Recent Stanford MBA Grad Jason Jianyu Tu was born in 1989 in a small village 125 miles south of Xian--in what he termed a sixth-tier city--meaning, "there's a very slim chance you can be successful." (See post one.) His parents, well aware of this, searched for ways out of this small village, and eventually found a path to Xian. (See post two.) The big city of Xian--although only a hop, skip and a jump away--was like a different planet, with buses and fast food and a really tough school. (See post three.) Jason gave up trying to do well in school, instead focusing his energy where his passions lay: guitar and blockbuster movies. (See post four.) While Jason's high school headmaster did not have high hopes that Jason would get a college degree, Jason jumped through hoop after hoop to get accepted to the University of Washington. His only problem? Funding. (See post five.) Thanks, however, to a mass e-mail marketing campaign, Jason found himself accepted to the University of Evansville in Indiana. (See post six.)
Jason flew from Hong Kong to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to
Chicago. Everything he’d seen in the movies was coming to life, until…
”From
Chicago I boarded a turbo jet engine to Evansville. When we landed, there was
nothing but cornfields. The airport was teeny tiny. The tallest building I saw
was maybe ten stories.”
“I had this ‘WTF’ moment in my mind. All these years I’ve
been trying to move from a sixth-tier city to a tier-one city to make my way to
success. And then after all these years of effort to land here…."
By some communication mix-up, the college rep was not there to meet Jason. While he stood around waiting, the entire airport emptied out.
“There was nobody in the airport except this car rental
company. I only had a hundred dollar bill in my pocket. There was a pay phone, but I had no change. So I went to the lady at the car-rental counter and I
tried to get some change. The lady looked at me like, ‘We don’t take a hundred
dollar bills.’ She gave me three quarters. I called the University. They came
and picked me up. It (the university) wasn’t far from the airport.”
Jason suffered immediate shock from this small town. “The
only fun activity we have is probably the corn maze.” At the same time, his
heart grew three sizes from the warm welcome he received—starting with the lady
at the car-rental company.
“People there were super-nice. I’ve been in the U.S.
for a while, and people across Indiana and the rural areas are probably the
nicest people I’ve ever met. They always treat you nicely. They always try to
help. Smile at you in the street. “
(To be continued. Next: Jason Becomes Resident China Expert)
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