Faces and Places Across the United States: Sandra talks to Myya in West Virginia - By American English
Transcript
| 00:0-1 | Welcome back to Faces and places across the United States | |
| 00:03 | . This week's guest is Maya in West Virginia . | |
| 00:07 | Talking to Sandra . Welcome back Sandra ! Hello everyone | |
| 00:11 | and welcome to our web chat . Faces and places | |
| 00:14 | across the United States . My name is Sandra and | |
| 00:16 | I'll be your host today today . I'll be talking | |
| 00:19 | with our guests Maria . Hi , Maya . Hi | |
| 00:22 | , how are you ? Well I am doing well | |
| 00:25 | , we are so happy to have you here in | |
| 00:27 | our american english at ST facebook page . So thank | |
| 00:30 | you very much for making the time . Um we | |
| 00:33 | are delighted that you have joined us for this web | |
| 00:35 | chat . So before we begin , let's ask our | |
| 00:38 | audience where they are joining us from today . Please | |
| 00:40 | let us know in the comments box . Maya thanks | |
| 00:43 | again for being here . Um why don't we start | |
| 00:46 | by you telling us a little bit about yourself um | |
| 00:49 | where are you from and where are you now ? | |
| 00:52 | So I am from a very small town of about | |
| 00:55 | 650 people called West Union in the state of West | |
| 00:58 | Virginia . And I currently live in Morgantown West Virginia | |
| 01:02 | , a city of about 30,000 people , wow that | |
| 01:06 | looks beautiful . Look at that picture Morgantown West Virginia | |
| 01:09 | . Um What is the weather like right now ? | |
| 01:12 | So it it has actually been snowing a lot in | |
| 01:14 | West Virginia . But I was surprised when I woke | |
| 01:16 | up this morning and it was a little bit warmer | |
| 01:18 | and I could hear the birds chirping and so right | |
| 01:21 | now it's like 60 F I think that sounds really | |
| 01:26 | nice , very pleasant weather . It is sunny and | |
| 01:29 | a little warmer here in D . C . This | |
| 01:31 | morning . Um So what's Virginia ? Do you know | |
| 01:35 | what the nickname is ? And why ? Yes . | |
| 01:39 | So West Virginia's nickname is actually the mountain state . | |
| 01:42 | And that's because it's the only state that is completely | |
| 01:45 | within the Appalachian mountains . And so it's average elevation | |
| 01:48 | is actually higher than any other state east of the | |
| 01:51 | Mississippi River . And you can't escape mountains anywhere . | |
| 01:55 | You are in west Virginia . And I actually grew | |
| 01:57 | up in a house directly in between two huge mountains | |
| 02:02 | . Wow , that's really nice because a lot of | |
| 02:04 | parts of the United States are very flat , so | |
| 02:06 | it's good to see mountains when you wake up in | |
| 02:08 | the morning . Um can you tell us a fun | |
| 02:11 | fact about west Virginia ? So one fun fact about | |
| 02:15 | west Virginia is that it is actually home to the | |
| 02:18 | new river gorge bridge . And so when it was | |
| 02:20 | first built , it was the longest steel arch bridge | |
| 02:23 | in the world . And now it's the longest bridge | |
| 02:26 | in the Western hemisphere . It's about 1700 ft long | |
| 02:30 | . And every october , there's a day called bridge | |
| 02:33 | day Where the bridge is closed off to traffic in | |
| 02:36 | people from all over the United States actually parachuting Bungee | |
| 02:40 | jump off of the 876 ft of the bridge , | |
| 02:44 | wow . Have you done the body jumping ? No | |
| 02:48 | , I am not . I am very scared of | |
| 02:50 | heights . I think I'll be scared of doing that | |
| 02:53 | too . But that looks beautiful . That's a beautiful | |
| 02:55 | picture . Thank you so much for sharing it . | |
| 02:58 | Before we start our conversation . I want to tell | |
| 03:01 | you a little bit about where people are watching us | |
| 03:03 | from . We have jenny from Myanmar , we have | |
| 03:06 | Mohammed from Bangladesh . We also have ruble saying hello | |
| 03:10 | from Bangladesh , we have ironing from Myanmar , we | |
| 03:14 | have asthma saying hello from Pakistan , we have nancy | |
| 03:18 | saying hello from Honduras , we have just saying hello | |
| 03:21 | from the Philippines . We have each other from Indonesia | |
| 03:25 | . Patriot from Argentina Christine from the Philippines . Diana | |
| 03:30 | from Algeria . Start here from Ukraine , the american | |
