Marco Polo was one of the greatest travelers in history. He was from Venice. Nearly 20 years old he left Italy with his uncle in order to trade with the east world. He came to China and became one of the most important people in the court of Grand Khan. After some years, when he came back to Italy, Genovesi (Inhabitants of Genova, another city which was in competition withVenice because of trade by sea) captured him and put him in prison. He was kept there until the end of his life and, during this period, he wrote a very famous book，“Il Milione”(马可 波罗游记), which is an autobiography of a man who really went to China, visited it and found it a wonderful place.

I was thinking about him during the travel from Beijing to Guangzhou. Sometimes I feel like him. I’ve been here for nearly two months, but I’m still experiencing something new everyday! It has been the most intensely lived months of my whole young life. Everything is a challenge for me. The environment of the school, the food, the family’s habits, the weather (such a crazy weather here!), new friends, misunderstandings with everyone because of the language…I’m just trying to accept everything and to learn more and more everyday. But sometimes it seems so hard…

The first week I was here I was told to wake up at 6 a.m.. The first reaction was “什么” (one of the few words I knew in Chinese). In Italy I usually wake up at 7 a.m., because school begins at 8 a.m.. The most unbelievable is that now I always get up at 6h, even on the weekends!

In my home country we don’t use to have a one-week holiday at the beginning of October. We celebrate the national day in another month, and we stay only one day at home. Last week I ate moon cake, or better, some kinds of moon cakes and I found them delicious!

It’s really hard to write something concerning my first impression of China in such a short time, because my thoughts are a lot and I can’t summarize them.

I can say that now I’ve got used to Huamei (the schedule to follow, the rising flag on Mondays, the uniform). And I admire its general organization, even if it’s very strict. Although sometimes I still found myself wondering why I am having dinner at 5:30 p.m. (so early) and not with fork and knife, but with spoon or Kuaizi.(This is strange). I recognize I like staying here. In Italy we usually say: “World is beautiful because it’s different and varied”, and I agree, of course.

Now I like the food here!

Prosperuzzi  Francesca   (付兰兰   华美中学国际班意大利交换学生)

2006年10月