Self Introduction and 5-Place Travel Experience

Hi, I am Wanhong Zou. I grew up in Beijing, China, but in official records my hometown is Xi'an. Although I like to stay indoor, I'm feeling excited about exploring the outside world with you! I'm really happy to get to know all of you!

The five places in campus are so different from each other! As for me, I feel happiest around the English House. In fact, before doing this assignment, I had never been to the English House, and I discovered it with amazement. It was surrounded by trees and bushes, and it looked like a small magic house in fairy tales. I went inside, and the light was dim--but it makes me feel so warm. The English House definitely has beautiful scenaries and peaceful atmosphere.

Glass stair case in the Dalton Hall was elegant, but not as attractive as the English House as a place to stay, especially when there were no one around. When I stood beside the stair case today, I felt lonely and a little scared because when I see through the glass windows, I felt like the outside world was far away from me. It was like just me and the stairs staying in a modern, transparent prison. I think it would be better if there were many people around me. I rank the Parking lot as the third comfortable one--although it has the slight gasoline smell and could not receive much sun shine, it has lots of cars that made me feel safe. The Morris woods and Biology Lab (Park Science Room 020) both made me feel bad but in different ways. The Morris Woods were crowded with plants and the trees are so tall that made me feel I was too small. It would be almost impossible for me to get sunshine when standing with the trees! However I think it still overweighs the Biology Lab because the Lab has a head of a skeleton right next to the window and it looked really scary!

To rank the places for a plant is not easy. I think it really depends on what kind of plant it is. Morris Woods would be a perfect home for tall plants like trees and hydrophilic plants like moss, but flowers may find it not so comfortable there. The English House and Glass stairs in Dalton would be a perfect places to host some potted plants, but it would be impossible for big sized plants to live inside. The Campus parking lot certainly allows some grass and bushes to live, but the air is not clean enough for mosses. I still rank the Biology Lab in the lowest because plants, if they have feelings of happiness, will be afraid of being dissected in disks or being watched as a prisoner! If we are ranking for the general ‘plant’, I think the rank would be Morris Woods, English House, stairs in Dalton, Campus Parking lot, and finally Biology Lab.

Human and plants both need air, water, sun shine (probably not those allergic to UV light like my hallmate)/energy, nutrition...and they both have life! I ranked the Biology lab lowest for both human and plants mainly because it's a place where life is examined, not respected. A major difference between human and plants, I think, should be that human tends to seek a closed space to feel safe but plants favour open, outdoor areas more because they could get the things they need more easily.

I learnt a lot through this on-campus trip, and I am willing to exchange my ideas with you!