| 03:34 | corner in trieste to also saying hello in italy and | |
| 03:38 | we have bona from cambodia Mansoura from Azerbaijan . We | |
| 03:42 | also have people from Tarija Bolivia , Uganda saying hello | |
| 03:46 | , we have Karl from Taiwan and you stiff from | |
| 03:50 | Sudan just to name a few . So we have | |
| 03:52 | people from all over the globe watching us today . | |
| 03:56 | I also wanted to share some of the comments and | |
| 03:58 | questions we had . We have long saying what are | |
| 04:01 | the most interesting majors in your state ? We have | |
| 04:04 | Lupita asking where did you study , what has been | |
| 04:07 | the most significant experience in your university ? And we | |
| 04:12 | have Fabrizio asking what it's like to study and live | |
| 04:15 | in West Virginia . So it's great that you're here | |
| 04:19 | to give us some answers to this question . So | |
| 04:22 | today we want to talk about your life as a | |
| 04:24 | college student in a university in the United States , | |
| 04:28 | which is a truly unique experience . So , first | |
| 04:31 | tell us , where do you go to school ? | |
| 04:34 | So I go to West Virginia University . West Virginia's | |
| 04:37 | flagship institution . So flagship means that it's the finest | |
| 04:41 | and largest . West Virginia University and part of being | |
| 04:45 | the finest and largest also means that my university dedicates | |
| 04:49 | itself to serving the state and the citizens of West | |
| 04:52 | Virginia through research and knowledge . That is a beautiful | |
| 04:57 | campus and that's you there during a snowstorm . Yes | |
| 05:01 | . So what is the best part about being a | |
| 05:04 | student at West Virginia University ? So the best part | |
| 05:09 | about being a student at W . B . U | |
| 05:11 | . Is that even though it's really big according to | |
| 05:13 | West Virginia standards , it feels really small and it's | |
| 05:16 | kind of like my second home West virginians are some | |
| 05:19 | of the nicest people that you'll ever meet . And | |
| 05:22 | as a person who's been very lucky to be able | |
| 05:24 | to go many places , I really think that that's | |
| 05:26 | true and everyone at West Virginia University always treat you | |
| 05:29 | like family . It's a very tight knit community . | |
| 05:33 | Oh wow , it looks like you also have a | |
| 05:35 | good time with your friends there , You have a | |
| 05:38 | lot of people that you have met . What studying | |
| 05:40 | at the university . Um So tell us a little | |
| 05:43 | bit about your schedule . What is the day like | |
| 05:46 | for you or what has been like in the last | |
| 05:48 | years ? So I'm actually about to graduate right now | |
| 05:52 | . So my schedule is very light . I only | |
| 05:55 | have class three days a week on Mondays , Wednesdays | |
| 05:58 | and Fridays . And even then I only have one | |
| 06:01 | class on Mondays because I'm basically finishing the last portion | |
| 06:04 | of my bachelor's degree before I graduate in May , | |
| 06:09 | wow , that was really nice . And before I | |
| 06:11 | move on to the next question , we have a | |
| 06:12 | question from the american corner , what did you study | |
| 06:16 | Maya ? So I studied political science and international studies | |
| 06:20 | and I have a minor in Arabic studies , wow | |
| 06:24 | Arabic , that is really cool . So Maya , | |
| 06:27 | what has been the most challenging class for you so | |
| 06:31 | far ? So my most challenging class was actually one | |
| 06:35 | of the first college classes that I ever took and | |
| 06:38 | like I said , I studied political science and international | |
| 06:41 | studies , so most of my classes don't have to | |
| 06:43 | do with hard science and math . However , I | |
| 06:46 | was in a biology class my freshman year and that | |
| 06:49 | was really hard for me while I did research in | |
| 06:52 | the class with my friends in the picture , as | |
| 06:54 | you can see here , some of them aren't very | |
| 06:56 | happy or just confused . Uh That's because we all | |
| 07:00 | constantly worked with numbers and data and it's very difficult | |
| 07:03 | for me , especially to keep all of that information | |
| 07:06 | straight in my head . And I've always been a | |
| 07:08 | lot better at reading and writing than Biology . Well | |
