Studying Abroad in England

Before I went to England, I knew nothing about cooking. When I went home at weekends, my parents didn't even expect me to do the dishes.

By Fan Jing

From September 2002 to October 2003, I was studying in England. This was a very significant year in my life. Previously I had been a white collar worker in a highly esteemed city that many people hanker for. But for that one year I became a college student, cycling to school every day in a foreign land.

Have I arrived in the country ?
When I got off the plane in Birmingham, I had a real shock. The international airport in England's second biggest city was so small and dirty and not even as spacious as Shanghai's Pu-Dong international airport. I took a taxi to the hotel. On the way there, I saw hardly anybody on the streets. The whole city seemed so quiet. Many of the houses were single-storeyed and I saw no tall buildings. It was just a short distance from the airport to the hotel, but the fare cost me nearly 18 pounds, which is about 200 Chinese dollars. The hotel was just a bed-and-breakfast, but it cost 50 pounds a day. For this price in Shanghai, you could stay in a first-class five star hotel. 

These were my feelings when I first arrived in England. It was all so quiet, nothing like as crowded as Shanghai, and not as prosperous as China. How come ? I wanted to go straight back home. People say that when you go abroad, you become more patriotic. This is very true. At that moment I became intensely patriotic. I even wanted to sit down and write an article describing how England was nowhere near as good as China. This would make those who flatter foreigners realize that China is much better than other countries. I recalled once seeing a movie called "Exciting 1995". One statement in the movie really impressed me: "When you first go to a place, you don't like it. But gradually, you get used to it, and in the end you may not want to leave." 

On first arriving in England, I felt that time passed very slowly. Fortunately, on the first Friday I was there, someone took me along to Birmingham Chinese Evangelical Church, and I got to know many new friends. We sang many praise songs, but the song "A whole new me" touched me deeply--

"You say that cloudy days reflect your mood; 
That rainy days are even closer pictures of your life.
You say that life is boring, day after day, and that you have no hope for the future.
Dear friend, have you ever seen the stars in the sky and longed for someone to understand you, love you and energize you?
Jesus can make every thing new; He understands you.
Jesus can change your past; He loves and cherishes you.
Jesus can create a whole new you."

From that moment on, I knew that God would hold my hand and lead me each step of the way. I had become a new person. Every week I joined in the Bible studies. Church life made me feel warm all over. On November 24th, 2002, I was baptized and became a child of God.

One focus, and three basic directions

In England I set myself some goals: "One focus, and three basic directions". The main focus was to learn, and the three basic directions were books, travel and living - I aimed to do my learning through books, travel and daily life.

In my first semester I spent a lot of money on new textbooks. Then I realized that I was only reading a few pages of each of them. By the second semester, all my books were copied or borrowed from the library. That way I was studying harder, because I was not afraid to make copious notes on the photo-copied pages. If my books were from the library, I would read fast in order to meet the deadline for returning them. The old saying "If a book cannot be borrowed, it should not be read" is really true.

There were two books I read every day. One of them was the Bible. I found that the more I read this book, the more wonderful it was. I also found that many answers to problems of daily life can be found in the Bible. The other book was "Streams in the Desert". This is a devotional book with a reading for every day. There are 365 devotional passages altogether and it is very helpful to read one passage every day.

I also viewed my studies in class as a kind of basic learning. When school first started, many of my classmates found it difficult to understand the professors. We had a professor from Scotland in our department, who had a very strong accent. My foundations in English were much better than most of my classmates, but I still had difficulty understanding him completely. God used the Bible to remind me not to complain. In the past our English teacher had trained us to get used to different accents, as he wanted us to realize that not every Britisher speaks standard London English. So I did my best to adapt. Later on, when I took a trip to Scotland, I found the accent quite easy to understand. In class, and especially in seminars, we were asked to express our own opinions. The local students were very responsive, and when the teacher asked a question, many of them would speak up. But the Chinese students kept quiet. Later on I found that although the local students appeared so responsive, their answers were often wrong. The Chinese students were just the opposite. They were quieter, but when they answered, they were usually right. This was perhaps because they were deeper thinkers. We are all different individuals created by God. We need to learn to tolerate each other. No one is right or wrong; we are just different. 

As a student, my biggest trial was exams. Before exams, we would pray earnestly for good grades. However, God told me that while I was to depend totally on Him, yet at the same time I should also depend 100% on my own efforts. This way I had peace of heart. God cannot help me if I don't work. "Trusting in Him", along with "my own hard work" contributed to my good grades.

