“100 attendance” “Pros and Cons” “Nightmare

Schedule”
In the UP’s schedule, I will not
have an excuse to skip any
class. Why should I have to
skip classes if they start at
12:00 p.m.? I personally have
not been absent in this course.
Also, during the last session I
got 100% attendance. In addi-
tion, with UP’s schedule, I get
enough time to sleep. I do not
feel sleepy during classes and I
always wake up at 11:00 a.m.
What an amazing schedule!!
(by Mansour Alameri)
There are negative things and positive
things in the UP schedule. We start
classes at noon and we finish at 7 p.m., so
we avoid morning rush hour and evening
rush hour. Also, we do not have to sleep
early. We can go to parties or chat with
our families or friends in our countries.
However, we do not wake up in the
morning. Also, because we finish our
classes late, we do not have enough time
to go shopping. In addition, government
offices close at 5 p.m., so if someone
needs to go to one of these offices, he has
to miss one of his or her classes. (by
Musaad Alzahrani)
Do you want to be a night per-
son? Try UP’s schedule. Many
people do not like UP’s schedule
because it starts at 12:30 and
finishes at 7:00 p.m. Basically,
your life is going to be a night
person’s life. Most of the peo-
ple would sleep at night so there
is no time to meet some friends
in the morning. Furthermore,
there is no time to lay at the
beach or hang out during the
afternoon. (by Faysal AlBalushi)

Please pay attention to interesting events on cam-

pus. International Cafe is usually held in Webb
Center twice a month. Everyone who participates
in this event can be warmly welcomed as well as
feel an intimate atmosphere. It is a good opportu-
nity to meet and interact with people from all

University Preparation and Advanced I-A

over the country. Participants can also taste deli-
cious food, such as fruits, bagels, coffee, and bis-

Students for All Students at the

cuits. Additionally, participants have the chance

English Language Center

to present about their own country. If you go to

April 2011—Spring 2

A Publication by the
Webb Center, you can enjoy all of them freely.  Everyone shows their traditional clothes in ODU Interna-
tional Festival! (photo by Qiao Liang)
How about joining this event? (by Yeonhee Son)

 A majority of English Language Center students and teachers went

to the zoo on Thursday, April 7. Alex and I saw our relatives. It was
such a different experience for us! (photo by Füsun Alpay)
Summer I begins May 9!

April 27 at 1:00.
The next TOEFL Exam is

We are classmates, but we are more like family!

(photo by Qiao Liang) 

Spring 2, 2011 Newsletter Contributors

UP Writing: Ali Alabdullah, Mansour Alameri, Faysal AlBalushi,

The ELC is moving!
This summer, we are moving from Spong Hall
to the newly renovated Dragas Hall! Please
come visit us later on in our new home!
Musaad AlZahrani, Lu Cai, Fahad Ghamdi, Sunmi Hwang,
Soo Jeong Kim, Sangjin Lee, Yeonhee Son, and Hyeshin Yoon
Advanced I-A Listening/Speaking: Bejad AlMaddah, Füsun Alpay,
and Qiao Liang
Editing & Layout: Jamie G. Sturges
 In this world, people consider fashion as an important part of this society because
people’s dress has always been used to denote their social status; as a result, peo-
ple’s looks have become increasingly more significant. The fact shows how much
people care about their clothing. I found some interesting things out about Ameri-
cans and Koreans having different clothing style. Of course, both Americans and
Koreans like fashion, especially women, but I realized Americans prefer to wear a
more casual style than Koreans at normal times. Koreans enjoy wearing fancy
clothes and high heels almost every day. However, in the U.S., people dress up
when they go to parties or only for special days. For example, when I was in Ko-
rea, most college students wore high heels when they went to school and always
paid attention to personal grooming, while in the U.S. most college students wear
 We have a lot of fun in class! (photo by Qiao Liang)
sneakers when they go to school and wear a comfortable clothes. I cannot say
which one is better, but this difference was most interesting to me among the other
differences. (by Hyeshin Yoon)

