A Temporary Home Away from Home遠(yuǎn)方的家

珍妮弗·布拉格

For more than 20 years I have been traveling the world， preferring often to spend a year or two in different countries rather than to just visit as a tourist. It has become a big part of my identity as an adult and shaped how I see the world and myself.

My first taste of this amazing life was when I was 19 years old. I was selected among a small group of college classmates to spend a year abroad. This was long before people could travel the world vicariously1 through social media like Facebook， Instagram and Weibo. In order to see a place， you had to go there and experience it firsthand.

I was raised in a middle-class family and couldn’t afford to travel around the world the way I wished I could. My only exposure to the world outside was through letters I wrote to pen-pals from over a dozen countries as a kid， and from television. One thing I loved on television growing up were the hilarious2 British comedies that aired every Saturday night on my local public television station. So when I got the chance to apply for a study abroad program， I chose London. （Plus， I spoke the language.）

Junior Year Abroad， or JYA， is a program that allows American college students to study in another country during their junior year， usually through his or her own university or through a university that has a study-abroad program. JYA has been around for nearly 100 years.

In 1921， a young professor at the University of Delaware named Raymond W. Kirkbride proposed the idea of sending students to study in another country. Kirkbride was a World War I veteran and saw the ugly side of humanity through war. Yet he spent time in France during the war and enjoyed the people and culture. Later， as a professor， he thought that sending students to other countries would help promote cross-cultural understanding. So， in 1923， Kirkbride organized a trip for eight juniors from the University of Delaware to sail to France. Today， the JYA program is offered to thousands of students across the United States and around the world.

Living abroad can be exciting， scary and challenging. I thought it would be easier because I spoke the language， but I relished3 the little differences between the British and American culture and language. Instead of ground beef they called it “mince”. Instead of garbage they called it “rubbish”. Once， at Christmas， I went to a supermarket and asked if they had egg nog4. Egg nog is a very creamy drink seasoned with5 nutmeg and is delicious and traditional to drink in some American families. The man at the supermarket told me he had never heard of it， and I was really surprised！

I also learned that in England， they spell words differently than in the U.S. In British spelling， they put a “u” in words like favor to make it “favor” and an “s” in words like analyze to make it “analyze”. I was able to adapt quickly to this new way of writing since I was submitting papers all the time for my classes.

Academically， I got to take classes that weren’t offered at my college back home. I took a film class and was introduced to the “classics”6 with works by Alfred Hitchcock7 and Orson Welles8. I had a course in sociology and learned about the native people of Papua New Guinea9.

But there were also challenges that year too. One of my classes was called “Europe Since 1870”. In the U.S.， I would have expected an introductory history class， but in England， I was supposed to have already known the history; now was the time to analyze it. That meant I not only had to learn the history as I went along， but also I had to try to write a paper explaining why certain events happened as they did. Once， a teaching assistant who did not take kindly to my misunderstanding of an assignment berated me in front of a fellow student. I remember going back to my student house and crying afterwards for being so stupid. Of course， I know now that I was thrown into the deep end10， in a completely different and far more challenging environment， and it was natural that I wouldn’t understand everything easily. Despite this， I don’t regret anything about my time in London. Even through painful experiences， we learn to grow.

Sometimes the difficult times made me sad and homesick. But luckily that was outweighed11 by the amazing experience I had getting to know people from all over the world. I met dozens of interesting people from places like France， Greece and Germany in Europe， to Rwanda， Palestine and Australia. Learning how to make friends with people from different cultures and backgrounds was really fun， and these new friends helped put a face to the countries they represented12.

Academically， because there are so many differences between the British and American grading systems， my overall grades were adjusted upwards to account for the degree of difficulty in acclimating to the British educational structure. In the end， I did pretty well， considering I was like a fish out of water13 in a totally new learning environment.

As I finished the academic year， I was torn inside about leaving London after such a transformative experience. I learned so much about myself as a young woman and an American. When I returned to my college for my final year， friends and professors saw a new me. I had more maturity and self-awareness than before. It was difficult at first to adjust back to American college life， almost like I hadn’t had the most amazing year of my life and I was simply back for my senior year. But I know， inside， this was just the beginning of a future of world travel and a love of different people and cultures.

我用了20多年的時(shí)間周游世界。我更喜歡去到不同的國家，在那里住上一兩年，而不是僅僅當(dāng)個(gè)觀光客，走馬觀花。這成為我長大后個(gè)性的一個(gè)重要部分，也塑造了我認(rèn)識(shí)世界與自我的方式。

19歲時(shí)，我第一次嘗試了這種奇妙的生活方式。上大學(xué)時(shí)，我從一小撥同學(xué)中脫穎而出，被選到海外交流學(xué)習(xí)一年。那時(shí)候，人們還沒法通過像臉書、照片墻和微博這樣的社交媒體遍覽世界。要想看看外面的世界，你必須去親自前往，親身體驗(yàn)。

我生長在一個(gè)中產(chǎn)階級(jí)家庭，家里的條件不允許我像希望的那樣周游世界。我了解外面世界的唯一渠道就是從小和世界各地的筆友通信。除此之外，就是通過電視。從小到大，我一直很喜歡每周六晚上本地公共電視臺(tái)播放的非常搞笑的英國喜劇。所以，當(dāng)有機(jī)會(huì)申請(qǐng)海外學(xué)習(xí)交流時(shí)，我選擇了倫敦（也是因?yàn)檎Z言相通）。

