Wealth and Possessions

Americans are often stereotyped as believing wealth and possessions make them important. In my opinion, money and possessions are indeed important for everyone. However, health and happy life do play a crucial role in our lives.

It's undeniable that money is an assurance which will make our lives better. With money, we can get whatever we want. In this materialistic society, people tend to show off with their belongings. With wealth and possession, it makes you become respectful. Some people become more confident when they have money and possessions. However, we need to have a good health to have all these materialistic things belong to us.

Besides that, most of the rich people do not have a happy life. Their lives are not secured. They are afraid of their belongings from being stolen or their life being threatened. They trust no one and only trust on themselves.

I believe everyone wants to be rich so that their dreams will become true. Having a desire to be rich is good, but we shouldn't be too greedy. We should satisfy with what we are having right now. For me, both health and wealth are equally crucial to make myself to have a happy life.

Talk about it

Do you think people all over the world are basically the same or basically very different?

In my opinion, i think people from all over the world are basically the same. Why? This is because we are human and we are from the same planet, called the Earth. We have to eat to survive, we go to school, we go to work, we love sports, we are concerned about each other and we are striving for success in our lives.

Based on Maslow's Hierarchical of Needs, we are the same and we do need physiological needs, safety needs, love or belonging, self-esteem and self actualization. I would say there are no different between human. We need to breathe to survive, we need food, water, sex, sleep, security, family, friendship, achievement and respect.

As far as I am concerned, people from all around the world are basically the same. I have been to many countries and I am studying abroad in USA right now. In my opinion, there is only one difference, which is human characteristic. Personal characteristic is greatly affected by the culture and the environment surrounding oneself. You may be curious that why some people act this way while other not. This is the main difference between people. However, it cannot distinguish that people are totally different as we are a big mankind family as a whole. All in all, people from all around the world are basically the same.

Historic Buildings in Eau Claire (Walking Tour)

Every place in the world has its history. I could not believe myself that I didn't know much about Eau Claire even though I arrived at the United States earlier than others did. Thanks for the Walking Tour Assignment, you make me know more about the historical buildings around Eau Claire.

Yesterday, I did this assignment together with Hooda and Saintsan. We focused on West Side on Eau Claire which is close to Water Street as we are more familiar with it. Furthermore, we can get more than 5 historic buildings at West Side. So we decided to go there instead of going to Downtown.


Below are all the pictures that I took for my Walking Tour Assignment. Just so you know, a majority of the Historic Buildings will have a information board in front of it. Read it whenever you see a building with a wooden sign board around Eau Claire.

1. The First Baptist Church in Eau Claire
Although I am not Christian, I like the building of churches because of its architectural design. The first Baptist Church in Eau Claire looks like a Dome-like structure.

2. Coghlan-Foote Building

Could you believe your eyes? This picture looks like Disneyland!! And I found it at Eau Claire!! Light Blue triangle roofs.. 70% like Disneyland.

3. Adin Randall Statue

Once again, I could not believe my eyes!! We do have statue in Eau Claire!! What are the differences between these two pictures? The first one was taken in Eau Claire Randall Park. The statue is Adin Randall, a person who gave this park to the city of Eau Claire. Whereas the other picture was taken in UW-Madison. It is statue of Lincoln.

4. First Congregation United Church of Christ

This is another tall building in Eau Claire. It makes me recalled my sweet memory in Chicago. This is because Chicago has the tallest skyscraper - SEARS Tower. For this picture, it is the First Congregation United Church of Christ in Eau Claire. For more information and updates regarding the church, please visit HERE .

5. Charles Ingram House

This is one of the Historic Buildings. It is Charles Ingram House, which is built in 1899. It is a significant Colonial Revival style. Why is it called Charles Ingram? Charles Ingram was the son of one of Eau Claire's prominent lumbermen, O.H. Ingram. He held a number of positions in his father's Empire Lumber Company.

To put it in a nutshell, Eau Claire is indeed a nice place to live in. All the historic buildings play a real significant role for the city of Eau Claire. It could be one of the attractions for tourists to visit in Eau Claire. It should be protected and well kept. I am glad to see the historical part of Eau Claire. For sure, I will try to visit the rest sides of the historic locations. This walking tour reminds me that we should have visited Eau Claire first before visiting to other cities or other states in USA.

Similarities and Differences between UWEC Students and Students in Malaysia

Just so you guys know, I am in the States for approximately two months. Fall semester has started last week. I am now officially entered into my courses with American classmates. It is slightly different with summer program that I had last two months. The classroom atmosphere now is more serious as compared to the summer program. For instance, Professor will close the door when the class begins. It is a signal to get attention of all the students in order to pay attention and get ready for the class.

After my first week in the class, I found some similarities and differences between UWEC Students and Malaysian Students. I am glad that I had experienced two different College lives in Penang and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Now, I am in the States as an exchange student.

The other similarity is both of the students can give respond or answer questions with just sitting on their seats. During high school, students need to stand up to answer questions. In University, we do not practice so. Unless they are requested by Professor to stand up and share their points of view.

I believe differences are more than the similarities. For the differences, majority of American students like to ride their bicycle to their class. There is a lot of bicycle parking racks around the campus. In contrast, students in Malaysia do not like to ride bicycle. They prefer to go to college by car. Even they have to go from one place to another place which is within the campus, they get there by car too. This is because the weather in Malaysia is extremely hot.

On top of that, majority American students are more active in outdoor activities, whereas Malaysian students are more passive. They will not put much commitment on co-curricular. This is because Malaysian education system is more exams oriented.

In Malaysia, we pay for tuition fees and we expect to be "spoon feeding" by lecturers. We go to class unprepared and get lecture's notes in the lecture. Now, I need to print out lecture notes, and go to class with preparation. But the best thing is the longest class duration is only 1hour and 15minutes. In Malaysia, we have 3hours lecture (twice a week), and 2hours tutorial for 5 credits subject.

To sum up, these are all the similarities and differences that I noticed during my first week of class in the United States. As the saying goes, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, I will try my best to get myself adapted to their styles and culture.