| 07:12 | so this one really push you a little bit to | |
| 07:14 | the limits definitely . Mhm . So how do you | |
| 07:18 | keep up with your assignments ? You have to do | |
| 07:20 | math , you have to do political science , you | |
| 07:23 | have to do a lot of reading and writing . | |
| 07:24 | What is the secret to be on top of all | |
| 07:27 | your assignments ? So I keep on top of my | |
| 07:30 | assignments by staying extremely organised and this semester since almost | |
| 07:34 | everything is online because of the pandemic . Actually use | |
| 07:37 | a lot of those tools online to stay organized . | |
| 07:40 | And so I use a calendar in a daily planner | |
| 07:43 | to keep all of my events and meetings organized . | |
| 07:45 | And I also have a to do list that I | |
| 07:47 | update every day that shows what I've completed , what | |
| 07:50 | I'm working on right now and what I still need | |
| 07:52 | to do , I think organization is a very important | |
| 07:55 | skill to have to succeed in college . I think | |
| 07:58 | it's true and it will help you throughout your life | |
| 08:00 | as you begin your job and your career . We | |
| 08:04 | have another question too . How do you deal with | |
| 08:07 | being online all the time ? So I definitely am | |
| 08:13 | sure to take walks a lot and go outside and | |
| 08:16 | get some fresh air in between my meetings every day | |
| 08:20 | . That is a good , um , good advice | |
| 08:23 | . So if you're just joining us , we're talking | |
| 08:25 | with our guest Maria who is talking to us from | |
| 08:28 | west , Morgantown west Virginia and Maya is talking to | |
| 08:31 | us about her life as a university student in the | |
| 08:34 | United States . So let's see , can you tell | |
| 08:38 | us a little bit about your experiences in the dining | |
| 08:41 | , whole the dorms , like all the different things | |
| 08:44 | that we have in american universities ? Sure , So | |
| 08:47 | I only lived in a dorm my freshman year of | |
| 08:49 | college and I shared a small room with one other | |
| 08:53 | girl and we shared a bathroom in a shower with | |
| 08:56 | two other girls . So in my room I had | |
| 08:58 | a bed , a desk in the drawer , but | |
| 09:01 | not much else . And so this picture I actually | |
| 09:04 | took the day I moved in , but I actually | |
| 09:06 | ended up decorating a lot more of my room after | |
| 09:09 | this with other pictures of my friends and posters , | |
| 09:12 | I tried to make it feel like home as much | |
| 09:15 | as possible . And there was also a dining hall | |
| 09:17 | that was close to this storm that had a bunch | |
| 09:19 | of really good food from early in the morning to | |
| 09:22 | super late at night . Uh My specific dining hall | |
| 09:25 | actually had a pasta bar where you could watch a | |
| 09:28 | chef make your pasta with any ingredients that you can | |
| 09:31 | imagine . And when I went I always personalized my | |
| 09:34 | own chicken and broccoli alfredo . Well so you can | |
| 09:38 | have passed a pretty much every day . Yes it | |
| 09:42 | at any time . That sounds delicious even for breakfast | |
| 09:46 | . Huh ? So Maya , can you tell us | |
| 09:51 | a little bit about where some of the fun things | |
| 09:53 | that you do at your university ? So some of | |
| 09:57 | the fun things , the most fun things at my | |
| 09:59 | university are going to football and basketball games . Sports | |
| 10:02 | are a very important part of life at W . | |
| 10:05 | V . U . And our sports teams represent the | |
| 10:07 | entire state of west Virginia . The games are always | |
| 10:10 | very exciting and everyone , including students , teachers and | |
| 10:14 | all west virginians come together to cheer on our team | |
| 10:18 | , the mountaineers . And at the end of every | |
| 10:20 | game , the entire crowd also sings the west Virginia | |
| 10:23 | state anthem . Country roads take me home and we | |
| 10:26 | all are like arm and arm and just swinging back | |
| 10:29 | and forth and celebrating our team in west Virginia together | |
| 10:32 | . Wow . So sports is that are very important | |
| 10:35 | . And I quickly saw a picture of you also | |
| 10:37 | in the outdoors . I'm sure you have opportunities to | |
| 10:40 | do a lot of outdoor things . Yes . So | |
| 10:43 | I think one of the ways to pass time a | |