大三海外學(xué)習(xí)計(jì)劃是一個(gè)海外交流學(xué)習(xí)項(xiàng)目。美國大學(xué)生可以通過自己所在大學(xué)或別的大學(xué)的海外留學(xué)項(xiàng)目，在大三的時(shí)候到另外一個(gè)國家交流學(xué)習(xí)。海外學(xué)習(xí)計(jì)劃已經(jīng)運(yùn)營了近百年。

1921年，特拉華大學(xué)的年輕教授雷蒙德·W.柯克布賴德提出把學(xué)生送到別的國家學(xué)習(xí)的想法。柯克布賴德是一位一戰(zhàn)老兵，曾親眼見過戰(zhàn)爭中人性的丑惡。不過，戰(zhàn)時(shí)他曾在法國逗留，非常喜歡那里的人們和文化。后來，作為一名教授，他認(rèn)為讓學(xué)生到別的國家學(xué)習(xí)生活能夠促進(jìn)不同文化的相互理解。因此，在1923年，柯克布賴德組織了8名特拉華大學(xué)的大三學(xué)生乘船到法國游學(xué)。時(shí)至今日，海外學(xué)習(xí)計(jì)劃仍在為世界各地?cái)?shù)千名大學(xué)生提供海外學(xué)習(xí)機(jī)會(huì)。

在異國生活既令人興奮，又充滿了慌亂與挑戰(zhàn)。我覺得語言相通令我的海外生活變得更輕松，不過我也喜歡品味英美文化和語言上的小差異。英國人把碎牛肉（ground beef）叫作mince，把垃圾（garbage）叫作rubbish。有一次，在圣誕節(jié)的時(shí)候，我去超市問店員有沒有蛋奶酒賣。蛋奶酒是一種用肉豆蔻調(diào)制的奶油味濃郁的酒，是美國家庭傳統(tǒng)酒飲。但是英國超市的店員告訴我，他從未聽說過這種酒，這實(shí)在出乎我的意料！

我還了解到，英式英語的單詞拼寫與美國也略有不同。在英式英語中，像favor這樣的單詞會(huì)被插入一個(gè)u變成favour，又或者像analyze中的z會(huì)換成s。因?yàn)槲乙恢必?fù)責(zé)提交同學(xué)們的論文，所以很快就適應(yīng)了這些拼寫上的差異。

在學(xué)業(yè)方面，我會(huì)選修一些在美國母校沒有開設(shè)的課程。我選了一門電影賞析課，通過阿爾弗雷德·希區(qū)柯克和奧遜·威爾斯的作品中了解到“經(jīng)典好萊塢電影”。我還選了一門社會(huì)學(xué)課程，了解了巴布亞新幾內(nèi)亞原住民的生活。

這一年的海外交流中也遇到一些挑戰(zhàn)。我有一門課程叫作“1870年后的歐洲”。如果是在美國，應(yīng)該會(huì)上一門入門級(jí)的歷史課;但在英國，人人都以為我早就了解這段歷史，現(xiàn)在就需要做些分析。這就意味著我不僅要學(xué)習(xí)這些歷史事件的內(nèi)容，還要試著去寫論文解釋為什么這些歷史事件會(huì)發(fā)生。有一次，有位助教對(duì)我沒搞清作業(yè)是什么很不滿，當(dāng)著另一個(gè)同學(xué)的面訓(xùn)斥了我。我還記得后來我回到宿舍，為自己的愚蠢而大哭。當(dāng)然，現(xiàn)在我已經(jīng)意識(shí)到那時(shí)我陷入了困境。在一個(gè)完全不同且更富挑戰(zhàn)性的環(huán)境中，不能輕易理解所有事物也屬正常。盡管如此，我一點(diǎn)兒也不后悔來倫敦交流學(xué)習(xí)。磨難使人成長。

有時(shí)，遇到困難讓我情緒低落，思念家鄉(xiāng)。但幸運(yùn)的是，我結(jié)識(shí)了來自世界各地的人，這些奇妙的經(jīng)歷沖淡了我的負(fù)面情緒。我遇到了許多有趣的人，他們有的來自法國、希臘、德國等歐洲國家，也有的來自盧旺達(dá)、巴勒斯坦和澳大利亞。學(xué)著與不同文化背景的人交朋友實(shí)在非常有意思，而且，與這些新朋友交往也幫助我了解了他們所代表的國家。

在學(xué)業(yè)方面，因?yàn)橛⒚赖姆謹(jǐn)?shù)評(píng)價(jià)體系迥異，我的總分有所上調(diào)是考慮到我因適應(yīng)英國教育機(jī)制而增加的學(xué)習(xí)難度。就一個(gè)在全新的學(xué)習(xí)環(huán)境中摸爬滾打的新人而言，我最后的成績還是很不錯(cuò)的。

在經(jīng)歷了這樣的“變形之旅”、完成一學(xué)年的學(xué)習(xí)后，對(duì)離開倫敦我心里很是糾結(jié)。這段經(jīng)歷讓我對(duì)自己有了更多的認(rèn)識(shí)，無論是作為一名年輕女性，還是一個(gè)美國人。當(dāng)我回到原來的大學(xué)繼續(xù)讀大四時(shí)，朋友和老師都看到了一個(gè)全新的“我”：比以前更加成熟，也更加自知。剛回來的時(shí)候，我還有點(diǎn)難以調(diào)整回美國大學(xué)的生活節(jié)奏——仿佛我沒有剛剛度過奇妙的一年，而只是放暑假回來繼續(xù)讀大四。但我心里很清楚，這段經(jīng)歷對(duì)我未來到世界各地旅行、喜愛不同的人和不同文化來說，才僅僅是一個(gè)開始。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎(jiǎng)選手）