Are you fond of taking

Homesickness is an emotional reaction of that corresponds to the feeling of miss- good pictures? If you
ing family, friends, home, and culture. This feeling is more common among inter- are an ODU student,
national students. Actually, this feeling is temporary, but most of the students you have many great
don't know how to avoid getting homesick or even deal with it. There are some chances! Let’s go to
symptoms that start to appear on the person who is homesick. One of these Powhatan. There are
symptoms is finding difficulties to communicate smoothly with other people, some trees and
especially those who belong to the new culture. Moreover, a student who is benches so you can
homesick feels that they are different from others who seem to be having a good take a rest. There is
time. If they don't know how to deal with this, they may become introverted. To great shade because of
avoid getting homesick, there are many tips that help those students to feel bet- the Powhatan building, so you can avoid the sunshine in the
ter. International students must know that homesickness is normal, and all inter- afternoon of summer.
national students have experienced homesickness. In addition, they should get
involved in campus activities. Homesick students should know that ignoring their Behind the
feelings may cause many problems, so they have to talk with their friends or Powhatan building,
there is a big river,
families about what they feel. (by Fahad Ghamdi)
the Elizabeth River.
It is a good place for
This is how students feel when teachers give the blue sky in the
homework. (photo by Bejad Almaddah) 
afternoon. You can
see many yachts
and lovers. In addi-
tion, the Elizabeth
River is great to see
the red sky in the evening. After it becomes dark, you can see
some light reflected on the river. When you go there, you can
feel not only the passion of young people but also peace of
the night.

If you are interested

in another place,
then find other
On April 7th, the students at the ELC (English Language Center) went to places in ODU by
the Virginia Zoological Park. It was a sunny and hot day. It was an event yourself. I am sure
provided for students instead of classes. All the students gathered near that you will be
Spong Hall and headed to the zoo. There were various kinds of animals satisfied with many
like tigers, monkeys, eagles, bears, otters, ostriches, giraffes and ele- beautiful pictures.
phants. According to a student, the most impressive animal in the zoo
(article and photos by Sunmi Hwang)
was the meerkat. She said, “There were other interesting animals,
though, those come first of my mind. One of them was looking around at
They are so hungry. (photo by
the audiences and the other one was just sitting on a stone. They were so Bejad Almaddah) 
cute.” The animals like lions and some birds were not there yet, but they
are supposed to come out soon according to the signs. (by Sangjin Lee)
 Have you ever heard about Powhatan before? Powhatan is a dormitory which is lo-
cated on the west side of ODU. Basically, four people can live in each apartment. If
you are worried about where to live next session, here is the solution for your trou-
ble. That is Powhatan!

The best thing about Powhatan is that there is a kitchen in each own apartment.
That’s why so many international students live there. You can cook anything in your
kitchen if you want. In addition, you can make many foreign friends here. It means
that we can hit two
birds with one stone.

Secondly, do you like

doing exercise? It will be happy news if you like it. That’s because the gym is five
minutes’ walk from the Powhatan. Lastly, Powhatan is safe! As ODU police offi-
cers are always on standby, you don’t need to worry about safety.

How about living in Powhatan for the next session if you want to experience
something different? You won’t regret it. (photos and article by Soo Jeong
“Crystal” Kim)

Everybody is happy and having fun to-

gether. (photo by Bejad Almaddah) 

 Even though we didn’t meet each

other, we are sisters now! (photo by Qiao
Liang)

When I came here, dinner was my big problem every day. Several One day, my friends and I decided to visit a Thai restaurant. We
months later, I found many kinds of good restaurants in Norfolk were very happy because it was the first time we enjoyed to-
or Virginia Beach. If you like Chinese food, you can go to Jade gether and hung out. So, the restaurant was very big and very
Villa, a Cantonese cuisine restaurant; it has morning tea on the organized. Also, the service was very good. After that, when the
weekend mornings. Morning tea time is my best meal time, and I waiter brought the menu; they had everything on the menu:
Arabic food, Chinese food, Thai food and Indian food. In this
can choose the dishes I like. Another favourite restaurant is the
case, we were confused and surprised at the same time. We
Japanese restaurant called Kyushu. If you like Japanese food, you
ordered many kinds of food and they were very delicious. We
can go to this restaurant—it has authentic Japanese food, and it
had rice with chicken, pizza and different juices. My friends ate
is very delicious. Also, the boss is Japanese. (by Lu Cai)
too much because the food was very delicious and fresh. In my
opinion, I advise every one to try to visit this restaurant and you
Addresses: will really enjoy it, especially if you are with your friends or your
Jade Villa: 353 Independence Blvd., Virginia Beach, VA 23462 family. You will never forget this day.
Kyushu: 400 Newtown Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23462 (by Ali Alabdullah)