李露

Beautiful beaches. Glamorous2 nightlife. These were the scenes Mandisa Haarhoff imagined when she learned the University of Florida had accepted her.

She was picturing Miami.

But Haarhoff quickly learned that the University of Florida is really in the city of Gainesville. Gainesville is a city of over 128，000 people in the northern part of Florida， an almost 5-hour drive from Miami.

Gainesville also has no beaches， only swamps3—filled with alligators4.

Not Miami

Haarhoff is originally from Port Elizabeth， South Africa. She applied to several schools across the U.S. to earn a doctorate， or PhD， in English studies.

In 2012， the University of Florida invited her to join their program. Founded in 1854， the school is a topranked public research university. It is home to nearly 50，000 students， about 6，000 of whom are international.

The U.S. government gave Haarhoff a Fulbright scholarship to pay for her first two years there.

Haarhoff was excited to study in the U.S. and pursue her dream. But she also felt sad when she arrived at Gainesville. She was not sure she would enjoy living in this small Florida city. Her first days were difficult. She says she missed her family and the food back home.

美麗的海灘，迷人的夜生活，這些都是當曼迪莎·哈爾霍夫得知自己被佛羅里達大學錄取后所想象的場景。

她對邁阿密滿懷憧憬。

但是哈爾霍夫很快意識到佛羅里達大學其實位于蓋恩斯維爾市。蓋恩斯維爾是一座擁有128，000人口的城市，坐落在佛羅里達州的北部，離邁阿密有近5個小時的車程。

蓋恩維爾也沒有海灘，只有滿是鱷魚的沼澤。

不是邁阿密

哈爾霍夫來自南非的伊麗莎白港。她申請了美國幾個大學英語專業(yè)的博士學位。

2012年佛羅里達大學邀請哈爾霍夫入校就讀。該校建于1854年，是世界頂級公立研究型大學，有近5萬名學生，其中包括6千名國際生。

美國政府給予哈爾霍夫富布賴特獎學金資助她在校的前兩年。

哈爾霍夫很高興能來美國求學，追求自己的夢想。但是當她到達蓋恩斯維爾時，她感到很沮喪。她不知道自己是否會喜歡住在這個佛羅里達州的小城市里。開始的那些天哈爾霍夫過得比較艱難。她說她想念家人和家鄉(xiāng)的食物。

But after a short time， she fell in love with Gainesville. She loved how green the city is. She enjoyed being able to ride her bike everywhere. And before long， she got into the “Gator Spirit”.

“So I was a big follower of the Gator Spirit and that was a great way to get me into school spirit... Youd find me in the stadium literally screaming.”

Gator spirit

Just about every college in the US has a symbol or image that represents the school. The symbol， usually an animal， is called the mascot5. The purpose of mascots is to make students feel like part of the school community.

The University of Floridas mascot is an alligator， or gator. Alligators can be found everywhere in Gainesville， even on the universitys campus！

The gator mascot represents the University of Floridas sports program. The university has many sports teams， but its American football team is by far the most popular. The football stadium holds nearly 90，000 people.

From Germany to Gainesville

Paula Roetscher is another foreign student at the University of Florida. She is from ， Germany. She came to Gainesville as an undergraduate student in 2012.

Roetscher struggled at first to adjust to a new culture. She says American students share their feelings and opinions with strangers much more than Germans do. She also says she had to learn to be more open-minded.

Roetscher also had to adjust to a foreign language. She says she was only somewhat prepared to study at the college level at an English-speaking university.

In high school， Roetscher studied at an International Baccalaureate6， or IB program. IB is an international organization that teaches international issues in different and more challenging ways than a traditional education does.

但是不久后，哈爾霍夫喜歡上了蓋恩斯維爾。她喜歡這個城市的一片綠，她喜歡可以到處騎自行車。之后，她也學會了“短吻鱷精神”。

“因此我成了短吻鱷精神的擁護者，并且那樣使我更容易融入學校的精神……你會發(fā)現(xiàn)我在體育館發(fā)出了真正的尖叫聲?！?/p>

短吻鱷精神

幾乎每所美國的大學都有自己的象征物或標志物。象征物通常是動物，被稱為吉祥物。吉祥物的目的是讓學生覺得自己是學校這個集體的一份子。

佛羅里達大學的吉祥物是短吻鱷。在蓋恩斯維爾到處可見短吻鱷，甚至在大學校園里短吻鱷也非常常見。

吉祥物短吻鱷代表著佛羅里達大學的運動項目。學校有很多體育團隊，但是目前為止美式足球隊是最受歡迎的，足球館可容納將近9萬人。

從德國到蓋恩斯維爾

寶拉·若斯切爾是佛羅里達大學的另一個國際生，她來自德國的布特斯塔迪。2012年，她作為本科生來到蓋恩斯維爾。

若斯切爾起初很努力地去適應新的文化。她說美國學生與陌生人分享他們的感受和觀點的情況要多于德國人。她還表示她得學會更開放些。

若斯切爾也不得不去適應外語。她說她只是準備在一所講英語的大學取得大學文憑。

在高中，若斯切爾專攻國際學士學位，或IB項目。IB是一個國際組織，和傳統(tǒng)教學相比，它更傾向于教用不同的更具挑戰(zhàn)性的方法來解決國際問題。

IB began in 1968 and reported having more 5，500 programs around the world in February 2016.

