living in the dream !

I remembered the moment when I got the offer letter from Cardiff University, my first choice of university in the U.K. I was thrilled; my mind was fulled of the images of studying abroad and meeting students from all over the world who shared the same ambition in music as me. For the first few weeks, it was like living in the dreams. I got to meet students from different nations; see the Victorian style houses along the sidewalk; I even visited the castle for the first time in my life. It was just as fabulous as I imagined. Until one day…

I just got off work and tried to get some snacks from KFC, suddenly, I felt a knock to the head. There were a bunch of kids throwing paper cups and yelling chink、chink at me. It wasn’t personal; it was only because I’m an Asian. I was furious so I yelled back; the next thing I knew they followed me to my apartment and threw paper cups at me again, and this time they filled the cups with water. That day completely changed my life. I started to wonder; maybe studying abroad was a wrong decision after all.
Things got even worse when coronavirus broke out in China. Although I’m not even from China, I could feel that few people were trying to avoid talking to me or having eye contact with me. One of my classmates from China told me that when she walked passed by a mom with a child, the mom covered her child’s mouth and held her back to her arms as if my classmate was contagious. I was devastated, that’s the moment when I decided to talk about the issue with my tutor on the amazing talker.

Minna listened to my story and shared a story about how she was discriminated by a lady as well. I couldn’t believe that happened to her even she was born and raised in the U.S.A. Since I got in the U.K. Minna has helped me a lot. We would read some articles and she would correct my pronunciation and my mistakes during the classes. We would also discuss our thoughts after reading through the story. Not only academic wise, but she also helped me to build my confidence in speaking English. She told me that I should speak out for myself; especially I’m living in another country. I wasn’t only learning English but also learning how to live and fight for myself bravely. That also makes me realized how important it is to learn the language. It’s the only way to communicate with people when you are not in your own country.

By communication, people would understand the different cultures between nations and races; it would provide us mutual respect and understandings. Therefore, someday I wish I could apply the language I’ve learned to solve the discrimination caused by any reasons without the barrier of language. When I reach the goal, I will be truly living in the dream.

我記得當我拿到卡入學通知時我非常的興奮，我的腦袋中浮現的都是與各國來自不同的學校的同學一起分享著音樂和學習的情景。而當我到英國的前幾個禮拜，一切好像在夢裡面一樣，我的確見到了來自各國的學生們也看到了維多利亞式的建築，我還參觀了我生命中的第一個城堡。一切就如我想像中的一樣美好知道某一天…

我剛從打工的地方下班後，正想要去肯德基買一些點心，突然，我感覺到我的頭被東西敲了一下。當我回頭時，看到一群9-10歲的學生，拿著空紙杯敲了我的頭並且對我含著帶有歧視性的言語，我非常的生氣於是我就罵了回去我原本以為一切就會結束了沒想到他們也被我激怒了就跟著我回到我的宿舍，把紙杯裝滿的水再一次地往我身上砸！

最近發生的冠狀病毒讓這一切的情形更加惡化。走在路上我能感覺到有一些當地人有意無意地避開了我的眼神 。我的同學經過一對母女的身旁時，媽媽將孩子緊緊摟著自己並且遮住他的口鼻，好像我的同學是帶著病毒一般。這一切都讓我十分的沮喪， 於是我決定在上課的時候與老師分享這一切。

老師聽了之後也分享了他在美國被歧視和被辱罵的故事給我聽 。我十分的驚訝，因為老師是在美國長大和出生的.我沒有想到這一切將會發生在老師的身上。在我弟來英國之後，老師幫助了我許多，不僅是在課堂上我們會選一篇文章討論，老師還會糾正我的發音和錯誤，讓整堂課的上課內容十分的豐富。老師不僅僅在學業上給我很大的幫助，他還教會我一個隻身在國外的學生該如何的表達自己勇敢地很快樂的度過每一天，即使會遇到許多的困難和衝突，也不應該輕易放棄或逃避與他人溝通的機會。

這也讓我了解到把英文學好是多重要的一件事。因為只有將英語學好才能充分的表達自己，也才能與當地人好好的溝通。透過溝通，人類之間才能彼此互相了解體諒和尊重。因此我希望在不久的將來，如果再一次面對到相同的狀況，我能表達我的感受，在沒有語言障礙的情況下更勇敢的為自己發聲。當我做到的這一天我就真的是活在我的夢想當中了！