The first day in NZ

This is the first day when Meredith arrives in school. She comes to NZ as an international student from China. When she gets here, everything is different from where she works and lives in her mother country. She can not help thinking of those she is very familiar with. But now, she feels a little bit…panic, food, people, beaches…all are strange, especially the obvious accent, of course she is a foreigner here, but, she speaks very good English in her country, why she has difficulties in communicate with local people, even feel pressure to talk to others…"how can I survive in such a totally different environment”? She always asks herself.

Meredith is a very diligent girl in her career. Her dream is to teach in university after finishing her study. She studies very hard. Everyday she gets up early and goes home late, stays in library all day. But, all this doesn’t reduce any scare coming from her program leader. Hm…how to describe that woman? Yes, undoubtedly she is a kind person, or maybe sometimes very strict to Meredith, this makes M depressed, “you have to know that I am also a very pride girl”, M talks to herself, “I must try my best in study, once I get a high mark, I can make it, yes, I must prove myself to her”. According to her leader, as long as M can get a B+ in the first semester, she can directly enter the Master program next year.

Friday morning M has finished her first practicum, teaching beginners English in WT building, she gets a very good appraisement from the students, this makes her happy, the students even applaud for her performance, of course, she is a very good teacher, all she want is to devote herself to teaching. Students are like her kids although she has not married yet, that’s why she is enjoying her life when finish teaching. Today is Friday, M has no class in afternoon, she decides to go to a bar which has a good reputation near the school. When she enters the hall, someone coming to her and accosting :” hi, sweety, are you new here? Can I buy you a drink?”, if that is called a kind of flirting, M has to acknowledge that she would love to be teased by the tall, strong, good-looking man standing in front of her.

Saturday morning, Alarm clock wakes M up, suddenly she finds a naked man lying next to her, "who is he? Why is he in the room? Oh, my headache is gonna kill me! "M feels a little bit hangover, she realizes she got drunk in the bar and took the man to her home, ONE NIGHT STAND! “Damned, I was not supposed to do this,” “ you are guilty and really unforgivable, if your mom knows this, she would kill you”, M is blaming to herself, meanwhile, talking to the man with a very reluctant mood:" Hi, I am Meredith, and you are?" “Derek”, “ok, well, listen, I am gonna late, I am now taking a shower and when I am back, you will not be here, is that alright? ” “what? You took advantage of me last night when I got very drunk and you are going to dump me now, that’s unfair!”, Derek is complaining. “no, I am not, that’s between us, and I am a brand-new here, I didn’t take advantage of you, you see, everything is over between us, and we will never meet again, relax”, M is still smiling. “ Well, since you are saying that, I agree, good luck, pretty girl” “ you too, bye”.

When M arrives in the school, it is almost 10:00 in the morning, today she has an appointment arranged by her tutor who is a very kind and nice man, maybe he is around 45 years old, but still looks younger at the first sight. M gave her tutor her reports on last Wednesday and was told that she would be given a new substitutive tutor who is going to meet her at the front door of library at 10:00 on Saturday morning. Because her tutor will go to Singapore to join an international conference, it would take 2 weeks, they will allocate M a new tutor though.


It is a little bit gloomy and cold today, M is wearing a T-shirt, she starts to shrug her shoulder and move uneasy, she doesn’t know why she has such nervous feeling this morning, maybe it is just a kind of intuition, she is thinking. A handsome, tall, cold man is walking towards her slowly, M is astonished and embarrassed when she watches the man’s face clearly, that man is Derek who has one night stand with her last night! D smiles when he notices M’s expression. “ It is you! Please forget all happened between us and it is over already”. After saying that, M leaves quickly and D is still standing there watching her beautiful back figure, saying nothing.

“ What should I do, he is my boss and I can not avoid to see him in 2 weeks, anyway, all I can do is pretending nothing happened between us, that’s all”, M shakes her head, sigh.

Monday, M meets D again when they take elevator together, D stands very close to M, they can even hear each other breathing clearly, “that’s really embarrassing, I never imagine I could see him again”, D tells Yang who is her best friend since they know each other, Yang comes to NZ 2 months earlier than M as an exchange student, fortunately, they both are in the same school, therefore, they can have a meal or talk together from time to time. Yang is a very brave girl with very strong confidence and self-respect, she wins scholarship every year and was selected as student leader in school back to her country. She is very famous not only in study, but also in choosing boyfriend, she has her own discipline, she only has interest in those who is as excellent as her and someone who must be an all-round genius. Nobody matches her, no one can enter her heart easily, everybody looks up to her and many people hold the opinion, she pursues perfect theory and she is lonely, that’s why she barely talks to others except M.

Compared to M’s sensitiveness and Yang’s picky attitude, the other 3 international students are quite easygoing and understandable, they are: Izzie, Alex and George. George is like a big boy, especially when he is blinking his blue, innocent big eyes, everybody arouses impulse to protect him. “He is our family member”, Izzie says, “ we all have responsibility to help him grow up”. Izzie is a pretty girl, she is also very independent, in order to pay the high tuition fees, she used to be a model, take pictures with sexy dressing for a magazine company. “Life is cruel and crucial, people have to swallow all the suffering and keep going on” she says, “ I am happy to make through it”. However, she has her own secret, she made a mistake when she was young, she was pregnant and had a daughter, when she realized she needed to change her life style, she decided to go to school. So she left her daughter. But, she never stop missing her!after her leaving home, her mom sent her daughter to a rich couple, Izzie promised to herself that she would pick her daughter up one day when she has ability.

“Hi, how are you doing, you look a little pale today, what’s wrong, are you ok?” Alex, another international student asks Izzie, “ Nothing, I just miss my…mom, maybe I am homesick, I will be fine, no worries”, Izziz shakes her head and wipes her tears off. “ That’s fine, if something I can help, just let me know””, I will, thanks”.

Then they go to have class individually, Monday, new day, busy day.