Shangri-la is not far away

God has written two books: one is the Bible and the other is Nature. I love travel. When I was working in China, for half of each month I was out on business trips. I have been to many places in China, experienced many things and met many people. When I was in Tibet, I sang folk songs with Tibetans. I took pictures of young people barbecuing shish-kebabs in a Xingjian yurt and later mailed the photos to them. I have been to wealthy places and to poor places. I have stayed in both 5-star hotels and in simple tents. Sometimes traveling may not be all that comfortable and you may need to deal with difficult circumstances. The real joy of travel comes as you reflect on it afterwards.

In the Bible it says that one should learn to be content with both riches and with poverty. This is very true for a traveler. In England I often went on trips. I went to many English cities and found that while they have many things in common, yet they had their differences too. Their basic structure and organization were all very similar. Whenever I went to a new place, there was always a tourist information centre, marked by a large "i" sign. Yet Cambridge, London, and Edinburgh each had their own unique character. Nothing is absolutely right or wrong, just different. 

One time when I was touring Shangri-la in a bus, the tour guide asked us, "What do you think Shangri-la should look like?" Some people said that there would be green fields and lovely streams; others said there would be sheep and cows, and smoke coming out of the chimneys of houses...When we got there, it was exactly like that - peaceful country scenes. Later, as I traveled around England, I found many places like Shangri-la. From the train, one could often see rolling farmlands beneath a blue sky, like a painting drawn by God's own hand.

In fact, Shangri-la is not far away. Where is Shangri-la? It is where there is harmony among people, between man and Nature, and also between man and God.

Just a beginning

Then about learning from daily life. Before I went to England, I knew nothing about cooking. When I went home at weekends, my parents didn't even expect me to do the dishes. After I came to England, I lived with a couple from Beijing and their six year old daughter. Every night I helped with the cooking, and I learned as I did so. Sometimes I even phoned my father and asked him to mail me recipes of Shanghai dishes, so that I could show off to my friends. In this way, I learned to cook many dishes. I sometimes took pictures of dishes I had made, and faxed the photos to my mother. She said they looked really great. Life here in England is quite different from China. A classmate of mine did not want to go back to China after he graduated. He said he was tired of the competitive environment, while people here are quite relaxed. I felt the same way. In Shanghai, I lived in a nice house, wore nice clothes, often went shopping with friends, and spent time in bars. But I was not happy. I was always discontented. I kept wanting one more dress; our house was not big enough; I did not have enough money. I did not feel that I was being greedy, but I wanted to compete with others; I wanted to have everything that other people had.

In the Bible, it says that pride, the lust of the eyes and the lusts of the flesh are three things that separate us from God. Inside, I am a very proud person and this pride is shown in my being quiet and keeping myself to myself. I did not want to share or communicate with other people. Since believing in God, I have changed a great deal. These days, I often reflect on who I am, where I am going, and how I should live my life.

Two weeks before I went back to China, I went traveling by myself. I went down to the extreme south-east corner of England, Land's End, where there is a huge rock sticking up out of the ocean. No matter how rough the ocean waves surging around it, it stands firm. I sat down on the rocky shore, and asked God, "Lord, I am at the end of one stage of my life. Please tell me where I should go after I graduate." We, the elite of modern society are like runners racing along on the track, competing with everyone else, but we don't know where to run to nor what goal we are running for. We carry all kinds of burdens in our pursuit of fame or money, and have many troubled feelings. Day after day, and year after year, we chase one another in this race, unable to stop.

It was not easy to shake off the burden and take a rest. My year in England was a time when I forced myself to have a break. I needed to find direction for my life. Now that I had finished my year of study for a master's degree, it was time to go back to China. I didn't know what kind of life or job I would have. I asked God and He said, "You must let go, surrender yourself." I was shocked by this answer. How could I give myself up? I have a master's degree from England. When I go back to China, I'm expecting to have a wonderful career. How could God ask me to give myself up? I didn't understand, so I walked on down the beach to Land's End.

I saw a white milestone listing the mileages from different places: 1.5 miles to the nearest lighthouse, 28 miles to the Skilly Islands, 3147 miles to New York, 12,000 miles to Australia. All these figures seemed to be telling people not to think that the land ended here. In fact, this place was just the beginning. At that moment, my heart responded, "Man's end is God's beginning." I wrote this sentence on a postcard and mailed it to myself. Suddenly I understood the real meaning of "giving up my self": Just as one year ago I had given up my job to come to study in England, so today I was to boldly forget about myself, forget about the past and resolve to aim for the Lord's goal.
The Bible says: "let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." It is difficult for us to throw off everything, or to forget about ourselves. However, only in this way, can we understand what God's plan is for our life and aim to live like Christ.
My study time in England is now over, but this is not the end. It is a beginning, because from now on God's hand is leading me each step of the way.

The author is from Shanghai. She received a master's degree in marketing from Birmingham University in England. She now lives in Beijing.