Amirah Ahmad

I woke up on Saturday morning excited, ready to go.“College will be fun,” I thought to myself. I was fine up until the point I saw my entire life stored in the back of our Subaru1. Subaru: 斯巴魯，日本汽車品牌。. As I placed my stuffed animal on top of my suitcases I broke down in tears.2. stuffed animal: 毛絨玩具；break down: 控制不住感情，失聲痛哭。I drew back the stuffed animal dog that I had cuddled with for 10 years and clutched it as my tears rolled onto the fur I used to pretend to pet.3. cuddle: 舒服地貼著睡；clutch: 抓住，緊握；pet: v. 愛撫。After a couple minutes of sobbing by the car, I composed myself,4. sob: 啜泣，嗚咽；compose: 使平靜。promising myself I would maintain my emotions when saying goodbye to my family members. However, I completely fell back on that promise5. fall back on promise: 食言。when the time came. I sobbed in my sister-in-law’s arms as we held each other tight before we parted. Next came my brothers who, of course, didn’t know how to handle a sobbing sister.

離家總是悲傷的，而悲傷卻是短暫的。大學(xué)校園、宿舍、公開課、社團、舞會，還有一只愛蹭課的大白貓……大學(xué)會給你許多未曾體驗過的第一次。一切都是新奇有趣的，而這只是剛剛開始。謹以此篇獻給初入大學(xué)校園的你。

I saved the worst goodbye for last.

I looked over into my dog’s eyes and the sadness they mirrored outweighed my own.6. 我注視著小狗的眼睛，它眼中的憂傷尤甚于我自己眼中的。mirror: v. 反映，反射。Her droopy7. droopy: 下垂的，沒有精神的。, black eyes were painful to look at as I said my tearful goodbye. She was the only one I wouldn’t be able to talk to via text message, FaceTime, or phone call. I may sound completely ridiculous to the dog-less readers of mine, but those of us with a pup know what I’m talking about.8. ridiculous: 荒謬的；pup: 小狗。

As my father drove me down South (my mom was out of the country) to Charlottesville I began to feel the nerves.9. Charlottesville: 夏洛茨維爾，美國弗吉尼亞州中部的一個城市；nerves: 神經(jīng)緊張。The nerves for meeting my roommate, adjusting to college life, and settling into classes meshed into one enormous fear that somehow convinced a little part of me that I didn’t want to go.10. mesh: 使融為一體；convince:說服。When times like those do haunt11. haunt: 縈繞在心頭。you, however, it’s important to ignore them.Nonetheless, the ride was quiet since both my father and I knew the time was near. My life would change and so would his. Being the youngest in the family, my parents and siblings especially found it hard to fathom that I was indeed moving away.12. sibling: 兄弟姐妹；fathom: 理解。The circle of life hits hard when you see it before your eyes.13. 當(dāng)你親眼所見時，這種生命輪回令人如此傷感。

Once I arrived, however, everything seemed to fall in place.My roommate, who was already unpacking, greeted me with a warm welcome and we immediately clicked14. click: 這里指“一見面就很投緣”。. After decorating my dorm room, the prison-esque aura that emanated was fettered by my adornments and pictures of my smiling loved ones.15. 在布置完我的宿舍后，這里原本像監(jiān)獄一樣的（單調(diào)）氛圍已經(jīng)被我的裝飾品和照片徹底改變了，照片上是我所愛的人，他們都面帶微笑。-esque: ……特色的，……風(fēng)格的； aura: 氣氛；emanate: 散發(fā)； fetter: 束縛；adornment: 裝飾品。The idea of calling this place my home was no longer an alien16. alien: 陌生的。thought. I could do this.

