“八正道”助你游学英伦

　　The Eight-Fold Path to Educational Enlightenment

　　Step 5: The Great Leap: An Englishman’s Tale

　　Well I have told you all about the UK, likes and dislikes, where to go what to do, and, most importantly where to stay away from. Now it's only fair that I tell you the story of an Englishman's experiences in China. I have been mystified, I have seen wonderful things, and I have felt the warmth of the Chinese people - and despair at the ridiculousness of it all.

　　Discovering new places and new cultures is at the centre of the human spirit of adventure and endeavour. People are different in every way, and this has become evident to me in the short time that I have lived in China. But to anybody who is considering attending school or university in the UK (or any other country) should take solace in the fact that humour and friendliness travels better than we do. I will never tire of the joy on a taxi drivers face, when I clumsily shout out, "ni chilimar?" or "ni er ma?". Clearly my Mandarine is terrible, but they appreciate my limited effort, and truly enjoy the fact that I am here, want to be here, and will pay them over inflated taxi fares! OK, the last one is a little cynical, but we have to be. Let's face it, wherever we go in the world, not only will we be welcomed with genuine open arms, but equally, others will see you as prey. In my mind this is nothing to fear, but something that will build character and resolve in anybody willing to take that great leap. And by great leap, I mean leaving family and friends, walking into what might as well be a black hole in terms of culture, nothing you recognise, far less you understand, frankly it is nauseating!

　　So why do it? Well, I can't think of any reasons right now, at least not for you. For me, on the other hand, it becomes a time to develop ones imagination, after all, you need to be imaginative in an arena where you don't know the rules, or even the game. It is important to remove yourself from the comfortable (or hard) conditions that we live in. Some go traveling, but this is not the same as living somewhere.

　　Removing yourself from your comfort zone will allow you to have experiences that you never thought were possible, and discover things about yourself that have lay hidden, dormant, waiting to be awoken. The idea of extremes always strikes me when I move away from home. For example, when living and working in the USA in my younger days, we would go from sleeping in a car in San Francisco Bay one night, to meeting all manner of people, and being invited to stay as guests of honour in a millionaires mansion the next. Such things simply wouldn't happen if I had not taken that great leap. And China is certainly a place of extremes. From its vastness, a small city here is three million so I am told! Three million people in one place in the UK would equal our second largest city! Extremes in the sense of the vast, highly modern metropolises of Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, within which, you stumble upon the hutongs. As I wander through these back, barely streets, the alleyways, where life is in abundance, there is a sense of being in a big city... but with a traditional rural mentality. The feeling of community, usually depicted through the roasting of full legs of lamb, spit roasting on the street BBQ. Laughter and chatter, though foreign, somehow identical across the world, across all cultures. And so it is, that having taken that great leap to leave your homeland, you will, I guarantee, find such human similarities, that will ultimately bring you comfort through a foreign familiarity. But be aware, there will be hard realities of shock to face in-between these moments of happy relief.

　　When the excitement of a new country fades away, that's when you are able to dig deep, understand the place and yourself. So what have I discovered about myself? Well, apparently, I am definitely funnier in Chinese than in in my native tongue!