一個紐約妹子的英國留學感悟
England is a country where the people and the places reveal their personalities slowly. My first experience in this country was back in 2006, when I went on vacation with my family to London for a few days. Being a teenager at the time, I was rather indifferent towards London. It was a cool place but not somewhere I instantly fell in love with. This would change, but not for some time.
英格蘭是一個慢慢顯露個性的國家。我第一次到這個國家是在2006年，當時我和家人去倫敦度假了幾天。當時我才十幾歲，對倫敦很無感。那是一個很酷的地方，但不是我立刻愛上的地方。這種情況會改變，但肯定不會幾次就能改變的。
A few years later, in 2009, I was in college and looking to study abroad. England quickly became my destination of choice. Coming from New York, England didn’t seem too far away compared to other places, plus they spoke English there! Over the course of the 2009-2010 academic year, I applied and then directly enrolled at the University of Sussex, located just outside of Brighton on the south coast.
幾年後，在2009年，我上大學，想出國留學。英國很快成爲我選擇的目的地。我來自紐約，與其他地方相比，英國似乎並不遙遠，而且他們在那裏說英語!在2009 - 2010學年期間，我申請並直接就讀於位於南海岸布萊頓郊外的蘇塞克斯大學。
My time studying abroad in England lasted exactly nine months, from 24 September 2010 to 24 June 2011. My opinions toward England, English people and study abroad in general changed on a weekly and monthly basis during this time. It was the people that ultimately shaped my views, and it is these same people I am sitting with three years later as I write this.
從2010年9月24日到2011年6月24日，我在英國留學的時間正好是9個月。在此期間，我對英國、英國人和出國留學的看法在一週周和一月月中變化。正是這些人最終塑造了我的觀點，正是這些人，在我寫這篇文章的三年後，與我坐在一起。
Getting to know English culture
What really allowed me to fall in love with England were my flatmates. Living in university accommodation, I was randomly assigned to live in a six-bedroom flat where there were three guys and three girls in total. I am American, but everyone else in the flat was English. We had a bit of an age gap, as I was in my third year of university and they were all in their first year. The novelty for them to be living away from home for the first time complimented the novelty for me of living and studying abroad. It was an extremely social year for me – we were the flat that everyone from other student flats flocked to, and this allowed me so many opportunities for enriching conversations to learn about English culture.
逐漸瞭解英國文化
真正讓我愛上英國的是我的室友。住在大學宿舍裏，我被隨機分配到一個六居室的公寓裏，那裏總共有三個男孩子和三個女孩子。我是美國人，但公寓裏的其他人都是英國人。我們有一個年齡差距，因爲我在大學的第三年，他們都是在第一年。對他們來說，新奇的事物是第一次離開家，而這份新奇似乎是對我在國外生活和學習的讚揚。對我來說，這是一個充滿社交機會的一年——我們的公寓讓我們都聚集在一起，這讓我有了很多豐富的交流機會來學習英國文化。
During this time I was forced to question things about my own national culture that I had previously taken for granted. For instance, England’s legal drinking age is 18 whereas the US’s legal drinking age is 21; this makes university a completely different experience. I observed the different styles of dress in England. Suddenly people weren’t wearing jeans everywhere and anywhere. I also really learned to appreciate tea, both how to make a ‘proper cuppa’, as well as the social function that putting the kettle on serves. Since all my time was primarily spent in the company of English people, I was able to observe so many small details of English culture that make this country what it is.
在這段時間裏，我被迫質疑我以前認爲理所當然的自己的民族文化。例如，英國法定飲酒年齡爲18歲，而美國法定飲酒年齡爲21歲;這使大學成爲完全不同的經歷。我在英國看到了不同風格的衣服。突然間，人們不再到處都穿牛仔褲了。我還真的學會了欣賞茶，如何做“合適的茶”，以及把水壺放在服務上的社交功能。由於我所有的時間都是在英國人的陪伴下度過的，所以我能夠觀察到許多英國文化的小細節，使這個國家的小細節呈現在我的眼前。
Returning to study in England again
I also fell in love with England by travelling around this island country. I would go on day trips to London, Oxford, Bath, Stonehenge, the Midlands and seaside towns along the south coast. I learned that the beauty of England is in random small corners that you might not initially set out to explore.
再次回到英國學習
我在這個島國旅行時也愛上了英國。我每天都去倫敦、牛津、巴斯、巨石陣、米德蘭羣島和南海岸的海邊城鎮。我瞭解到，英國的美麗是在你可能最初不會去探索的不經意間的小角落裏。
Although I was skeptical at first, I ultimately loved studying abroad in England for a full academic year. It takes a while to understand the mentality of a place, so being abroad for this amount of time afforded me that opportunity.
雖然我一開始有點懷疑，但我最終還是很喜歡在英國留學一年。要了解一個地方的心態需要一段時間，所以在國外呆上這麼多時間給了我這個機會。
I knew when I left in June 2011 that I needed to find a way back to study in England again. I so loved my flatmates, and was fortunate to visit them a couple times more before they graduated. When I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in international education, it made sense to me to come back to the UK to do a master’s degree. Because I loved England so much after my experiences in the south, I became really curious to explore the north and develop a more well-rounded view of the country – and that’s what I’m doing. I am currently in Newcastle, in the north of England, studying a master’s degree in a related subject. England will always be a special place for me, and I’m sure I will always be fascinated by its places and peoples.
我在2011年6月離開時就知道，我需要找到回英國學習的方法。我很喜歡我的室友，幸運的是在他們畢業前拜訪了他們幾次。當我知道我想從事國際教育的事業時，回到英國攻讀碩士學位對我來說是有意義的。因爲在我在南方的經歷之後，我非常喜歡英國，所以我非常好奇地去探索北部，發展一個更加全面的國家的視野——這就是我所做的。我現在在英國北部的紐卡斯爾，攻讀一個相關學科的碩士學位。英國對我將永遠是一個特別的地方，我相信我將永遠被它的地方和人民所吸引。
