來中國之前, 我沒深刻地了解到旅行重要性. 跟父母去英國的不同地方, 還是學校帶我們到歐洲的一些國家時, 我總是有那種假期的感覺 – 看看不同的風景, 通過不再老家的機會透透氣等. 可是當一個中文系的學生來說, 通過普通話跟很對來自各種各樣背景的人交流才能夠真正地開闊我的視野, 讓我更全面地理解我所學習的語言, 國家.
這次旅行, 北大帶我們去中國浙江省的三個大城市; 寧波, 烏鎮以及杭州. 在寧波我們去參觀天一閣, 中國古代的一個儲藏書籍的地方, 圍著它的四方都是很安靜, 美麗的花園. 其候, 我參觀了我第一個汽車廣場, 位於城市的周邊, 我們學到了生產的過程是甚麼樣子的. 第三天我們度過一個早上在中國的 ‘水城市’ 烏鎮 – 大家都覺得好像義大利的威尼斯一樣 – 很多古老的建築坐落在河流上, 風景非常的好. 最後是去有名的杭州的. 那邊的西湖真的值得一看, 雖然我們看到的城市沒有那麼特別.
可是對我來說, 給我留最深刻的影響又不是平靜的花園還是偉大的建築, 而是我們在寧波大學認識的朋友. 為了加深我們兩方大學之間的關係, 寧大派了一群學生帶我們參觀他們的校園, 介紹一下他們的生活. 雖然我們的背景十分不同, 可是我們相處地很開心, 不只是語言交流而是文化, 想法的交流. 這件事情讓我發現旅行最珍貴的就是聽到世界上不同的聲音 – 希望以後我會有機會跟那些熱情的同學再一次見面.
wuzhen
ENGLISH:
Before coming to China, I didn’t fully appreciate the value of travelling. Whenever I went somewhere in England with my parents, or school took us to a country in Europe it always just felt like a holiday – an opportunity to see some different scenery and get out of the monotony of the daily grind. However as a language student, being able to interact with a range of people from a range of backgrounds can truly broaden your horizons and allow you to more fully understand the country which you are living in.
This time, Peking University took us to three cities in Zhejiang Province; Ningbo, Wuzhen and Hangzhou. In Ningbo, first we visited ‘Tian Yi Ge’, an ancient repository for books, surrounded by stunning gardens. Straight afterwards we travelling to my first ever car factory, situated in the mountains outside the city and learned about the production of a Chinese brand of car. On the third day we spend a morning in the ‘water town’ of Wuzhen – it was very reminiscent of Venice, as a town of ancient buildings with waterways weaving in and out, and extremely beautiful. Finally, we went to the famous city of Hangzhou. It was definitely worth visiting the Western Lake for its vast expanse, and taking a boat trip across, we were able to appreciate the atmosphere of tranquillity around it.
However, what I will remember most from this journey is not the tranquil gardens or the awe-inspiring architecture, but the friends we made from Ningbo University. In order to facilitate exchange between our universities, Ningbo Uni organised a group of local students to spend two days guiding us around campus and accompanying us on our travels. Although we were from completely different backgrounds, we got along extremely well – it was not just about language exchange, but learning about each others’ culture, ideas and lives as well.
This made me think that perhaps the most valuable thing about travel is being able to meet such a range of people, and thus expand your own world view – I hope one day I will be able to meet those friends again!