| 10:45 | lot at w view is to go out and either | |
| 10:47 | hike or bike somewhere in the mountains or you can | |
| 10:50 | even like canoe and one of the rivers here . | |
| 10:54 | So we have people watching us all from all over | |
| 10:56 | the world and many of them are interested in study | |
| 10:58 | in the United States . Can you tell us , | |
| 11:00 | um , what would you say to someone who wants | |
| 11:02 | to apply to study in a university here in the | |
| 11:05 | United States ? For anyone that wants to apply to | |
| 11:08 | study in the USA , I would tell them to | |
| 11:11 | specifically find your niche whenever you get here . And | |
| 11:14 | so at first glance , university life from far away | |
| 11:17 | can seem very big and overwhelming . But if you | |
| 11:20 | spend time , once you get here with your roommates | |
| 11:23 | , you join clubs and you play sports , you | |
| 11:25 | will click quickly , meet a lot of new friends | |
| 11:27 | and create a community of people who you feel safe | |
| 11:30 | and happy to be around and you can be yourself | |
| 11:32 | with . So that is an important thing to do | |
| 11:36 | as soon as you arrive in the United States to | |
| 11:38 | get a group of people who can support you . | |
| 11:41 | Um , so can you tell us a little bit | |
| 11:43 | about one of your , the most rewarding experiences of | |
| 11:46 | being a university student in West Virginia ? So my | |
| 11:50 | most rewarding experience at at West Virginia University has been | |
| 11:55 | that I'm able to do a lot of work to | |
| 11:57 | benefit the black community that lives here . And so | |
| 12:00 | there aren't many black people in West Virginia , so | |
| 12:02 | we are part of the minority . And as a | |
| 12:05 | black woman on campus , I promote diversity and inclusion | |
| 12:08 | by working directly with professors and other employees . And | |
| 12:12 | I've even worked with the president of the university to | |
| 12:14 | make sure that black people like me feel safe and | |
| 12:17 | welcome here . And those experiences are the most rewarding | |
| 12:20 | in the sense that I know I'm making a positive | |
| 12:22 | change on campus for people who experience the world in | |
| 12:25 | the same way that I do . Well . Can | |
| 12:28 | you I think we can go back to the picture | |
| 12:29 | before . Is that the president of the university ? | |
| 12:33 | Yes . Yeah that's President E . Gordon ? G | |
| 12:35 | . In the middle . And he's known for wearing | |
| 12:37 | little bow ties and so he always has a big | |
| 12:39 | collection of bow ties and we'll be wearing one wherever | |
| 12:42 | he goes . Is he always wearing the university colours | |
| 12:46 | as well ? Always ? I think he has a | |
| 12:48 | never ending closet . Well that's great that you were | |
| 12:53 | able to meet him and also work with him in | |
| 12:55 | such an important work of bringing diversity . Um So | |
| 12:59 | can you tell us a fun fact about your university | |
| 13:02 | ? You mentioned that there is a special thing , | |
| 13:04 | a special mode of transportation in your university ? Yes | |
| 13:09 | . So I think the most fun fact about WB | |
| 13:12 | . You is that it is home to the PRT | |
| 13:14 | or personal rapid transit . And so because huge mountains | |
| 13:18 | separate W . V . U . S . Campuses | |
| 13:20 | in Morgantown there originally wasn't a very good way to | |
| 13:23 | travel in between them without running into a lot of | |
| 13:26 | traffic . And so W . V . You built | |
| 13:28 | the PRT , which can kind of be described as | |
| 13:31 | a small train system to get students and employees back | |
| 13:35 | and forth . And so w bu describes it as | |
| 13:38 | a people mover and it has five stations that connects | |
| 13:41 | three main areas of the university . It's super unique | |
| 13:45 | and I actually think it's kind of cute and so | |
| 13:47 | it's also very neat when we walk around on campus | |
| 13:50 | to kind of look above your head and see a | |
| 13:52 | small little PRT car going back and forth on the | |
| 13:55 | track . Um and it's really just , I think | |
| 13:58 | the way it's shaped in the way it goes around | |
| 14:00 | just looks really cute and it's really fun , wow | |
| 14:03 | , that looks really cool . It's almost like one | |
