This is a translated letter from one of the college students receiving our financial aid.

Dear Grandma,

I am sorry for delaying my college life sharing with you. There were too many things happening in school recently. Even though college life has passed for a year, I still did not learn how to manage my time very well. Is that not stupid, ah? Beijing entered the fall and is has been raining a lot.

When I started my sophomore year, I became a school sister and it felt wonderful. College began in September, and I attended some school orientation activities. I watched freshman students carry various sizes of bags as they walked around campus. It was like seeing myself a year ago when I just entered college. I could tell from their eyes the vision yearning for the future at the University. I can still remember my freshman year. I wasn’t accustomed to my daily life on campus, and I became sad and frustrated for a while. My school environment changed from a small area to a big campus. It used to take me three minutes to walk from my dormitory to my classroom building and now it takes more than ten minutes. My lunch time also changed from two and a half hours to an hour and twenty minutes. Additionally, the university also requires us to get up early everyday to do early morning exercises and to study at night. It’s really tiring during that period of time. At that time, I had no goal and no direction. I repeated the same routine everyday. It was much busier than in high school and the pace of life was faster. It seemed as though I was busy for nothing, and I began to doubt my own life.

Later on, the school organized a youth model meeting where they invited a number of outstanding junior and senior students to share their college life experiences. Suddenly, I discovered that there are many things I can do at the university. However, all these things must come from taking initiative. I decided to join the student union in hopes to train my ability to communicate. I also enrolled in a program to that provides educational activities to children with cerebral palsy. I hope that through my actions, I can help those children who have not yet received God’s blessings.

Frankly, some of them can no longer be called children. I remember when I first met my student, he was 23 years old. He was sitting in a wheelchair and greeted me with “Hello”. His fingers were not flexible and he couldn’t write by himself. However, he loved to learn. He suffered from congenital illness but loved life. He told me that he had a job and distributed leaflets in front of a small district. He helped people in the district contact in house installation network services. He said that the local leader was nice to him. He gave me a lot of positive energy; I believe that there are many more good guys in this world than the bad guys.

Since my major required a lot of experiment practice in my sophomore year, my department moved from the new campus in Fangshan to the old campus in Haidian. Previously in the Fangshan campus, there was little opportunity to approach the seniors in my major. Since we moved to the old campus, it was much more convenient to ask the seniors questions. The Haidian District also has very convenient transportation. I have the opportunity to just stroll around the city of Beijing and go shopping. It is a big city after all, and it is very different from where we live at the border of the town. I feel that both working people and students in Beijing are very busy. Everyone always works non-stop to achieve their goals. This city gives everyone a lot of opportunities to enhance themselves.

When the environment is not the same, of course the people’s mentality will also be different. In Dehong, the pace of life is much slower. There are not many opportunities for young people, but everything is peaceful and calm. I thought that I could live peacefully without any ups and downs in my life. I think that if my parents did not give me the opportunity to go to college, I may have stayed in Dehong’s mediocrity. At twenty-years-old, you could already see your future and you can’t really follow dreams there.

Some time ago, I met a college sister who graduated. She is from Yunnan Yuxi. She found an accounting job after graduating in Beijing. She told me that she rented a very small apartment in Beijing Panjiayuan. Everyday, she would wake up at five o’clock, put on makeup, and then catch the subway to work. Although she worked hard, her wages were not high. She could barely support herself, but she felt that she could work hard for her own future. She smiled and told me that if she worked this hard, an opportunity will be on the rise. Though she just graduated from college, this hard work means nothing to her. She shared with me her views, but she also taught me many things. She said that I was still in my sophomore year, I have the opportunity to become any kind of person. If I do not know what is suitable for me, I should continue to try to find my favorite kind of work that is most suitable.

Now, I intend to finish my undergraduate research. This semester, I began to take the initiative to do experiments with instructors to exercise my self-learning ability. My mentor’s research is in the processing and preservation of cheese. In order to be able to complete the experiment, I consulted a lot of relevant literature and learned about professional knowledge. Although I am busier than before, I still find fulfillment everyday.

Beijing weather is getting colder and colder. I do not know which city Grandma is in now. No matter where you are, you must take care of your body. Oh! When it snows in Beijing, should I take a picture for you to see?

Grandma, you must take care of yourself.