Climate changeComing from China to London on 14th August, I participated in the summer school programme about climate change held by the University of Oxford. I harvested a lot of knowledge, experiences and friendships, and I sincerely cherish this learning journey.
I used to be an introverted student who mainly focused on studying and attaining high scores, and sometimes I may play football and chess to entertain and alleviate pressure. Additionally, due to my short-sighted horizon, I used to regard myself as an extremely extraordinary student, and that my English level is comparable to native English speakers’. On the first day of summer school, I was astonished by an Indian girl’s fluent response when Director Richard asked why we were attending. I also realized I could not understand anything she said. I started to suspect myself, and I decided to figure out what I could and should improve during the entire programme.
I got to know Varun on the first day, an Indian boy who was really extraordinary and my best friend, and we started to have chats. At first, I couldn’t even understand a sentence, and I requested him to repeat once and once again. I was a little ashamed, but he didn’t care about it much, and spared no patience to help me understand, including speaking more slowly and spelling words. Gradually, I started to understand more about what he said somehow, and we could communicate normally in the second week. In the two weeks, we took many photos, and gave each other some gifts - we had a great time, and our friendship will last forever.
Moreover, I made friends with other students from Canada, Britain, South Korea and Portugal, who were nice to me. We sat together and talked about cultural differences in these countries (including China) during meals and we made jokes with each other. They encouraged me to talk more, despite my inaccurate and Chinese-style English. We played chess, football and some other games, and we had fun, which were memorable experiences in my student life. With so many friends, my spare time was filled with joy and laughter; and I never felt bored during long walks.
During lectures, I found the sessions quite challenging and open - the content was sometimes difficult for me to understand (from my perspective, not because of the knowledge, but the English), and students seemed to be active to propose questions, which would be answered by the professor. Although I have looked through the pre-readings, I still felt it hard to concentrate on the course, and I had to ask my friends some points after sessions. I witnessed how other students studied during lectures and noticed the gap in English proficiency between me and them, thus I prepared to practice my listening and speaking more through English lectures.
In the group study, we determined the topic of our research as ‘Ferniture’; an innovative coffee table with plants inside. During the first session for group study, we discussed our group target and everyone thought of at least 2 ideas. My thoughts were green bridge and deforestation prevention, which were unpractical and over-common, respectively. Eventually, we agreed on waste management and chose the coffee table proposed by an Indian girl as our object, and it was indeed more suitable and feasible than mine. In the following several days, with regard to our preferred fields, we chose different aspects as our proposal assignments, and I selected sustainability and impact, focusing on how our product could be sustainable and address environmental issues.
Sometimes we gathered and discussed some undetermined problems, such as the design of the table and the theme. We completed our presentation after rectifying our proposal, and we performed well, even if I was a little nervous. From the experiences, I learnt about the importance of group corporation and my flaws in the skills for public speaking and I will practice them more.
Besides learning, we had quite a variety of activities during the summer school, including a journey to London, playing football in the university park and indoor golf. I enjoyed them very much and they assisted me with dealing with alleviating workload pressure. Student ambassadors were friendly and played games with us, which added more fun into the activities.
In summary, I had a wonderful time during the summer school, not only acquiring knowledge and joy, but also recognizing my disadvantages and potential progress. I will memorize the experiences, and spare no effort to become a real Oxford student in the near future.
Air pollution
Biodiversity