Jim Xue (right)
The following is a transcribed conversation between The Cornell Review and Jim Xue.
Hi, Jim! Could you please introduce yourself?
My name is Jim Xue. I am a new transfer second semester sophomore. I transferred from Emory. I am originally from Shanghai, China, but I took two years of high school in New Jersey. But, I didn’t live there. I am in the Hotel School.
What do you mean you took two years in New Jersey but didn’t live there?
I went to a kind of boarding school. There was a middle man, an abroad study agent. That agent has a household for international students.
What was it like living in that house?
Several international students living in the house together. Most of us were from China, although it was a religious catholic school.
Did you get along with the Americans well?
Yes. I was doing varsity tennis and in the choir. I did not have a lot of american friends, but I had a considerable number.
Why did you choose to live with an agent instead of going to a normal boarding school or staying in China?
I left for America halfway and didn’t have that many choices. Chinese high school education is boring. My academic score was quite high in China, but it was quite boring.
What was life like in Emory and what made you decide to come here?
Emory has two colleges. I was in Oxford. Every class has 4 credits. I was interested in classes such as finance., but Oxford was a pretty liberal arts place, and I started doing planning for undergrad business school with an econ double major, but then I decided on an econ and history double major. I wanted to study things I was actually interested in, and I then got into Cornell.
What’s life like at Cornell right now?
I live in Lansing. The primary reason is that it is cheap. I thought that there is a bus so that it is not as inconvenient as people told me. Without utility and Wifi it is $700 a month which is half of the average rent. At night, I want to party with friends, but the bus doesn’t go past midnight. I can’t go back to my place, because I don’t have a car. A lot of times, Uber doesn’t come after midnight. Starting from Thursday and the weekend, the Ubers come. One thing is that when I worked in Statler, I didn’t pick late night shifts from Monday to Wednesday. After 10:30 or 11, the bus number 30 stops service. It is not really hard, but it has affected my party life. Although I am not a party person, I have had less time to have fun with my friends.
Where do your friends live? Do you meet people who also live in Lansing?
I haven’t met anyone who lives in Lansing. My friends live on North and West Campus and other places such as Collegetown.
Anything in conclusion?
I really think that there should be more buses at night. Even one late night bus would be okay.
