Peng Zizhou--Spanish Major-深圳大学外国语学院

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Peng Zizhou--Spanish Major

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PENG Zizhou, Spanish major, Grade 2019

Dear fellow friends,
Before I officially begin this letter to you all, I’d like to extend to you my dearest welcome and congratulations for being accepted to the School of Foreign Languages of Shenzhen University.

Upon holding the pen and paper in hand, to be honest, I do not quite know what to share with you guys. For hundreds of thousands of times have I wondered about the scene of standing in the face of freshmen of our Faculty, yet not bearing in mind a clear flowchart of my speech: my methods of studying, my experience participating in competitions, my life style, and thoughts in my mind…Profound as it might seem, still, they remain separated fragments of my personal life. Hence, to help this passage be better organized, I shall start with the path of my freshman year at SZU to grasp a clearer image of my thoughts.

Being accepted to the School of Foreign Languages has always been a dream of mine. I see myself as a crazy language-learning lover and I think, to some extent, I do have special affection for different cultures and the linguistic systems within them. One of my biggest interest is to explore the beauty of cross-cultural communication. I taught myself Japanese in high school, and enrolled myself in course like Portuguese and Korean apart from my Spanish profession. Though they may not last long, but the splendor and horizon they have endowed me with is undoubtedly an unparalleled experience. Nonetheless, there do exist moments when I find it unable for me to recite and reproduce precisely what I have learnt in the textbook and put it into practice. And sometimes, enquiries do arouse in my heart: Am I really a person who loves language learning? Is my love for language strong enough that it can support me through the rest of my journey? Despite all these doubts, never once have I changed my mind. I am born to appreciate and love languages. As least when all the things and substances around me seem vague and misty, this is the very one thing that I am able to be sure of. Learning Spanish is a gift for me from God, and when every morning I wake up, mumbling in the mouth Spanish words saying “Good morning” to myself, I feel so grateful and so powerful. From a single word, to a complete sentence, to a whole passage, I discovered the attractiveness of this language and cannot help myself from falling in love with it. Having just one year of experience learning in the Faculty, I do not dare to regard myself as “a senior”. But I do want all of you to remember to keep a heart of curiosity, and go and feel, and touch the culture of another nation and finally, blend into it, become a organically active part of it. The logo of the Real Academia Española (Real Academy of Spanish) reads “Limpia, fija y da esplendor (Pure, fixed and make shine the language)”. It is, for me, literally the best interpretation of the process of the acquisition of a language.

As many people may have heard of the cliché “language serves as just a tool”, I would like to further stress on the utility of language. It is so adaptable that it can almost be applied to every region of our life. Following this idea, I chose Philosophy as my secondary major. During the process of me taking philosophy courses, I find it especially convenient for foreign language students to acquire and grasp the most original idea of great thinkers and philosophers, for we bear the most basic reading and writing ability in the target language with which philosophical texts were written. Thus, in my opinion, it is highly recommended for us to take a wide range of courses, not only in literature, history and philosophy, but also, economy, law studies and even, technology. The capability to combine distinct academic disciplines will be, unquestionably, a crucial secret weapon on our way towards better self-achievement.

Out of the academy, the abundance of activities and competitions in college also got me stunned. Luckily, among all the activities I chose the “FLTRP·ETIC Cup” English Public Speaking Contest. From the bottom, to the somewhat extreme of myself, I witnessed the process of the inner change of myself. There might have been challenges, obstacles, barriers, difficulties and sometimes even, mental breakdowns, but never once did I submit to them. And gratefully, I gained not only the improvement in my language ability and the logic pattern, as well as the public speaking capability, but surely more have I gained true friendship, sincere tutorship, the self-awareness that there’s still a long way for me to go and the self-breakthrough that has been chiseled into the bottom of my heart.

The word university can be defined in rather multiple ways. As for me, university is a place where profound academic resources are stored, where dreams of numerous students are accomplished, where exquisite campus scene and liberal atmosphere are shared. In university, we get to embrace our new selves, which is diversified, purified, rationalized and challenged.

And all the teachers and friends I have met are so cute, so adorable when I reflect on my freshman year on campus. With all the help and suggestion, they have provided me with, I have been turned into a more all-around person developing a personal sense of achievement. Thanks to their kindness and warmheartedness, I always feel it a honor to re-reckon the previous me and re-march on the way to challenge myself.

Once I read about the origin of the national moto “Plus Ultra” of Spain, and somehow, it suddenly dawned on me. In ancient Greek mythology, the Pillar of Hercules stood near the Strait of Gibraltar, which was considered the terminal of the world. On the pillar a sentence read: Non plus ultra, to inform mariners and captains of the uncrossability of the strait. However, the personal secretary Luigi Marliano of the Spanish King Carlos I suggested that he should take “plus ultra” as his moto, instead of obeying old restrictions, so as to establish an encouragement for him to go over adventurous journeys always with his head held high. To be more supreme and exceptional than myself and to always fulfill what I want by challenging and pushing myself to the edge, that’s what I have always longed for and strived for. No matter when, no matter where, so long as the sentence Plus Ultra sings in my heart, there’s always a refreshing breeze blowing gently through my whole body, making me feel like an entity, making me feel alive and making me feel, with hope, more powerful than ever.
Plus Ultra, to me, and also, to you.

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