Tears,the Butter flies

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: 斯巴鲁，日本汽车品牌。. As I placed my stuffed animal on top of my suitcases I broke down in tears.2. stuffed animal: 毛绒玩具；break down: 控制不住感情，失声痛哭。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: 舒服地贴着睡；clutch: 抓住，紧握；pet: v. 爱抚。After a couple minutes of sobbing by the car, I composed myself,4. sob: 啜泣，呜咽；compose: 使平静。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.

离家总是悲伤的，而悲伤却是短暂的。大学校园、宿舍、公开课、社团、舞会，还有一只爱蹭课的大白猫……大学会给你许多未曾体验过的第一次。一切都是新奇有趣的，而这只是刚刚开始。谨以此篇献给初入大学校园的你。

I saved the worst goodbye for last.

I looked over into my dog’s eyes and the sadness they mirrored outweighed my own.6. 我注视着小狗的眼睛，它眼中的忧伤尤甚于我自己眼中的。mirror: v. 反映，反射。Her droopy7. droopy: 下垂的，没有精神的。, 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: 荒谬的；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: 夏洛茨维尔，美国弗吉尼亚州中部的一个城市；nerves: 神经紧张。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: 使融为一体；convince:说服。When times like those do haunt11. haunt: 萦绕在心头。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. 当你亲眼所见时，这种生命轮回令人如此伤感。

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: 这里指“一见面就很投缘”。. 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，这里原本像监狱一样的（单调）氛围已经被我的装饰品和照片彻底改变了，照片上是我所爱的人，他们都面带微笑。-esque: ……特色的，……风格的； aura: 气氛；emanate: 散发； fetter: 束缚；adornment: 装饰品。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: 显著地；outshine: 胜过，使相形见绌。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: 可应用的。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, 弗吉尼亚大学；hit home: 击中要害。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，这里指“历史悠久的”；serene: 平静的；chock: v. 塞满。

The community and the school spirit riles me up.22. rile up: 使心浮气躁。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，男孩打领带。” This essentially dictates the attire for most of our football games.24. dictate: 指定，强行规定；attire:服装。After getting dressed up, we went to a tailgate with food like chips, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, chocolate chip cookies, and more.25. 在精心装扮后，我们带着薯条、热狗、鸡块、巧克力曲奇等食品开始了车尾派对。dress up:盛装打扮；tailgate: （汽车等的）后挡板，文中指车尾野餐派对，即用车箱后挡板充当食品摆放台或就餐台的派对。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: 开始。.

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: 集会；home team: 主场球队。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: 繁荣，兴旺； peer:同辈人。One of the international students that live down the hall from me is originally Korean, yet she lived in Guatemala30. Guatemala: 危地马拉（拉丁美州国家）。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……时； chatter:喋喋不休地说。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: 哥斯达黎加（拉丁美洲国家）。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: 影响到；counteract: 抵消，阻碍。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: 全神贯注于。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 .