Author: Silu

So I arrived at Providence. To be exact, I arrived at the Kennedy Square, Providence, Rhodes Island. Kennedy Plaza is a transportation hub in downtown area. In Guide to Understanding Providence Architecture by William McKenzie Woodword, an architectural historian, he said “This is the city’s most constantly reworked space, and fully interpreting its history would fill a book that could be a landmark in understanding American urbanism.”

Kennedy Square.
December, 2012

        I was standing at the edge of the square. I looked around, the whole city looked dead, or unawake. I didn’t see busy transportation as well as people in a rush. Looking up, the sky was covered with clouds. I took a taxi up to the hill, where Kate lived, as she suggested.

        Kate reminded me to pay tips. She suggested giving less than $1 as tip to make the bill as integer. I remembered that. The fee was $5.25, so I decided to pay $6, tip included. According to my Chinese logic, I gave the driver $11 and expected him to give me one $5 back rather than 4 pieces of $1. However,the driver didn’t give me any money back. Instead, he actively got off the car and helped me to carry out the luggage. I asked him for money back. He looked at me for a while and gave me $3. His behavior confused me and I thought he charged me $2 more for taxes (because in China, sometimes we need to pay 1 or 2 more yuan as the fuel tax besides the taxi fare). Therefore, as soon as I met Kate, in front of the gate of her dorm, before hugging this friend who I hadn’t met for 2 years, I told her my experience. Kate laughed and said, in the States, people will never calculate in Chinese way. (For example, if you go to a Chinese shop, consume 7 yuan and pay 10 yuan, the cashier will ask you for 2 more yuan so that she/he can pay you one piece of 5 yuan. So next time you will give 12 yuan to the cashier directly.) Well, you know, Americans, poor at math.

        And then, Kate took me to the dining hall for breakfast. She showed me fraternity and sorority on the way. I wondered why she didn’t join in any sororities. She told me the sororities were totally crazy and she didn’t feel like to join in, which reminded of a girl I met in UCLA, she was so proud of her sorority. She said everyone said they were crazy and even some people laughed at them, but she enjoyed it so much and she loved it.

        Brown is different from UCLA in many ways. Although both of these two schools have chosen bear to be the mascot, UCLA wants the bear to be walk, while Brown needs it to stand. The style of the architects is also different. The buildings in UCLA are in red, with the Californian sunshine, yet the buildings here are in grey, with cold and windy weather. Another big difference is that as a public school, UCLA needs to get the grant from the government, while Brown, as a private school, gives money to the local government. When Kate told me she realized her tuition was all gone to the local government by reading the school financial report, I was surprised. Though I had heard that the local government gave the land to the school for free, by eminent domain, and the school had the responsibility to give back to the local community, I didn’t expect the way they contributed was giving money directly.

The Brown Bear

        After a full breakfast, Kate needed to meet with her professor. It was the third time that she tried to change her major and this time should be her last year in the college. I was always worried her on-time graduation. Finger crossed.

        Anyway, I needed to take a nap to adjust the 4-hour jetlag between the east coast and the west coast. Before saying goodbye to Kate, I finally gave her a hug, which I should do as soon as I met her early in this morning. To be honest, although I felt tired on account of the overnight flight and had encountered the weird taxi driver (he must thought I should be the weird one), I felt so happy to be at Brown with my lovely Brownie, finally.

        Then I went back to her dorm and fell asleep as soon as I lay down.

 

Write in January, 2014

 

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The link of this article: Say Hi To The Brownie