By: Joyce Muhizi
I have been in Kansas for about 4 months now and to say the least; this is a big difference with where I come from. I could list more than a thousand differences between here and DRC but I think that the entire newspaper wouldn’t be enough. The first day I arrived in Kansas, I landed in Wichita and a young man from the college came to pick me up from the airport to McPherson. When I saw him, I remember telling myself: ‘If all the boys in McPherson are like him, girl I think this will be fire!” It makes more sense when I say it in French. But, the closer we got to McPherson, the worse I was feeling; no buildings, no people on the street, only cows and farms. “Am I really in the United States? I think I made a mistake because this is not like the movies.” We finally arrived to the college and I got to know some new people from here especially Jen Pollard, Christi Hopkins, and Joyce Muhizi. That was very pleasant. I found out that people were very friendly, homey and above all: they smile a lot. At the beginning it was so awkward because in my country people don’t smile that much so I was always like: ‘Why are they smiling, what is so funny?’ but with time I acclimated with it and I even started to smile more often. Now let’s talk about the food… To be honest I don’t know where to begin. I miss Congolese food. I think that American food is really to grassy and not really varied at all. In my country I used to eat many variety of vegetables of all the colors possible, meat seasoned by all kind of spices, traditional beverages made from pounded roots mixed with bits of maize (Yes… I know that this one sounds very strange but I swear, it is really heathy and so delicious) and that was every day but I am learning to love different foods offered here. The weather in McPherson is so unpredictable and cold now. I am from a hot and humid country. I have never faced the winter, only in Game of thrones so if I think that it is too cold already, I think I’m going to die in December. To sum it all up, being here in McPherson is one of the greatest experiences of my life yet: I met awesome people who think differently from me, every day I learn more about my about myself. I feel more independent but above all, even though I am away from my direct family, I found a new family here which makes me want to say that every day is a great day to be a bulldog and I know that it is only the beginning.
