The following is a letter from a friend of mine in the UK. In the letter, she talks about what she heard, saw and felt while studying in the UK...
Life in the UK< /p>
Perhaps everyone is full of curiosity about the UK. In the eyes of current college students, being able to go abroad is a very lucky thing. The UK is a traditional capitalist country and a developed country. Studying in the UK may be really enviable.
Because Black University has a joint education program, I had the opportunity to study in the UK. People have many opinions about studying abroad. Some people say that people who go abroad are more likely to "learn bad things". Some people say that Chinese people are not united after going abroad. Some people think that it may not be easy to find a job after going abroad. No matter what others said, I still went abroad with a calm mood. I think my life will be different, and I like a different life. Only those who have actually eaten crabs can have a say in the taste of crabs. No matter how many investigators there are, all they can say is the "color" of crabs; the most that reporters or education departments can say is "the smell" of crabs. So I set out on a journey to start my own life.
New Arrival in the UK
When we arrived in the UK, it was autumn in the UK, and the weather had started to get cooler. When we arrived at the school apartment where we lived, it was already evening. It's past ten o'clock. When we first got off the plane, we could hear many sighs, and most of them might be disappointment - the legendary developed countries may have high-rise buildings and bright lights, but the scene in our eyes is different, with a vague sky, Office buildings with up to five floors, commercial streets with sparse crowds, dilapidated two-story houses - but in fact everyone knows that developed countries are not measured by this alone. I can totally accept it because I was mentally prepared before going abroad. After I packed up all the things in the apartment, I found that I was sleepy and hungry because I hadn't slept all day and night, and I hadn't eaten well. But supermarkets in the UK closed at around four o'clock. There was no change in the small shop, so people were so hungry that they wanted to sleep. Only then did I realize that there was no pillow or quilt. I could only sleep with my arm as my pillow and my coat as my cover. At that time, I was still thinking that it would be fine if I survived this night and everything would start again. Because I was too tired from all the work, I fell asleep quickly (actually I had to go through various procedures the next day, so I woke up from morning to night and shuttled between the police station, bank, and school, and didn’t have a serious meal until night). A so-called "meal" made by oneself).
Food, clothing, housing and transportation
In people’s imagination, British gentlemen are personable and wear suits and ties, but in fact, the British do not have high requirements for clothing. In certain work situations, men are generally not required to wear suits. British people dress very casually, and any type of clothing is acceptable. Most people prefer to wear casual clothes, while office workers wear more formal clothes, such as uniforms or suits. In the UK, if you go to a bar, men must wear black trousers and leather shoes, and women must wear an evening dress. There are many styles of women's clothes, which can be said to be diverse, including various long skirts, short skirts, suspender skirts, long sleeves, short sleeves, vests, and navel-baring clothes. The quality of British shoes is very good, and most of the styles are elegant and generous, such as stilettos, thick heels, and platform shoes. There are very few red, purple, and colorful clothes in the UK. Most of the clothes here are dark colors, and black is always the popular color here. In the UK, people prefer to wear scarves. There are many styles and styles of scarves. If they are well matched, they are also a good embellishment. There is an old saying in China: "In February and August, dress randomly." The weather in the UK changes greatly, and people's clothing also varies greatly. In winter, it is often a thick coat or coat with a shirt or T-shirt underneath. In the summer, you often see people wearing coats. If you were in China, someone would definitely point fingers, but in the UK, no one cares what kind of clothes you wear.
According to our eating habits, we always feel that the main and non-staple foods in the UK are not tasty and there are few varieties. It can be said that the rice is not sticky, the meat is not fragrant, the chicken is not fresh, the eggs are boring, and there are few vegetable varieties. There is basically no fat in the meat. It may be due to the feed, but it does not have much flavor when cooked. The chicken is very fat, meat-eating chicken, tasteless when stewed, and very oily. The British are not interested in seafood, so it is only sold in seaside cities. But for the boxed eggs, each box has 4-20 pieces, the quantity varies, and each egg has a trademark and expiration date on it. Soy products are only available in Chinatown.
Prices here are astonishingly expensive when converted into RMB. The price of everything is basically the domestic price multiplied by twelve or thirteen. But there are also many things that are very cheap, and British supermarkets always have discounts on expired food. It is said that they are to take care of the poor, but in fact, even non-poor people still buy them. Especially poor students like us always go to the supermarket to buy discounted products. Chinese students in the UK will have a hard time if they don’t know how to cook, because British people’s eating habits are different from ours. They mainly eat burgers, pizza and French fries, as well as a variety of canned food, British people are accustomed to this eating habit of bread and fast food, but Chinese people will get tired of it after eating it for a long time. But in fact, I didn’t know how to do anything when I first came here. There may not be many people in today’s only-child families who know how to work, but here I can be forced to practice it in less than four or five days. After all, The feeling of being hungry is unpleasant.