IB programs for high school students help prepare them for college. Students can also use IB classes as credit towards their degree.

Roetscher says she completed her IB program with strong English skills. But those skills were not good enough when she first arrived at the University of Florida. She says that doing everything in English is difficult， even for students who are well-prepared.

“One expectation， I think， is that if youre good at writing and reading English back home in school， you think youll do well here， too. But then， of course， you have to speak English and thats a big challenge for a lot of international students...”

Roetscher now speaks English like a native speaker. Her main challenge these days is the hot， humid weather in Florida.

Academic life

Her early difficulties did not stop Roetscher from taking full advantage of the academic opportunities at the University of Florida.

Roetscher chose to seek two undergraduate degrees： one in sustainability7 studies and another in geography. She also chose to seek a minor degree in the Arabic language. She has been studying Arabic since she was 11 years old.

Roetscher says university students in Germany usually complete an undergraduate degree in fewer than four years. She also had some extra credits from her high school IB program. Therefore， she felt she could do more with the time she had.

IB開始于1968年，報道稱，截至2016年2月份，該組織在全世界已經(jīng)擁有5500個項目。

IB項目可以幫助高中生為上大學做準備。學生也可以將IB的課程作為他們學位的學分。

若斯切爾表示她完成了IB項目且有很強的英語能力，可是當她來到佛羅里達大學時她發(fā)現(xiàn)那些技能還不夠好。她說用英語做任何事情都很困難，即使對于做好充分準備的學生來說也一樣困難。

“我想會有這樣的期待，就是如果你在家鄉(xiāng)的學校很擅長英語寫作和閱讀，你會覺得自己在這里也會做得非常好。然而，當然，你不得不說英語的時候，這對大多數(shù)國際生來說是一個很大的挑戰(zhàn)……”

若斯切爾現(xiàn)在可以像本地人一樣說英語。近來，她面臨的主要挑戰(zhàn)是佛羅里達濕熱的天氣。

學術生活

若切斯爾早期的困難并沒有阻止她充分利用在佛羅里達大學的機會。

若切斯爾選擇了兩個本科專業(yè)：一個是可持續(xù)性研究，另一個是地理。她還選擇了阿拉伯語作為副修科目。從11歲起她就開始學習阿拉伯語。

若切斯爾表示，德國的大學生通常用不到四年的時間取得一個本科學位。她還有高中時參加IB項目得到的額外的學分。因此她覺得她可以在她所擁有的有限時間里學得更多。

Outside the classroom

Roetscher is also taking advantage of opportunities outside the classroom. She has a special interest in refugees.

Haarhoff also succeeds outside the classroom. She says she has always been interested in acting， singing and dance. So she joined the Actors Warehouse， a local theater company. She has now won several awards for her part in the play called Tshepang.

Haarhoff won the award for “Best Actress for Community Theater” at the Florida Theatre Conference in 2015 and again at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in 2016.

Looking ahead

Haarhoff still misses South Africa and plans to return when she completes her PhD. But she says making American friends along with international friends is the best advice for someone feeling lonely.

Now， with everything she has learned from her friends and her studies， she has a lot to share when she gets home.

課外生活

若切斯爾還充分利用了課外時間。她對于難民事宜非常感興趣。

哈爾霍夫的課外生活也過得有聲有色。她說，她一直就喜歡表演、唱歌和跳舞，因此她加入了一家名為演員倉庫的本地劇院公司。她因參演戲劇“Tshepang”已經(jīng)贏得了許多獎項。

哈爾霍夫分別在2015年的佛羅里達戲劇大會和2016年東南戲劇大會上榮獲社區(qū)戲劇最佳女演員獎。

展望未來

哈爾霍夫仍然想念南非并打算完成博士學位后返回南非。但是她表示對于感到孤獨的人來說結交美國朋友和國際朋友是最好的選擇。

現(xiàn)在，當她帶著從朋友和學習中獲得的一切回家的時候，她會很多東西可以和大家分享。

Notes：

1. gator n. 短吻鱷

2. glamorous adj. 迷人的，富有魅力的

3. swamp n. 沼澤；濕地

4. alligator n. 產(chǎn)于美洲的鱷魚， 短吻鱷

5. mascot n. 福神； 吉祥的東西

6. baccalaureate n. 學士學位

7. sustainability n. 持續(xù)性，可持續(xù)性