江苏留学网

A girl with a dream.

As Kylie was walking along the Nanjing Yangtze river bridge, her mind wandered off to her first days in China. When she didn’t understand a single Chinese word, had only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, when her whole existence was a series of guesses.  

But unfamiliarity was something she was used to. She never had a family growing up, she was an orphan, who lived in an orphanage since she could remember. She literally nothing or nobody of her own, but a will to make her future bright, to find a place she can call home. So, she worked really hard for her education, and got a scholarship to come to china to study her favorite subject, History.

She came to China as an inexperienced 18year old. With her lifetime dream of becoming a historian in one hand and challenges of adapting to a completely different culture on the other hand. She knew it wasn’t an easy equilibrium to maintain, but she also knew that ‘if there’s a will, there’s a way’.

A lot has changed since then, four years went by in a blink of an eye. Four years in a foreign land, yet it didn’t feel foreign anymore. Why?  Maybe it was mainly because of 李天歌. As the October chill seeped through her jacket, she felt his warm arm encapsulating her, trying to cover her from cold wind.

She met him on a snowy evening in exam month in her freshman year. She was glued to her seat in library, trying hard to memorize complex Chinese characters. She was almost about to give up, when she heard a deep voice whispering in her ear.

“need any help?”

She looked up to see the source of the voice. For the first time, a land of complete strangers, she felt warm and familiar, like she knew him for a long time. She wasn’t a naïve girl who believed in love at first sight. But him, God, she didn’t know what happened when she looked into her eyes.

“um…” was the only thing she could mutter.

He looked at the paper she was scribbling Chinese characters.

“you know, every Chinese character has a meaning, remember that, and then you can write anything easily” he whispered, she looked at him confusedly. He smiled calmly.

“let me show you”

he said and wrote 火, the character for fire.

“see, doesn’t this look like fire?”

She nodded to say yes.

“every character is like this, I can help you, if you want”

“absolutely, thank you so much”

She said, her eyes beaming with gratitude.

And that was the first of many evenings spent together. Somedays, buried in piles of books. Somedays, in secluded corners of the campus, under blooming plum blossoms, where they would talk for hours and hours. On weekends he took her out to see the most beautiful places in Jiangsu. Being native, he knew the best about Jiangsu. He took her to meet his family in Wuxi, who took her in as one of their own. They saw the fireworks by lake Tai on mid-autumn day, saw Kanqu opera, ate the delicious Weiyang cuisine. And she remembered how he first confessed his love to her, in one spring evening in a beautiful Suzhou garden.

A lot has changed, even for the four years she had been here. There are more and more developmental projects, better transportation systems, higher quality infrastructure, that increases the grandeur and majesty of the city. But majesty is inseparable from Jiangsu. Being the capital for many ancient dynasties, Jiangsu had always been a symbol of brilliance. Maybe the mighty Yangtze river could still remember the 5000-year-old civilization as it flows now, witnessing the enormous skyscrapers on its either sides.

“we should go, you’ve to prepare for tomorrow” he said, bringing her back to the present.

Yes, tomorrow was a very special day. It was her graduation day. Tomorrow is the day she had worked so hard for, for many years.

She came to China with nothing but a dream, a dream that nourished her, encouraged her, a dream that finally came true. Not only did she realize her professional dream, but also found a place to call home. She found amazing friends here, great teachers and a person whom she fell irreversibly in love with.  This was the place that nourished her, the place she found amazing friends and fell in love. Every second spent here paved her way into realizing her dream, and now it was done, her dream had come true.