ㄚ˙一ㄚˋ Life is a journey, not a destination!

美國當地時間: 2009.8.26
在離開飯店，踏上接駁巴士的前一刻，我和要飛往 LA 的其他人都很感傷
就在我們待在大廳沒多久的時間，我們必須比日本人先一步離開飯店－
離別前，哭的哭，擁抱的擁抱
昨天已經流完的眼淚，不知不覺又潰堤
在擁抱的那一瞬間，還不覺得這是最後了!
但是...等到真的拉著行李，走出飯店門口的那片地毯，才會意到...  我們真的要跟他們離開~
我和其他人一樣，在踏出飯店門口的前一刻，又轉身跑去再抱日本人一次- 特別是我的室友-
之後我們十幾個台灣人，依依不捨的坐上接駁的shuttle，然後從窗外看著她們向我們說再見，其中幾個人還從飯店裡跑出來，追著shuttle跑- 
簡直就跟電影上演的一模一樣，又哭得更凶了!  說真的~ 很感動!  就連現在，敘述這些事情的時候，心裡還是會有溫暖的感覺- 那時候的不捨- 下意識地抽噎-
這種感情...  應該是種「革命情感」吧?!  因為我們相處的時間不長，但是當時的感情卻很深- 

這是我們離開SF前照的照片-
當我們坐上飛機，前往LA時，我也有偷哭，結果被空服員發現，還好心地問說：你還好嗎? 需不需要喝杯水-
害我很尷尬地跟她道謝說不用了!

話說回來，我的故事還沒講完呢！
還記得那時還在Stanford，知道要去海灘玩的前一晚...
女生到處在串門子，討論隔天要穿什麼到海灘的時候
有人說要穿 bikini 在裡面，外面套著Stanford的大學服-
一聽到時候有點不安，因為本人沒有 bikini 這種玩意兒，就算有也不可能穿出去見人
所以後來就跟她們說我沒有，結果 Sharon 很好心地說，沒關係她有兩套，一件可以借我
噢... 晴天霹靂...  之後你就可以看到一群女生，穿著 BIKINI 在宿舍的走廊上跑來跑去，然後在房間內展示她們傲人身材...
看著看著我都不知不覺地低下頭，搖搖頭，唉聲嘆氣，一直說 かわいそうだ

到了隔天早上，我們先到有機農場了解那家農場的運作方式以及相關訊息，吃吃看有機水果，香草之類的
一直到下午，坐著 Ben 和他弟弟開的 Van，到了海邊
海灘的細沙比我想像的還要細還要柔，還有許多海鳥在海灘不高的上空盤旋翱翔，很多人躺在沙灘上作日光浴

因為我事先沒有把泳衣穿在裡面，想說到時海灘應該有更衣室可以讓我們更換
沒想到...  蝦米! 沒有!  OMG!

     In this summer, I’m lucky enough to join this program. At first, I didn’t expect to get the useful things during this trip. I just think that maybe I could improve my communication skill through AUSL. I didn’t have the hope that I can get some intimate friends in this program. After all, it’s too short for making good friends within one month. However, things happened out of my anticipation.

     When the first time I saw the information about this program, I was attracted by the fame of Stanford University. It is written that we can have the chance to live the dormitory of Stanford and we also get the opportunity to meet the students from Stanford. I was glad to receive the mail and get to know this program. Then, as I started to fill out the application and answered the questions which the program required knowing, I was confused and scared. Because this program is more about service such as serving people, and I’m not sure whether this is the best decision for me to make or not. Next, I just think that if I can pass through the interview, then I’ll go. The interview was holding very smoothly, and I got passed.

     And then, when I got home, I told my mom this good news and she’s really happy for me. But things didn’t go successfully as I had imagined. When my mom knew how much this program is going to cost, she’s surprised. After that, she kept asking me that why I want to spend so much money to do the service abroad. And I stood still; I can’t say anything when she asked me this question. I didn’t have the good reason to answer her back, because I just chose this program out of my psychology of trying. I was curious about this program. And I had never done these things before like serving people neither environment. I just want to experience some new things. And I try to tell my mom about what I was thinking, but it seems that she didn’t get it at that time. Anyway, she just let me go at the end.

     Actually, before we headed for the U.S., we had several pre-program activities and an orientation. Those are good opportunities for us to get to know each other including coordinator. At first, I was really worried about making friends. I’m not the kind of person who is good at socializing. Nevertheless, through these activities, we could know other participants roughly. We could also have some conversation with each other. That’s a good way to make us closer before we went abroad. During the pre-program activities, we could have not only chances to talk to other people, but also some common knowledge about what we’re going to do in the research. In addition, before we went to the U.S., we also had to do some assignments which helped us to realize this program much quicker. Via the assignments, we learned about some environmental issues and the teamwork among the group members. That’s one of important things I have learned from AUSL.

