Life in Philadelphia

This is the first year of my college life in the United States. Temple University is the school that I have been studying at this semester; however, studying at Temple was not my intention. At first, I was planning to study at the University of Tsukuba, since I really like Japan and wish to live there when I graduate. Moreover, I had full confidence that I would be accepted by it. Unfortunately, I was rejected, and this really crushed my dream. Few days later, I got an email from Temple, which started with “congratulations” that gave me  hope, and smashed it again with “ however.” That is the beginning of the story of my IELP life (Intensive English Language Program)



My applying major was Architecture, so my adviser suggested that I  choose general courses which are about landscape architecture. Since my TOEFL is enough for me to take up to ten credit hours, I decided to take Sustainable Design and Green and Gray.

Now, it is almost the end of the semester, and I believe that I have really learned a lot from the Access Temple courses and my general courses. While in AT2 (access Temple 2), they teach me a lot about the MLA and writing skills which are really helpful on my writing. For the two general courses, I have learned numerous design and knowledge of green buildings, such as the Green infrastructure (green roof, biowall and etc.) and C2C(cradle to cradle) Also, I even joined the volunteer program for cleaning the city and planting trees. These courses has changed my view about Philadelphia and they show me the beauty of this city that I did not find before.