个人简介：

Name :  Camila

姓名：方若情

Country of Origin :  Ecuador

国籍：厄瓜多尔

Occupation : Student

职业：学生

Years in China : 2 years

在华居住时间：2年

Two and a half years before, I wasn’t expecting to come to China and live all the experiences that I am living now. Exactly two years ago, I was in a 30-hour flight coming to China, not even knowing what challenges I was going to face. It all started when graduating from high school. I was looking for a good university to study when I found about the Chinese government scholarships. I applied and as soon as I got accepted, I had to travel to China to study a one-year Chinese language course in Xiamen’s Huaqiao University.

两年半之前，我并没有想到会来中国，过上现在的生活。两年前，我坐了 30 个小时的飞机来到中国，我甚至不知道将会面临什么样的挑战。我的中国故事从高中毕业时开始，当时我得知中国政府提供留学奖学金，所以我想找一所好的中国大学学习。于是我申请华侨大学的留学生，一被录取，我就前往中国，学习一年的中文课程。

It was my first time away from my family, but I can say that I also got another one here.  In my first year I met new friends from different countries. At first, we all communicated with each other in English or in Spanish with some of them, but as long as our Chinese classes started to pay off, we were able even to make jokes in Chinese! Achieving this in such short time was surprising for us! This time was full of new experiences from learning how to use chopsticks to traveling to different cities on our own.

这是我第一次离开家人，但我在这里也认识了新的“家人”。第一年，我遇到了来自不同国家的新朋友。起初，我们都是用英语交流，或者和一些人用西班牙语交流，但我们上过中文课后，甚至用中文开起玩笑了！在这么短的时间内就取得这般“成就”，着实令我们感到惊讶！这段时间充满了新奇的体验，我们学会了如何使用筷子，还到许多城市旅行。

Learning Chinese is not something easy, but when I noticed that it is more than just learning a language everything got easier. Studying in China is also about learning more about the Chinese culture and customs. After this first year of Chinese classes, and after passing my exams, I came to Xiamen University to study my major: Journalism and Communication specialized in the TV and Broadcasting field, and it is fascinating to learn about journalism from a Chinese perspective.

学习中文并不是一件容易的事，学习中文并不是仅仅学习语言本身，当我意识到这一点，学中文就变得简单许多。在中国学习也是为了更多地了解中国的文化和习俗。上完第一年的中文课并通过考试后，我来到了厦门大学学习广播电视新闻传播学，在中国学习新闻传播学真的很有趣。

Apart from my student life I really enjoy being in a city like Xiamen with its beautiful sunsets and beaches and its traditional food, as a fact, the must delicious thing that I have tried in China is its hotpot, I enjoy it every time and now I can’t live without it! Every day China surprises me with everything that its culture involves, every time, even if I just go for a walk, I can learn something new about China. I am glad to have the opportunity to be in China, meeting new people, learning about its culture, and feeling as safe as I feel even being 16.247,20 km away from home.

除了在这里学习，我非常喜欢住在像厦门这样的城市，这里有美丽的日落和海滩，还有传统的美食。事实上，火锅是来中国必须吃的东西，每次吃火锅都是一种享受，我已经离不开它了。中国各方面的文化每天都会给我带来惊喜，每次我去散步，都能学到关于中国的新知识。我很高兴有机会来到中国，认识新朋友，了解中国文化，即使离家16,247.20公里，我也感到相当安全。

Lastly, I would like to add a fun fact that I discovered when coming to China and knowing a little bit more Chinese, and it is that in Ecuador we have many Chinese restaurants with Chinese dishes made more in an Ecuadorian way, and the most famous one is called “Chulafán” which is basically fried rice, and now I know that its name comes from the Chinese characters 炒辣饭 (Chǎo là fàn), I bet most of Ecuadorians don’t know that.

最后，我想补充一个有趣的事实，这是我来到中国后发现的，也让我对中文有了更多的理解。在厄瓜多尔有很多中餐馆，但是里面的菜很多是以厄瓜多尔的方式制作的，最有名的菜叫 “Chulafán”，也就是炒饭，现在我知道它的名字来源于“炒辣饭”（Chǎo là fàn），我敢打赌大多数厄瓜多尔人不知道这个。

作者：方若情 翻译：潘泽彬

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