After about two weeks of college life, I’m loving it. My classes are amazing primarily because the professors are so enthusiastic and interested in the material. The charisma they express drastically outshines my teachers from high school,17. charisma: 魅力；drastically: 顯著地；outshine: 勝過，使相形見絀。and most importantly inspires me to learn and to think for myself. Though the professors make the class worthwhile, the material we cover seems so relevant to today’s times. My Mass Media and American Politics course draws examples from newspaper articles either from the present or from a couple years ago. My microeconomics class consists of us learning the material by applying the lessons to real world issues.The simple applicable18. applicable: 可應(yīng)用的。nature of my class is what drives my interest.

As I walk around the campus, or Grounds as my fellow UVA students say, the idea of college hits home.19. UV A: University of Virgina, 弗吉尼亞大學(xué)；hit home: 擊中要害。Hordes of young people parading the campus make me realize I’m living in a small village.20. horde: 一大群；parade: 行走。There’s a magical feeling when walking through the architecturally profound buildings and passing through the silent, serene libraries chock full of students.21. architecturally: 建筑上的；profound: 深厚的，這里指“歷史悠久的”；serene: 平靜的；chock: v. 塞滿。

The community and the school spirit riles me up.22. rile up: 使心浮氣躁。This past weekend, actually, I went to my first football game. Our school’s tradition can be summarized by the motto, “Girls in pearls, guys in ties.23. 女孩戴珍珠，男孩打領(lǐng)帶?！?This essentially dictates the attire for most of our football games.24. dictate: 指定，強行規(guī)定；attire:服裝。After getting dressed up, we went to a tailgate with food like chips, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, chocolate chip cookies, and more.25. 在精心裝扮后，我們帶著薯條、熱狗、雞塊、巧克力曲奇等食品開始了車尾派對。dress up:盛裝打扮；tailgate: （汽車等的）后擋板，文中指車尾野餐派對，即用車箱后擋板充當(dāng)食品擺放臺或就餐臺的派對。Tailgates, an American tradition, typically take place before sporting events. People open their trunk and set up a table of food and drinks.People socialize as they eat and excite each other about the game that’s about to proceed26. proceed: 開始。.

Afterwards, a mob of students headed over to the stadium where we chanted,cheered, and rallied for the home team.27. a mob of: 一群；chant: 唱歌；rally: 集會；home team: 主場球隊。The crowd was ecstatic28. ecstatic: 狂喜的。.

Though American tradition thrives at most colleges here in the states, there are many international students that give their peers the pleasure to meet.29. thrive: 繁榮，興旺； peer:同輩人。One of the international students that live down the hall from me is originally Korean, yet she lived in Guatemala30. Guatemala: 危地馬拉（拉丁美州國家）。for the majority of her life. For this reason, she’s fluent in both Spanish and Korean. At college, she plans to learn Chinese. If she masters the language of Chinese, she will be fluent in four languages.

Another set of international students I met are from one of my classes. The first day of class, I sat down next to them. Whilst the class was eagerly chattering in English,31. whilst: 在……時； chatter:喋喋不休地說。I noticed the girls beside me were speaking in a tongue I instinctively didn’t recognize. After I heard another round of exchange between the two, I noticed their beautiful Spanish. When class was over I asked them where they were from, to which one girl replied Costa Rica32. Gosta Rica: 哥斯達黎加（拉丁美洲國家）。and the other said Mexico.

The funny thing about college is the con flict of emotions that stirs33. stir: 激起。inside of all us students. The fear of making friends yet the lonesomeness without them, and the excitement to stay at college but the homesickness that slowly starts to seep into you counteract each other.34. seep into: 影響到；counteract: 抵消，阻礙。I’m not entirely sure of what to think of college,but what’s important is that I’m happy. I’m happy to seek out opportunities, meet new people, and take chances that would not have been presented to me at home.Though I miss cuddling with my dog, baking with my sister-in-law, and the tender hug of my mother, I know that I’m doing what’s right for me.

College life is so busy, however, that I am preoccupied with35. be preoccupied with: 全神貫注于。the things in front of me instead of the things I’ve left at home.

But when I lay in my bed in my stuffy dorm room after hours of studying, I smile knowing that I have so much yet to experience .