A Temporary Home Away from Home遠方的家

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，而不是僅僅當個觀光客，走馬觀花。這成為我長大后個性的一個重要部分，也塑造了我認識世界與自我的方式。

19歲時，我第一次嘗試了這種奇妙的生活方式。上大學時，我從一小撥同學中脫穎而出，被選到海外交流學習一年。那時候，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。

我生長在一個中產階級家庭，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播放的非常搞笑的英國喜劇。所以，當有機會申請海外學習交流時，我選擇了倫敦（也是因為語言相通）。

大三海外學習計劃是一個海外交流學習項目。美國大學生可以通過自己所在大學或別的大學的海外留學項目，在大三的時候到另外一個國家交流學習。海外學習計劃已經運營了近百年。

1921年，特拉華大學的年輕教授雷蒙德·W.柯克布賴德提出把學生送到別的國家學習的想法。柯克布賴德是一位一戰老兵，曾親眼見過戰爭中人性的丑惡。不過，戰時他曾在法國逗留，非常喜歡那里的人們和文化。后來，作為一名教授，他認為讓學生到別的國家學習生活能夠促進不同文化的相互理解。因此，在1923年，柯克布賴德組織了8名特拉華大學的大三學生乘船到法國游學。時至今日，海外學習計劃仍在為世界各地數千名大學生提供海外學習機會。

在異國生活既令人興奮，又充滿了慌亂與挑戰。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，在圣誕節的時候，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制的奶油味濃郁的酒，是美國家庭傳統酒飲。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這樣的單詞會被插入一個u變成favour，又或者像analyze中的z會換成s。因為我一直負責提交同學們的論文，所以很快就適應了這些拼寫上的差異。

在學業方面，我會選修一些在美國母校沒有開設的課程。我選了一門電影賞析課，通過阿爾弗雷德·希區柯克和奧遜·威爾斯的作品中了解到“經典好萊塢電影”。我還選了一門社會學課程，了解了巴布亞新幾內亞原住民的生活。

這一年的海外交流中也遇到一些挑戰。我有一門課程叫作“1870年后的歐洲”。如果是在美國，應該會上一門入門級的歷史課;但在英國，人人都以為我早就了解這段歷史，現在就需要做些分析。這就意味著我不僅要學習這些歷史事件的內容，還要試著去寫論文解釋為什么這些歷史事件會發生。有一次，有位助教對我沒搞清作業是什么很不滿，當著另一個同學的面訓斥了我。我還記得后來我回到宿舍，為自己的愚蠢而大哭。當然，現在我已經意識到那時我陷入了困境。在一個完全不同且更富挑戰性的環境中，不能輕易理解所有事物也屬正常。盡管如此，我一點兒也不后悔來倫敦交流學習。磨難使人成長。

有時，遇到困難讓我情緒低落，思念家鄉。但幸運的是，我結識了來自世界各地的人，這些奇妙的經歷沖淡了我的負面情緒。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、巴勒斯坦和澳大利亞。學著與不同文化背景的人交朋友實在非常有意思，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。

在學業方面，因為英美的分數評價體系迥異，我的總分有所上調是考慮到我因適應英國教育機制而增加的學習難度。就一個在全新的學習環境中摸爬滾打的新人而言，我最后的成績還是很不錯的。

在經歷了這樣的“變形之旅”、完成一學年的學習后，對離開倫敦我心里很是糾結。這段經歷讓我對自己有了更多的認識，無論是作為一名年輕女性，還是一個美國人。當我回到原來的大學繼續讀大四時，朋友和老師都看到了一個全新的“我”：比以前更加成熟，也更加自知。剛回來的時候，我還有點難以調整回美國大學的生活節奏——仿佛我沒有剛剛度過奇妙的一年，而只是放暑假回來繼續讀大四。但我心里很清楚，這段經歷對我未來到世界各地旅行、喜愛不同的人和不同文化來說，才僅僅是一個開始。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎選手）