il Giardino Romantico

自從上完最後一堂課之後，除了偶爾在圖書館會巧遇班上同學之外，可以說是非常少機會可以跟同學們交流。所以當他們在約說要野餐時，我毫無猶豫的就答應了， 並且很期待再次跟同學們相聚。雖然只有我們三個人，而且其中一個還是修當代文學的，但是這次的野餐經驗真的很有趣。不過有趣的除了吃吃喝喝聊是非之外，其實還因為前後發生了一些小插曲，讓這次的經驗變得超級難忘！

Ever since our last tutorial, I rarely get an opportunity to hang out with my coursemates.  Therefore, when I heard about this picnic, I agreed to join them straight away.  Although there were only three of us in the end, and one of them is actually doing an MA in Contemporary Literature, this picnic experience had been extremely interesting.  Other than the food and the booze, it was also the little incidents that happened before and after the picnic that made it extra memorable!

大家是否還記得非洲音樂季一文曾提到的Sefton Park？聽到這次野餐地點就在這個公園時，因為自己知道這個公園在哪而興奮的不得了。另外兩位同學先約好在別處見面，一起去買喝的再同行到公園來。沒想到我太高估自己的實力了。走到公園已經花了上半小時了！因為公園在下去的地區我不熟悉，也不知道他們相約見面的地點到底在哪。而我又太有自信的半個地圖都沒帶，不敢走下去，就決定告訴他們說我要在公園等他們。搞了半天，告訴他們我等他們的地點附近有『噴水池』、『河流』跟一個『小木屋』，他們卻告訴我說『那些東西公園到處都是... 你到底在哪裡？』就這樣研究方向研究了一個小時後，才終於碰到面。問題其實出在我太高估自己的實力，也太低估這座公園的大小啦！

When I heard that the picnic was going to be at Sefton Park, I was really excited because I knew where it was.  I had been there with other friends for the African Music Festival.  The other two girls met elsewhere, and would come to the park together after getting their drinks.  I admit having overestimated myself.  It had already taken me more than half an hour's walk to get to the park!  I wasn't sure how much further I had to go on to walk to the place they were meeting, so I decided to wait for them in the park.  This was also the result of being too confident in myself to bring a map.  Well, I told them what was around me, so they could hopefully find me, but it turned out that the fountain, the stream, and the grotto, were all ubiquitous in various parts of the park.  After a whole hour of trying to figure out where we were, we finally managed to find each other! The problem was obviously in my overestimation of my navigation skills, and my underestimation of the size of the park!

接著，我們就找了個空地坐下來把帶來的食物打開來準備來野餐！

Once we had met, we found a suitable spot and dug into our food!




E美女準備了義大利麵跟洋芋片。S美女準備了鮪魚三明治跟巧克力蛋糕。而我準備的是Gouda起司跟葡萄。當然，因為義大利麵跟鮪魚三明治我都不吃，所以我就乖乖吃我的起司加餅乾還有葡萄。當然也嚐了S美女親手做的巧克力蛋糕囉！

There was pasta, crisps, tuna sandwiches, chocolate cake, gouda cheese, biscuits, and grapes.  Obviously I was not interested in the pasta and tuna sandwich, as they were not vegetarian, but I enjoyed my cheese and grapes.  And certainly enjoyed the chocolate cake baked by my mate.



我們原本相約六點見面。到了我們碰面已經是七點多了。天還是這麼的亮。不過吃到快到十點的時候，天色漸漸的暗下來，我們就決定收拾東西準備來回家。到了公園門口宣佈散會後，S美女跟著住公園附近的E美女去公車站等車。而我一個人又很有自信的跟他們說：我知道回家的路！沒想到天色一暗，整個路跟白天見到的景象相差那麼大！回家的路上我三番兩次覺得自己一定迷路了！不過主要會有這樣的感覺的原因是因為上次同行的人一大批人，走的是小路。而這次只有我一人，所以堅持一定要走大馬路。過了半小時後，我終於看到離我家很近的那座大教堂！也就放心的朝著他的方向加快腳步的平安到家囉！

It was six o'clock when we originally planned to meet.  When we finally found each other and started the picnic, it was already seven.  However, it was still light out.  As time flew by, and we realised that it was almost ten, we decided to call it a night and pack up then head home.  The other two girls went off another direction, and I was on my own.  I told them confidently, once again, that I knew the way home.  What I did not realise, was the fact that the streets looked significantly different than they did during the day!  Plus, the last time I walked home from the park, I was with others.  So it had been alright to cut through little alleys and stuff.  Since I was on my own, I insisted walking on the main road, where I can see cars, and cars can see me, in case anything should happen.  But because of this, there were several times when I thought that I had definitely lost my way!  After about half an hour, I finally caught sight of the big cathedral by my residence, let out a big sigh of relief, and hurried home.

讓Google 告訴你這個公園有多大：
Google Maps will show you how massive this park is:

檢視較大的地圖


最後，獻給大家這張有經過某美女同意才刊登出來的正妹照。
Last, but certainly not least, is this picture of my beautiful mate, which she had so kindly approved for me to include in this blog entry.

天仙念：在這次野餐中，所聊到的話題，讓我對自己的論文更有頭緒也更有目標了呢。別看他們年齡都比我小很多。再怎麼說，native speaker對自己的文學所看到的角度會跟我們『外國人』看的角度不一樣。所以每一次的交流收穫都非常的大呢。