Almost Heaven by Zhengli Jin

Before I came here, Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, USA, friends told me "Be there. I'm sure you will enjoy it. That's a small but beautiful mountainous town which is quiet and suitable for students to study there." 

No surprise, but surprise! When I came here, not only have I seen what I was told at the beginning, e.g. the blue sky, fresh air, neat and clean streets and side-lawns, green and colorful mountains in all my sight, and the extremely bright moon silently staying above in the night sky, but I have also met so many extraordinarily kind people here in this city and at Marshall University. Obviously, all the people living here are proud of their city and their superb Marshall University based in their quiet and beautiful city. "Go Herd" has glued all of them together into an entity. They enjoy life in high harmony. These people are always so friendly, so helpful and so trustable that I never felt I was left alone wherever I had been in this city. What I deeply love about them are their brilliant smiles out of their hearts when they meet you anywhere, in the office, in the library, at the counter of a bank, shop or post office, or even just on the street. Wherever you are, they say "Hi! How are you?" "Hi! How are you doing today?" "Hi! How can I help you?" "Have a good day!"… in their unique but really sweet tones. Obviously, they are the people who have benefited a lot from the excellent cultural values of their predecessors, the genuine residents of the Appalachian mountain area.
Among these people, who are a mixture of the successors of Appalachian residents and some new immigrants from outside into this nice community, there are William Edwards, Qingqing Zhao, Drew Cicarello, Teresa Daniel, Gary Metcalf, Nikki Thacker, Jiong Cao, Jane Taylor, Scott Hoppe, and Clark Egnor, as well as Bill Butler, Sydney Tweel, Amy, Tammy and Joe Manchin III … 

Recently, it's been many times that whenever I thought of the fact that I am going to leave here pretty soon for home, my eyes always immediately became totally wet. I'll miss this sweet city. I'll miss the neat campus of Marshall University. I'll miss the amiable people I met here. I'll miss everything here I experienced during my stay at Marshall University, the University Courtyard and Huntington. I'll miss the tail-gate parties, the football games, the home-coming parades, the chili and pumpkin festivals as well as the fiddles, banjos, dulcimers and guitars here… Listen, they are singing again:

"…Almost heaven, West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountain, Shenandoah River, Life is old there, Older than the trees, Younger than the mountains, blowin' like a breeze. Country roads, take me home to the place I belong, West Virginia, Mountain Mama, take me home, country roads. All my memories gather around her, miner's lady stranger to blue water. Dark and dusty painted on the sky, misty taste of Moonshine, tears dropping in my eye. I hear her voice, in the mornin' hour she calls me. The radio reminds me of my home far away. And driven down the roads I get a feelin', that I should have been home yesterday, yesterday…"

Here now I just want to say, Thank you, friends. Thank you, MU. Thank you, Huntington. Thank you, West Virginia! See you! And have a good day!