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Humans of Oxford: Feng Peiheng: From China to the United States

By Alyssa Melendez, Staff Writer

From Beijing to Oxford.

From Feng Peiheng to Penny.

From cube buildings with six floors below ground-level and flat rooftops to red-brick buildings with sloped roofs and only one floor underground, if that.

From a busy city with 12 million people to a quiet town with just over 21,000.

From days of checking out grocery items and being met with a blank stare and silence to the cashier who actually takes an interest in your life and says, "Hi, how are you doing?"

From the familiar stir fry and rice to an endless supply of pizza and what looks like mashed potatoes, but you don't know because it looks too gross to try.

From a place where you fit in and have the same look as everyone else to a place where you're the outcast.

From a culture where it's typical to keep a distance between people to a culture where closeness is accepted and, in a sense, craved.

From never playing a sport in your life to joining the badminton club.

From the comfort of being taught in Chinese to the inconvenience of being taught in English and being forced to understand the difference between whether and weather.

From a place where major changes are not allowed to a place where you can explore any and everything that interests you.

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From a place where scientists aren't treated well to a place where they are.

From having your parents pay for everything to being responsible for the bills of your own tuition.

From a message on a screen to a reality.

This is what it was like for Feng Peiheng when she moved to Miami University.

Where she came from and where she is currently are two entirely different planets. But she's happy where she is now.