     As soon as we arrived at San Francisco airport, there are lots of people standing out of the custom. And there are some people who stood among the crowd are waiting for us. In fact, I was quite touched at that time. Because I had never experienced that someone is waiting for me when I got off the flight. It’s kind of amazing experience. I was nervous when I got on the bus which left for Stanford. It’s a big challenge for me, because I had never lived in the foreign dormitory and I had never stayed with people whom are not acquainted with over a month. Then, when we reached the dorm of Stanford, we all felt excited and curious about who was about to be our roommates. Later, as I saw my roommates, I was really glad to meet her. She’s pretty and vigorous. The first thing she did is giving me a bag of souvenir which is come from Japan. I was happy to receive the present from her. By the way, it’s at night while we arrived. I couldn’t sleep at the first day night. It could be the reason of jet lag. I don’t know. I just can’t get used to the new environment so quickly.

     The next day, we went out to have a tour of Stanford’s Y2E2 building. The building was constructed by the idea of caring the environment. They used several panels which could save the solar power energy and changed it into electricity as the roof materials. The students in Stanford helped us to find a professor and asked her to make some introduction for this building. Things I just wrote above are not the only thing she told us. She also pointed some area to show us the main idea about the designer of this building. Such as, they made a hole to set the glass on the ceiling so that they don’t have to turn on the light to brighten the indoor circumstances.

在第二個星期的Free day，我們去了教堂做禮拜
做禮拜的同時，還不忘為老大謀福利；繼續"隨便亂拍"看看能不能幫老大拍下些甚麼阿多仔的照片
已經盡力了...  

這次去那兒，老大想要的沒拍到，小孩倒是拍了一大多
外國的小孩都金髮碧眼像洋娃娃一樣，可愛極了!  真的很想帶一個回家照顧-
欸-  老大，萬一以後生了個金髮碧眼的小孩，大可不必花錢請褓姆，本人可以幫你照顧，而且還是for free! 只要你家小朋友叫我聲乾媽就好! 哈哈-  ㄕㄚ ㄇㄧˋ ㄕㄨˇ給你!~

這是在Gay street其中一家店看到的水晶球，很特別-  裡面的主角是同性別，回家應該找不到吧?! 總之- 很酷就是了~
 

猜猜- 這一坨坨肥滋滋的東西是甚麼?                                                                                                       答案是海豹
遠看還以為是一群會叫的海膽在甲板上曬太陽-     顏色真的像極了

說真的! 一個月說長不長-  說短不短- 中間發生很多事，所以用看圖書說故事的方式好了!

到美國的第一個Free day，選擇到AT&T park看棒球
因為另一個選擇是去遊樂園坐雲霄飛車，you know! I'm chicken- 不想去那讓機器玩自己，所以就去看棒球
第一次去看棒球，這棒球場好大，但也很熱，只有一小部分是有遮蔽物
之所以拍這張是老大要我拍帥哥，我又不好意思一直找像花癡-
想說這樣亂照會不會無意間拍到老大想要的人!  但結果好像沒有吼! 哈

棒球看完後，許多海鷗在棒球場地周圍飛舞...    就因為這麼多的海鷗...
肩膀上接到海鷗送的幸運物，pupu

接著在第二個Free day的時候，我們同樣到這個地方，然後在我們身後的大斜坡，玩起滾草地的活動...
滾完的結果是... 我的手碰到了小狗的pupu，另外一個日本女生也沾到了一點...

好像很久很久沒有打文章，詞窮不知道該打甚麼
這個暑假說長不長...　很多想要做的事情都沒有做到－
像是打工、學開車、找老朋友出來、還有去花蓮... 
不過，幸運的是，真的出國了!  這種事就好像簽彩券中頭獎一樣難得-
雖說中間陸陸續續發生很多事情，但最後依舊去成了! 很歡喜

但是這次出國跟之前出國的目的不太一樣，參加的這個program的目的地是－服務!
或許很多人都覺得這不是個明智的選擇，不過，我不這麼覺得...   一時說不上來

雖說我待的組別所要服務的對象是環境，但還是學到很多在台灣學不到的知識－
像是介紹建築物的建構理念，怎麼樣有效利用再生能源，會有專門的instructor替我們介紹講解，好讓我們有更深一層的認識

老實說，一開始會被這個program吸引，是因為Stanford的名號