, together with Pro. Karle, who is a statistician.
Pro. Petros is kind of humorous and hetells jokes during the class sometimes. He tries his best to focus on thegeneral methods to solve problems in control systems rather than introduceexcessive math works to the class. Unlike many courses we have taken inZhejiang University, this course doesn’t have any prerequisite requirements.The professor starts from the most basic and easiest parts of control systemand gradually digs into the hard ones. It is a pleasant experience to take thiscourse.
Another course Data Science CREATIVITY isdelivered by 2 professors from different professional backgrounds. They teachin turns during every single class so that we can pursuit knowledge and skillsin programing and statistics at the same time. This well-designed courseintends to equip us with those two kinds of skills and we are supposed to applythem to data visualization, which will be our final project. Lecture deliveredby two professors is quite unique for us and we do learn a lot.
We get a glance at American campus life bytaking courses, which will serve as a significant reference when we come tomake the decision on whether to receive graduate education aboard, especiallyin America.
Aftera few days of adaptation, we really integrated into the UIUC classroom, even ifit was the first time to get into the UIUC eclectic curriculum, we have alreadyexperienced the profound knowledge and profoundness, and in the course of thecourse, facing the illinoi union The open-air movies and the enthusiasm of theclassmates were not extinguished by the high temperature. The thrilling plotcreated a tense viewing atmosphere. The protagonist’s fate and fate oftencaused the audience’s exclamation or emotion. The next day, the learning ofdata science and control system was still in order. The brain was slightlyexhausted under the impact of new knowledge. After a hearty open-air musicfestival, it was a life that many students could not meet. For the first time,with the rhythm of metal instruments plucking and kicking, everyone throws awaythe loneliness and discomfort of foreign countries, immersed in the localfamilies who come to the leisure, feel the leisure time on Friday, and enjoythe personality and enthusiasm brought by UIUC.
On the weekend, we headed to Springfield, Illinois, to find the LincolnTrail. The group visited the Lincoln House, the Illinois State Government, andthe Illinois State Museum: Here, we saw Lincoln from a troublesome little boyto a great The embarrassing process of the president saw the other side ofLincoln’s childhood, as a small inventor. It is even more aware of the courageand perseverance that Lincoln faced in the face of heavy pressure, theabolition of the slave system and the end of the Civil War.
At the sametime, the people in the state of Illinois, through the state'sopenness to the public and the grandeur of the interior, feel the democraticspirit defined in American culture and its economic strength, but also thatChina is in the process of eradicating poverty. The reform of the population inthe deep-water zone and the hard-hitting period, the people of the group madeup their minds to learn the talents. In the near future, they will use theirrich knowledge reserves and broad international vision to help win the fightagainst poverty and help build a well-off society in an all-round way. TheChinese dream of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation hascome true!