Name: Lilit

Chinese name: 莉莉丝

Age: 21 years old

Russian student in China

Lilit，莉莉丝

年龄21岁

来自俄罗斯的留学生

China...for each person this word doesn’t mean the same: for some it might be a powerful country; a country where you can find good job, for some it is a country where millions of people are around you, it is a country of traditional Eastern culture and a country of many other things. For me China is a dream which is being realized in my life now. I have started to think about it about 3 years ago, when I first enrolled in "Oriental Studies" at Russian university. But I always thought that it was just an unrealizable dream. Nevertheless, all my diligence and effort were not in vain and fate decided to give me a good chance - an annual scholarship for studying in China! Therefore, this story is about how one Armenian girl from a small Russian town, which is located somewhere in the Black Sea coastline, came to another beautiful coastal city - Dalian.

中国...这个词汇对每个人来说都有着不同寻常的含义。有的人认为他是一个强大的国家；有的人认为在这里可以找到好的工作；还有人认为在这里会被数以万计的人群围绕；或是一个国家蕴含着传统的东方文化及许多其他事物存在的国家。对我来说，中国是一个可以实现我生活的梦想国度。三年前，从我在俄罗斯大学开始《东方学》专业课的学习起，我的梦想从那时起便开始了。不过，我一直以为这是一个不可实现的梦想。但我的付出和努力并没有白费，命运给我安排了一次到中国留学的机会！所以，故事从此开始了，讲述了一个住在黑海边的亚美尼亚女孩从故乡来到了美丽的海滨城市大连的故事。

But I think everyone knows how difficult it is to realize a dream in life. So, my problems have started from Russia. In my mind, the biggest one was the next problem: Chinese university had a mistake in writing of my surname (they didn't write it correctly in the official admission letter). A little bit later I have understood that Chinese people don’t know how to write Armenian surnames and also they can’t understand how it it is possible that I’m an Armenian who comes from Russia. So, when I have noticed this error, I was ready to say "Bye!" to my dream, because all visa centers convinced me that it’s impossible to make a visa with this mistake in my admission letter. Fortunately, I was lucky in that moment and at least they gave me my visa and I came to China! By the way, even now Chinese always make mistakes in writing my surname, so because of this I always have to remake my documents.

不过我们都知道实现梦想有多么困难。所以，我的麻烦从我还在俄罗斯的时候就已经开始了。我还记得，最大的问题是：中国的大学在写我的姓时写错了（录取通知书中的姓）。直到后来，我才知道中国人不知道如何写亚美尼亚人的姓氏，甚至不明白亚美尼亚人的由来。所以，当我发现了这个问题的时候，我已经做好了和梦想说“再见”的准备了，因为所有的签证中心都跟我说录取通知书是不可能犯这种错误的。幸运的是，最终他们还是给我办理了签证，我顺利的来到了中国！顺便一提，即使是现在，中国人还是会写错我的姓氏，所以我经常要修改我的文件。

But even though my Chinese life started from difficulties -and now I also don’t live without problems-, I’m really lucky in one thing: new friends here! And I think that because of this, I can solve problems very quickly, or even forget about them entirely. Now I know how to travel with anyone who can’t speak your native language, pay no attention on how someone looks (unfortunately, this is very important in Russia), solve different problems (doesn’t matter how difficult they are), and how to be more independent.

虽然我的中国生活开端有些曲折，就算是现在，生活中也依然充满了问题，不过我还是非常幸运的拥有了很多新朋友。正因为他们的帮助，才能让问题迎刃而解，甚至我都忘记了问题的存在。现在的我，知道如何与语言不通的人一起旅行，不会在意他人的外在（不幸的是，这点在俄罗斯很重要），擅于解决不同的问题（不管这些问题有多困难），更重要的是，学会了独立。

So, why did I choose Dalian?! As I remember lots of people recommended to choose more traditional Chinese city, because there are a lot of Russian people and other foreigners from all over the world. My teachers told me that in this international city I will not have the chance to learn Chinese language and it will be waste of time. To tell the truth, now these international friends are the one who help me to learn Chinese!

那么，我为什么选择大连这座城市呢？当初很多人建议我选择比较传统的中国城市，因为那里会有很多俄罗斯人和其他国家的外国人。我的老师告诉我说在这个国际化的城市里，我会没机会学中文，根本是在浪费时间。说实话，我的这些国际朋友才是帮助我学习中文的那群人。

Of course, another reason why I chose Dalian is because of the sea! Even my relatives and friends from Russia joked: "Lilit, you can find sea everywhere... in each country." Now, when I have already visited some Chinese cities, I realized that it was the right decision to choose Dalian. I like the safe and quiet atmosphere here; I like that you can go out whenever you want and don’t have to worry about anything.

当然，我选择大连的另外一个原因是因为大海。我的亲戚朋友曾开玩笑的跟我说：“Lilit，其实无论你在哪个国家都能找到大海的。”现在，我已经到中国的很多城市旅游过了，我认为我选择大连是正确的。我喜欢这里安全又安静的气氛，我想去哪就去哪，不用担心任何事。

As a result, I needed only 4 months to say that China is a place where I would like to live, and in my mind, it’s just the beginning of a amazing life!

结果呢，我只花了4个月的时间来适应在这里的生活，对我来说，这一切只是一个奇妙的开端！