[Vietnam] Nguyen Thi Ha, Guilin University of Technology

When I was in high school, I liked watching Chinese movies, but only the kind about youth stories. As I watched more and more, I don’t know when, I started to like everything in the movies. The handsome men and beautiful women, their voice and accent, their clothes, their stories in China, all deeply attracted me. So, the idea of going to study in China and to see if the real Chinese young people are the same as those in the movies was planted in my mind. Then I decided to talk to my parents about studying abroad.

In fact, my home is just a bridge away from China. China on our opposite side is so close to us that I couldn’t help wondering what on earth the world is like over there? Maybe my parents had long had the idea to go to the other side of the bridge and take a look, so hearing that I wanted to go to school in China, they agreed without hesitation. But they still worried about their girl’s safety in a foreign country. But seeing that I was determined, they chose to respect my decision.

Guilin thus entered my college life. The first time I came to the city, I was a little surprised, because it did not have the kind of lofty feeling as I saw in movies. The houses are not high, the streets are not spacious, and the people here live a very quiet life, not lively at all. Where is the youthful atmosphere seen in the movies? Instead, there are groups of middle-aged and old people dancing square dance everywhere. However, there is one thing that left me with enough reason to stay and pursue my studies, guess what?

In September, Guilin greeted me by not only the smiling faces of teachers and students of higher grades, but also the scent of flowers all over the campus! As someone who loves flowers most, I had never seen trees so full of small blooming flowers, golden, silver-yellow, orange-yellow, filling all air with their fragrance. I could not help but pick up a branch of flowers on the ground, whose pleasant smell entered straight into my stomach. The more you smelled, the more you wanted to smell.

The teacher told me that the flowers were edible. I tasted a small one, and it was a little bitter. The teacher said, slowly chew it in your mouth, and it will be sweet. I did as was told, and it was true. This turns out to be the legendary osmanthus, fragrant and beautiful. This is osmanthus, whose whole body is all treasures. This is osmanthus, which can be processed into a variety of special snacks. When I go back home in holiday, I will buy some osmanthus sugar and osmanthus cake for my younger brothers and sisters, some osmanthus tea and osmanthus wine for dad, and some osmanthus perfume for mom. As I am thinking, their happy and satisfied faces have surfaced in front of my eyes. So, I settled down in the city where “Guilin, Guilin, where osmanthus trees grow into forests; osmanthus, osmanthus, whose fragrance floats into all families”, preparing to study for a bachelor’s degree.

In my spare time, I, together with my friends, would take buses, have a bamboo raft ride, climb the mountains, play in the water, go hiking, etc. No matter where you go, you would see different mountains, and different mountains are also connected to different water. What is more magical is that each mountain has its own story. Every evening, when people stop working, they would enjoy the landscape, smell the flowers, exercise themselves, and softly narrate their different stories.

Though the city is small, it keeps up with the pace of modern development. Such new things as Taobao, mobile payment, shared bicycles and shared cars keep emerging. Although the streets are crowded with cars and people, once a pedestrian crosses the street, the drivers will immediately stop their cars and yield to the pedestrians. This small gesture of the drivers also left a deep impression on me! Unconsciously, I, who had loved the glamorous cities, gradually changed my ideas.

Later, no matter what difficulties I encountered, once I thought of the mountains, the water, the osmanthus flowers and the kind people there, nothing could stop me from going to study in Guilin. I will stay in this city and continue to work hard until I obtain the highest degree.