| 14:05 | of those um people movers in Disney world or different | |
| 14:09 | airports around the world . That is really cool . | |
| 14:12 | And I like how they have the different colors to | |
| 14:14 | the two colors of the university . Um , I | |
| 14:18 | have another question for you . How do you keep | |
| 14:20 | motivated ? Because a lot of people struggle sometimes in | |
| 14:23 | college or finding motivation and now that we're all doing | |
| 14:26 | a lot of work from home , what keeps you | |
| 14:29 | going ? So I stay motivated to study every day | |
| 14:33 | by reminding myself exactly why I'm here and why I'm | |
| 14:37 | studying political science and international studies and why I decided | |
| 14:40 | to come to college in the first place . So | |
| 14:43 | going to W view is just a small part of | |
| 14:45 | my life , but it's important for how I'm going | |
| 14:48 | to live out the rest of it . And so | |
| 14:49 | wherever I end up , I want to make positive | |
| 14:52 | change and I want to help people in W VIEW | |
| 14:54 | shows and teaches me exactly how to do that and | |
| 14:57 | what I learned here will influence me for the rest | |
| 15:00 | of my life . So I stay motivated to study | |
| 15:02 | and keep my grades up because hopefully this is just | |
| 15:05 | the beginning . Well that is true , that is | |
| 15:08 | true , this is the beginning of many opportunities for | |
| 15:11 | you . So we'd like to ask our audience if | |
| 15:13 | they have any questions for Maya to please let us | |
| 15:16 | know in the comments box and we're going to try | |
| 15:18 | to answer some of those questions . So we have | |
| 15:21 | a question from the american corner interesting and they are | |
| 15:24 | saying will you do an internship ? Yes , So | |
| 15:29 | I actually have already done internships while in college and | |
| 15:32 | I specifically did an internship with the Office of English | |
| 15:35 | Language Programs and it was one of my most rewarding | |
| 15:40 | experiences in college and really taught me a lot about | |
| 15:43 | what I study and what I want to do after | |
| 15:45 | I graduate . Wow , that is really nice that | |
| 15:49 | you were able to do that already . That is | |
| 15:51 | something that many university students in the United States have | |
| 15:54 | a chance to do to go and apply for internships | |
| 15:58 | . The other question we had is are there many | |
| 16:00 | non us students at your university ? Yes . So | |
| 16:04 | there actually is a big portion of students that aren't | |
| 16:07 | from the United States and we actually have a house | |
| 16:11 | designated on campus specifically for international students to go to | |
| 16:15 | and make connections and meet other students from all around | |
| 16:18 | the world . That is really nice . So they | |
| 16:21 | can really create a community as well . So , | |
| 16:24 | Maya , I think our time is that believe it | |
| 16:27 | or no , we really went a little bit over | |
| 16:29 | our time , but we really want to thank you | |
| 16:31 | for giving us lots of great answers and giving us | |
| 16:34 | a little glimpse into your life as a university student | |
| 16:37 | in the United States and hopefully a lot of people | |
| 16:40 | are enthusiastic about doing this and pursue a career in | |
| 16:44 | the United States . Um so thank you so much | |
| 16:47 | . Maya , thank you for having me . It's | |
| 16:50 | been a pleasure to have you here . We'd also | |
| 16:53 | like to thank our audience for such a lively engagement | |
| 16:56 | and participation today . We hope you continue to engage | |
| 16:59 | with us via social media . Don't forget to check | |
| 17:02 | out our amazing resources at our american english , that | |
| 17:05 | state dot gov . Our Youtube channel and our american | |
| 17:09 | english facebook page . Thanks again Maya , good luck | |
| 17:14 | with your studies and finishing up your degree . Thank | |
| 17:17 | you so much and thanks again everyone for joining us | |
| 17:22 | . So we look forward to seeing you again in | |
| 17:24 | a couple of weeks for our next episode of Faces | |
| 17:27 | , some places across the United States . We encourage | |
| 17:30 | you to continue to engage with us as you have | |
| 17:33 | done today . Bye everybody |
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