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.

美丽的海滩，迷人的夜生活，這些都是当曼迪莎·哈尔霍夫得知自己被佛罗里达大学录取后所想象的场景。

她对迈阿密满怀憧憬。

但是哈尔霍夫很快意识到佛罗里达大学其实位于盖恩斯维尔市。盖恩斯维尔是一座拥有128，000人口的城市，坐落在佛罗里达州的北部，离迈阿密有近5个小时的车程。

盖恩维尔也没有海滩，只有满是鳄鱼的沼泽。

不是迈阿密

哈尔霍夫来自南非的伊丽莎白港。她申请了美国几个大学英语专业的博士学位。

2012年佛罗里达大学邀请哈尔霍夫入校就读。该校建于1854年，是世界顶级公立研究型大学，有近5万名学生，其中包括6千名国际生。

美国政府给予哈尔霍夫富布赖特奖学金资助她在校的前两年。

哈尔霍夫很高兴能来美国求学，追求自己的梦想。但是当她到达盖恩斯维尔时，她感到很沮丧。她不知道自己是否会喜欢住在这个佛罗里达州的小城市里。开始的那些天哈尔霍夫过得比较艰难。她说她想念家人和家乡的食物。

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，哈爾霍夫喜欢上了盖恩斯维尔。她喜欢这个城市的一片绿，她喜欢可以到处骑自行车。之后，她也学会了“短吻鳄精神”。

“因此我成了短吻鳄精神的拥护者，并且那样使我更容易融入学校的精神……你会发现我在体育馆发出了真正的尖叫声。”

短吻鳄精神

几乎每所美国的大学都有自己的象征物或标志物。象征物通常是动物，被称为吉祥物。吉祥物的目的是让学生觉得自己是学校这个集体的一份子。

佛罗里达大学的吉祥物是短吻鳄。在盖恩斯维尔到处可见短吻鳄，甚至在大学校园里短吻鳄也非常常见。

吉祥物短吻鳄代表着佛罗里达大学的运动项目。学校有很多体育团队，但是目前为止美式足球队是最受欢迎的，足球馆可容纳将近9万人。

从德国到盖恩斯维尔

宝拉·若斯切尔是佛罗里达大学的另一个国际生，她来自德国的布特斯塔迪。2012年，她作为本科生来到盖恩斯维尔。

若斯切尔起初很努力地去适应新的文化。她说美国学生与陌生人分享他们的感受和观点的情况要多于德国人。她还表示她得学会更开放些。

若斯切尔也不得不去适应外语。她说她只是准备在一所讲英语的大学取得大学文凭。

在高中，若斯切尔专攻国际学士学位，或IB项目。IB是一个国际组织，和传统教学相比，它更倾向于教用不同的更具挑战性的方法来解决国际问题。

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，报道称，截至2016年2月份，该组织在全世界已经拥有5500个项目。

IB项目可以帮助高中生为上大学做准备。学生也可以将IB的课程作为他们学位的学分。

若斯切尔表示她完成了IB项目且有很强的英语能力，可是当她来到佛罗里达大学时她发现那些技能还不够好。她说用英语做任何事情都很困难，即使对于做好充分准备的学生来说也一样困难。

“我想会有这样的期待，就是如果你在家乡的学校很擅长英语写作和阅读，你会觉得自己在这里也会做得非常好。然而，当然，你不得不说英语的时候，这对大多数国际生来说是一个很大的挑战……”

若斯切尔现在可以像本地人一样说英语。近来，她面临的主要挑战是佛罗里达湿热的天气。

学术生活

若切斯尔早期的困难并没有阻止她充分利用在佛罗里达大学的机会。

若切斯尔选择了两个本科专业：一个是可持续性研究，另一个是地理。她还选择了阿拉伯语作为副修科目。从11岁起她就开始学习阿拉伯语。

若切斯尔表示，德国的大学生通常用不到四年的时间取得一个本科学位。她还有高中时参加IB项目得到的额外的学分。因此她觉得她可以在她所拥有的有限时间里学得更多。

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.

课外生活

若切斯尔还充分利用了课外时间。她对于难民事宜非常感兴趣。

哈尔霍夫的课外生活也过得有声有色。她说，她一直就喜欢表演、唱歌和跳舞，因此她加入了一家名为演员仓库的本地剧院公司。她因参演戏剧“Tshepang”已经赢得了许多奖项。

哈尔霍夫分别在2015年的佛罗里达戏剧大会和2016年东南戏剧大会上荣获社区戏剧最佳女演员奖。

展望未来

哈尔霍夫仍然想念南非并打算完成博士学位后返回南非。但是她表示对于感到孤独的人来说结交美国朋友和国际朋友是最好的选择。

现在，当她带着从朋友和学习中获得的一切回家的时候，她会很多东西可以和大家分享。

Notes：

1. gator n. 短吻鳄

2. glamorous adj. 迷人的，富有魅力的

3. swamp n. 沼泽；湿地

4. alligator n. 产于美洲的鳄鱼， 短吻鳄

5. mascot n. 福神； 吉祥的东西

6. baccalaureate n. 学士学位

7. sustainability n. 持续性，可持续性