If you don’t come to the UK to study language through an agency, there are generally very few people who stay with host families. In the UK, you can choose to live in a school apartment or a shared house. School apartments in the UK are very popular, so you need to apply in advance, and if you live in a school apartment in the first year, it will be difficult to apply for it in the second year. Generally speaking, the advantages of living in a school apartment are that it is safe, reliable, and convenient. You can effectively use school resources, such as the library, and you can also easily join various clubs and make many friends. Renting a house outside can give you a deeper understanding of the hard work of living at home. If the people you share a house with are difficult to get along with, it will be troublesome because it involves many problems, such as paying rent, utility bills, and renting a house outside. Always take care of each other. If you live in a school apartment, these problems will not be a serious problem. In the UK, it generally costs 40 to 50 pounds per week to live in a school apartment, and the rent for a house costs more than 20 pounds per week. Plus water, electricity, various Internet fees, etc., the cost is less than 30 pounds. In larger cities, The cost of housing will be higher. Whether it is a school apartment or a rented house, beds, desks, cabinets, etc. will be provided in individual bedrooms. There should also be shared kitchens, toilets, bathrooms, and washing machines. British people are very particular about the kitchen, so the kitchen will have microwaves, ovens, electric stoves, refrigerators, dining tables, etc.
British supermarkets provide a variety of daily necessities, and you can often find "one pound shops". The so-called "one pound shops" mean that everything in the store is one pound. Of course, there are more than It's a pound thing, but the price will be clearly marked. In fact, life in the UK is like this. If your living standard is not high, you can find cheap things. If you are a rich person, there will be many exquisite things available to you. The gap between the rich and the poor in the UK is very big. It is said that in the UK The gap between rich and poor during Christmas reaches 20,000 pounds (the British celebrate Christmas very grandly, just like the Chinese celebrate the New Year). Walking on the streets of Britain, you can often see the children around some adults dressed like little emperors or princesses. They will go to various high-end occasions under the leadership of their parents.
If the place you frequently go to is far from home and you need to take a bus, the best way to save money is to buy a monthly or weekly pass. Most people's means of transportation in London are the subway, because London's subway is relatively developed. The weekly ticket that can pass through London 1, 2, and 3 zones is about 12 pounds. If you want to go to 4, 5, and 6 zones, the fare is even more. More expensive. In other cities, taking a bus will cost 1-2 pounds per one-way trip.
Study in the UK
In fact, British courses are not difficult for domestic students, and the class hours are very few. Compared with students from other countries, British students are much happier. In universities, there is often a large class first, and then a small class with more than a dozen people for discussion. Therefore, the knowledge learned can be digested generally in class. But for international students, you are not so lucky. If your English is very good, it will be easy, but if your English is not good, you will have to endure the hardship. Because of the language, it takes you five, six or even ten times the time it takes others to read a page of a book. If you learn more professional knowledge, there will be a lot of professional terms, so you need to look up many words. Before the exam, you have to memorize a lot of words and passages. Because in addition to the usual essay writing, British exams also have a fixed exam time. During the exam, only big questions are usually asked, and the answers to three big questions are answered within two hours. If you are studying liberal arts , each big question requires more than a thousand words. Just imagine, if you were asked to write in Chinese, you would frown, let alone in English.
But this may be much easier for British students.
Britain is not a paradise
The welfare benefits in the UK are very good. The government provides subsidies to the poor every year. The government gives beggars a subsidy of 10,000 pounds every year. Everyone here is a beggar. Have a professional certificate. You will find that no one here has the right to look down on anyone. Everyone is equal, regardless of wealth or career level. There are various intermediaries in the UK to serve you, and most of them are free and have very good service attitudes. For example, for housing agencies and job introductions, every large workplace has a reception desk. You can ask them various related questions and she will try her best to help you solve them.
But in fact, it is not easy to survive as a Chinese in the UK. You will find a lot of so-called discrimination. When you work, you will have a lot of heavy and tiring work to do; when you visit famous brand stores, the waiters will not take the initiative to serve you because they think you cannot afford it; when you go to work Sometimes you will find that the living expenses you work hard to earn are just their pocket money in the eyes of the British; if you are a girl walking on the dark street after nine o'clock in the evening or earlier, someone will ask you what to do. Not doing business...
When we got off the plane on the first day, some classmates were splashed with water; and when I was working at McDonald's, people would often ask me, are you Chinese? Guangzhou Hong Kong people, or Taiwanese? Because Chinese people who come from Guangzhou always think of themselves as "high-class Cantonese", they are usually not united and often tell foreigners what is wrong with the Chinese, and what is even more disgusting is in bars, (British people There are usually two topics talked about in the bar, one is football and the other is sex, and the bar is a normal place for them to socialize.) They will often mention to the British how "cheap" Chinese women are. I remember one time when I was working at McDonald's, I was chatting with an Englishman. He said to me, it's not easy for you to find a job, you know? There are many girls like you who just arrived in a country and couldn't find a job, so they all went to hotels... He said, you know what I mean, right? I think as a Chinese, no matter what bad things happen among Chinese people, they should not tell foreigners, let alone laugh at them.
If you are a British person, you should feel happy to live in a country with good welfare benefits, high living standards, and where you can look at people of other races from top to bottom. And if you are a Chinese, you should do something to safeguard your own personality and the country's national character.
Britain is not a paradise (for the Chinese)! ! !
There are things we can imagine in the letter...such as a good environment, excellent learning places, high-end urban construction, etc. Everything still has the conditions that we students at home can long for, but it also has a dark side and a chilling side that we can’t imagine. I can't help but sweat for the young people studying abroad, and silently pray and bless them for their promising and complicated path to study.