DST：Travelling: Past, Present, Future

Digital Story #1

Travelling: Past, Present, Future

Yalin Chen

I am a travel connoisseur. When I was a child, my dad told me a Chinese old saying, "reading thousands of books is not as good as travelling thousands of miles; travelling thousands of miles is not as good as reading thousands of people"; this proverb has influenced me profoundly. I believe that the meaning of travelling is going to watch different lives, to feel diverse cultures, most importantly, to talk to various people and make more new friends. Tibet, Yunnan, Harbin, Japan, Singapore etc, the experiences of visiting these cities and countries have broadened my horizon and brought me lots of new friends.

As the interest grows stronger and stronger, I made the decision, taking the longest trip, longest time and longest distance, studying abroad. Travelling across half the world, I strongly felt the culture shock. Sandwiches, fries and Coke Cola obsessed me everyday but I ate only once a month in china; air conditioner indoors was freezing me all the time; the bed was too soft to sleep. Such an unsatisfied and unaccustomed routine life is always a part of a trip. However, the unsatisfied part highlights the importance of friendship in the journey. Luckily, I gained my precious friendship; a number of friends made my abroad life much brighter and happier, representing the meaning for this trip at the same time. They taught me about academic knowledge and helped me in community life. Friends coming from the same city, roommates and suite-mates, classmates, partners from the club etc, they were all a part of my wonderful OSU life.

However, at the beginning, it is hard to get along with my suitemates. I sat with them and joined their chat, but their speak speeds were too fast for me to catch them; at the same time, I was not familiar with their common topics. I still remember the saddest thing is that my suite-mates did not inform us, the only three Chinese, for the first suite dinner. For this reason, I felt awkward in the first few weeks. Fortunately, with the help of my roommate, Zana, I gradually integrated into our big suite family, watching TV shows together, enjoying crazy Friday night, and encouraging each other in exams, dining together. It is a sweet room.

Furthermore, the English conversation club helped me a lot, providing a platform for students and some American volunteers to have chat with each other; we have meetings, talking around different topic, and lunches each Saturday. One of the topics, American joke, impresses me. When I excitedly told a joke for an American, he did not laugh. Similarly, I could not get the point of his joke until he explained in detailed for me. For example, one of the most famous jokes we discussed is knock-knock jokes. Here it is. A:”Knock!Knock!” B:”Who's there?” A:”Barbie.” B:”Barbie who?” A:”Bar-B-Q.” Anyone laugh? I believe that it is hard for most non-Americans to understand the joke. However, for Americans, it is a precious memory for their childhood.

In the past, I was infatuated with travelling and travel as my interest did bring me a lot surprises; at present, I am on a long journey to improve myself. in the future, accordingly, I am going to major in accounting because I want to be an auditor, which is a job providing many business trips. Although some elders told me business trips are much difficult and tiring for a girl, I insisted in following my deep heart decision.