Do you want to survive or to thrive? This is the question I've been asking myself since I got there. Thanks to the exceptional opportunity provided by English college of Dalian University (DLU), I had a chance to explore Ningbo University (NBU), where I realized how negligible I am and how far away I am from my destination. In this report, I aim to present you with my learning experience in NBU and share with you my perceptions during that period of time.

  First of all, I'd like to talk about my fellow students in NBU. I have to admit that some of them really impressed me with their sophisticated English language proficiency，but most important of all, nearly all of them had a passion for improving their English skills in classes or in extracurricular activities. Some students' oral English was a little bit embarrassing, but they had no fear of speaking out. I did feel that they tried to seize every chance to make a response to the teacher's questions. I couldn't help drawing a comparison between students of NBU and students of DLU. I came to realize that we are in no respect inferior to them especially when it comes to oral English; however, what we lack are the passionate desire for improvement and the fearless spirit of standing up and speaking out. Some are afraid of making mistakes, they therefore don't even dare to take the first step. Seneca of Stoicism once said,” we suffer more often in imagination than in reality." Don't impose limits on yourselves just because of your "imagined" incapability.

  Some students in our college may consider that English major students have very little chance of finding a promising job, so they just resign themselves to the situation. In fact, that is not the case. Ningbo is a port city, famous for its exporting and importing business. Many foreign trade companies are anxious for recruiting outstanding foreign language talents. Some even directly contact the instructor of Foreign Languages College of NBU, begging for exceptional undergraduates and postgraduates with a promised 4500 RMB internship wage per month. With modern transportation, we have access to the workplace in South China. The problem is what superiority do we have to compete with indigenous English/Translation students? A TEM 4 certificate slightly over 60 marks? The reason why I mention that is that I want my fellow students in DLU to realize that there are many opportunities lying ahead of us but we have to strive for them.

  The answer to the above question is I don’t want to survive but to thrive. Although I've come back from NBU, I do know that students in there are still running toward their objectives at a prodigious speed. Some day we would step into the same arena. The first half of my junior year has elapsed and now, it's my "Carpe Diem" and I have to seize the day. Here the famous sentence of Robert Frost occurs to me:

  The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

  But I have promises to keep,

  And miles to go before I sleep.