This case study examines the cross-cultural learning experiences of two Chinese students at a major university in the Eastern United States. The study participants were a graduate student and his wife, both of whom had graduated from prestigious Chinese universities. At the time of the study, they had been in the United States for less than two years. Data were gathered through participant observation and informal interviews. The various sections of the paper discuss: (1) their motivations for learning, including professional growth and personal and political frustrations in their home country; (2) frustrations of cross-cultural living and learning, including communication difficulties, discrimination, disillusionment, and study pressures; (3) satisfactions of cross-cultural living, including a cleaner environment, having the necessities of daily living, fair school enrollment policy, and a law-governed society; (4) their strategies for coping with limited English in school work and in daily life; (5) new perspectives they had gained through learning and their hope of opening doors with better credentials; and (6) cultural differences in the classroom and daily life, including a more interactive student-teacher relationship and differences in behavioral and value systems. The study concludes that schools must be aware of and help international students adjust to such cross-cultural differences. (Contains 18 references.) (CH)