廿六
Twenty-six
今年的生日很特別
This birthday is very special for me
因為我達成了十年前的願望---到英國念書
Cause I reach my dream
of the past ten years---studying in the UK
今天也恰好是來英國滿三個月的日子
Today also marks three months since I arrived at
the UK.
還記得三個月前離家的那個夜晚
I still remember the night when I left home three months ago
沒有以往任何一次出國前的興奮與雀躍
Without any excitement and joy which I always felt before every journey
取而代之的是對未來充滿未知而滿溢爆表的焦慮與不安
Instead, I was overload
with anxiety and uneasiness because of the
unknown future
第一次搭長途飛機還為了我那腰特地買了商務艙
For the first time, I took a long-journey flight and bought a business class for my waist.
殊不知完全無心享受
And I totally couldn't enjoy it at all.
貴賓室 A380 阿聯酋 機上酒吧......
The VIP lounge, A380, Emirates, Bar in the air......
一切都被排山倒海而來的不安感完全掩蓋過去
Everything was just covered by the overwhelming
worry
24個小時以後
24 hours later
人生中第一次踏上亞洲以外的土地
I stepped onto a land outside Asia for the first time in my life
從炎熱的夏季台灣抵達了溫暖微涼的愛丁堡
Moving from Taiwan in the scorching summer to warm and cool Edinburgh
嗨!愛丁堡你好!
Hi! Hello, Edinburgh!
當初選擇商務艙的另一原因是有免費接送服務
Another reason I chose business
class was that Emirates has a free pick-up service
人生第一次坐賓士就獻給阿聯酋了
The first time sitting in a Benz is
because of Emirates
司機是格拉斯哥人
The driver was from Glascow
幽默地向我介紹愛丁堡
He introduced Edinburgh to me humorously
還幫忙搬行李到宿舍門口才離開
And helped me carry my luggage to the accommodation before
leaving
對英國的第一印象很不錯
My first impression of UK was pretty nice
有可愛的房子 歷史悠久的街道 和友善的人們
There are cute town houses, historical street and kind people
語言班讀了七週
After the pre-sessional course that
lasted 7 weeks
順利通過考試拿到非條件式錄取通知
I passed the
exam luckily and finally got my
unconditional offer for the master
course
特別感謝我在英國的第一位老師Eva 人美又好的助教Heather
Special thanks to my first tutor in the UK--Eva
And our CA Heather, who is very kind and also beautiful
還有很幽默的課程負責人Agnes
And also the humorous course manager Agnes
以及最親愛的泰國姊Paichit (Jane)
Of course my dearest Thai sis Paichit (Jane)
在完全沒有環境介紹一切都要自己來的情況下
As I tried to handle everything by myself without any help or
guidance
是她帶著還摸不清東南西北的我到學務處領Bank letter
She was the
person who brought me to the student administration to get my bank letter
到圖書館領學生證
to the library
to pick up my student card
到各個教室上課
to every tutorial and lecture rooms to take lessons
再去辦報到手續領BRP(英國簽證生物晶片卡)
And who assisted me with the check-in procedure and get my BRP
最後我才有辦法去銀行開戶
Then I finally opened my UK
bank account
不用再吃力地辨認那一點也不合邏輯的硬幣
Thus, I no longer needed to identify the illogical coins
或是掏出全部硬幣請人很好的超市收銀老奶奶自己拿......
Or to take out all the coins that I have and ask the kind
supermarket cashier granny to take
the money by herself......
那幾天我每天走路萬步起跳(學校散落在整個城市)
During those days, I walked at least ten thousand
steps everyday
手也因為扛了將近40公斤的行李 然後宿舍和教室都是厚重難開的防火門
My arms were also extreme sore for whole week after carrying my almost 40 Kg luggage and opening the thick, heavy, and hard to open fire-prof doors everyday.
就這樣鐵了整整一週......
更慘的是第一週的周五就要交出800-1000字的文章草稿給老師
What was worse is that we had
to submit an 800 to 1000 words essay draft on the Friday of very first week.
我每天看著Flightrador上往TPE飛的班機
Everyday I watched those airplanes on Flightrador toward TPE
多麼希望自己也在其中一架上
and wished I
could be on one of them
甚至想:不如不要念了?就回台灣繼續當個臨床小護士不也挺好?
I even thought: Why don't I give up? It's not bad
to keep being a clinical nurse in Taiwan is it?
為此還被老賴嘲笑了一頓
My dearest Lai laughed at me for this thing
她問我為何想回家
She asked me why I wanted to go
home
我說:因為要寫作業
I said: Because I need to write essays
她說:就因為這樣?妳之前不是一直想來的嗎?
She said: What? That's it? Didn't you want to come all the time?
對呀!我不是一直想來的嗎?
Yeah, didn't I always want to come?
想了十年夢想近在眼前我卻想放棄?
I wanted to
give up after preparing for ten years for the dream!
還好最後透過泰國姊聯繫上我親愛的同時也是好同事的直屬學姊 一樣讀護理的Sabrina姐
Luckily, I started to know my dear fellow classmate Sabrina through Jane, who is
also a Taiwanese and furthermore
was my good colleague's senior schoolmate before. What a coincidence!
再透過她終於在茫茫人海中找到可貴的一小撮台灣人
And finally, through Sabrina, I got to know a small group of Taiwanese people from the vast sea of people.
密不可分 很愛嘴砲的六個愛丁堡VIP
The six Edinburgh Taiwanese VIP who are very close and love to gab
這三個月我參與了愛丁堡藝術節
In these three months, I experienced Edinburgh Fringe
看了有名的軍樂節 浪漫的藝術節閉幕音樂會+煙火秀
Watched famous military tattoo, firework concert
去了荷里路德宮 愛丁堡城堡
and Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh castle
走了牛津 劍橋 倫敦 布萊頓
also went to
Oxford, Cambridge and Brighton
看了最愛又比台灣便宜很多的音樂劇
Watched few musicals which are much
cheaper than in Taiwan
當然也展開了我那忙得不可開交的碩士人生......
And of course started my
BUSY master’s course......
最後我想說的只是
Finally, what I want to say is,
即使常有陰晴圓缺
even it is usually overcast,
但在我心中
but in my heart,
世界上最圓的月亮仍然在台灣
Taiwan still has the
most rounded moon in the world.
然後我很好
And I'm fine,
只是不想寫作業
just don't want to write any assignment
等我畢業以後這輩子絕對不要再寫任何作業 看任何文獻
After completing my master’s degree, I doubt I will ever write any assignments or read any literature again.
絕!
NEVER
對!
EVER
不!
A-
要!
GAIN!
祝我自己生日快樂!
Happy birthday to myself!
同樣也祝福我身邊的人永遠健康快樂!
Also as usual, wish all the people I know happiness
and health forever!
P.S. 英國真的很美 即使沒錢辦貸款 沒假辭工作 這輩子都一定要來一次
絕對值得~
P.S. UK is really very super extremely beautiful, if you don't
have enough money or holidays to travel to here,
then just make a loan and quit your job,
no matter what, you definitely must visit UK for once during this
lifetime,
I assure you it is worth
it, without doubt.
