【生活】利物浦記事02 @ il Giardino Romantico

【中文在下面】

It's been a month already, since I departed from Taiwan. How do I like it here? I'm absolutely 'lovin' it'!

There have been occasions where I have been confronted by negative experiences, but they are way too trivial to affect my positive impression on living here. In general, making friends here takes a little more time than I had anticipated. However, I am in luck. Because I hate to admit this, but if you ain't downing that pint, you're going to have to try ten times harder to try and make friends, especially with the locals. Then, there is the language gap. I'm starting to understand why international students hang out in their own groups. Most of the East Asian students I've met have trouble with even the simplest daily conversations. It takes a real patient native speaker to converse with them, and even more patient to actually become best mates with them. As I said, I'm in luck. As long as you don't ask me to down shots, then I'm all in. As weird as this may sound to those of you who don't know me too well, I feel more comfortable hanging out with North Americans than British people, or even Asians.

England, or the UK rather, is the true origin of the 'gentlemen' culture. I do not recall one single occasion when boys back home would offer to buy everyone at the table a round of drinks, and not ask to be paid back. Similarly, I do not recall any occasion upon which a boy would offer his more comfortable seating for me while he sits at an uncomfortable corner. No, they do not all rise when a lady stands up. But, the common sense of holding the door for you, despite your gender, is certainly the kind of thing I really appreciate here.

Since you have already caught a glimpse of what food is like here, I won't elaborate on that here. However, I must take this opportunity to share with you my one month experience as a grad student. There are good and bad days. On the first tutorials, I always get extremely nervous, because I am not aware of what to expect, or rather what is expected of me. Literature tutorials are unlike other tutorials. ALL of our modules, with the exception of Research Skills, are seminars. Some tutors do not necessarily 'pick on you', but others enjoy hearing 'everyone's' voice. Despite the reading list, as if it wasn't long enough in the first place, we have to quickly learn to find access to all kinds of background readings, criticism and/or journals. Only today, have I begun to really engage in my 'study-mode'. Before this, I was only a part-time student and a part-time tourist. Shame on me, but can you really blame me?

Anyhow, as I said, there are good days and bad days. Sometimes I walk out of the tutorial feeling like a complete idiot, wondering why I had thrown away 5 years' saving just so I could torture myself. On other occasions, hopefully a lot more of these will come, I feel like I have shown them, meaning the tutor and my peers, that I have fulfilled what I had said I would do in my personal statement. Not that they had ever read it, but it just makes me feel better.

From the blog articles, it may seem that I am spending way too much time in pubs drinking beer and watching football. The truth is, that only occupies a minor portion of my days here. Take advantage of this opportunity to get to know Liverpool through me. As I have already been given an assignment, the frequency of posted articles will surely decrease.

一個月囉！

這一個月以來，雖然還是有遇到負面的經驗，但大致上來說我真的很喜歡這裡的生活。交朋友不容易，但也不難。很不想這麼說，但如果你不喝酒[一滴都不碰]的話，那你恐怕只能跟文化背景類似的亞洲人交朋友了。雖然我不是挺愛他們這裡的飲酒文化[瘋到不是喝啤酒，是喝小口杯的烈酒...]但我必須承認，喝啤酒真的讓我交到不少朋友。另外一點就是，我遇到的亞洲人[在這指東亞或東南亞]英文能力真的不是挺理想的。北美朋友跟英國朋友都跟我反應過，他們不是不想跟他們交朋友，而是語言真的有代溝。說到這我不得不佩服他們，念英語教學的也就算了，這層樓住了個越南女孩來這學法律。我和他的對話從來沒超越過：『今天好嗎？』『你有課嗎？』。我真的很佩服他的勇氣。也希望他能夠順利完成學業。因為雖然不太能溝通，但我感覺的出來他是個好人。

『某人』想知道這裡的男生如何？怎麼說呢？北美來的就姑且不談。可能大家比較熟悉。不過英國是『紳士』出產地。記得那天我帶了£10進pub。結果那£10原封不動的跟我回家。原因是，有人要點酒，一定會問同桌的有沒有人需要。但他們從不會叫你掏錢出來還他們。[有朝一日也會輪到我...orz]這裡的男生也會很體貼的把自己比較舒暢的位子讓給女生。自己去做不舒服的小角落。雖然上述情形都是第一次見面的男生，但已經讓我很大開眼界了。不過我有護身符，所以不用擔心會被電到。[這部份英文沒有：除非是來自西班牙的那位出現在我眼前]話說回來，無論對方男生女生，扶著開著的門這種基本禮貌與常識，是我在台灣非常少見的。[男士女士都學學...]

食物的部份你們已經看到了。我就趁機分享一下這一個月的學生生活吧。

有時好、有時壞。剛開始每次上課都超級緊張。因為與其說不知道自己該期待什麼，不如說不知道教授對我有什麼期待。已經夠長的書單根本就還只是冰山一角。想要真正達到討論的目標，每一個作者、作品的背景介紹、評論、或是相關的週報都要啃！因為文學MA跟其他MA不一樣，我們只有一堂『研究課』是不太需要動腦筋的。其他的，你最好是每一堂課都要做好一定要開口講話的心裡準備。教授們不一定每個人都會一個一個點名。但也有些喜歡聽到每一個人的聲音的教授。所以有時課堂結束後，我整個人就變得好沮喪。不知道自己幹麻花那麼多錢來活受罪。但有的時候又覺得，我真的有做到我personal statement裡說我會做到的。[據說大家都是亂寫，可是我是很認真的...]

或許有人認為我在這的生活都是去pub＋喝啤酒＋看球賽。你要從文章中評論我在這的生活，那當然會是這樣啊。我總不會每天都寫我看書唸書的文章吧？這樣會有人看嘛？你們應該趁機多看看我眼中的利物浦。因為，我已經拿到第一份『功課』的題目了。再過一陣子的發文率就不會像現在這麼頻繁了。