每当回想起我在蒙大拿大学语言学学院求学的时光，我很感恩从中获得的珍贵经历和知识。 从蒙大拿大学毕业以后，我所学的知识和技能助我顺利地谋到了一份体面的大学教师职位。同时。我的研究生知识和经验促成我成为了一名更优秀的语言老师。蒙大拿大学语言学院虽然规模不大，但是这意味着每个学生都可以得到教授们的充分关注；意味着学生们有更多的机会表达他们的观点、更自由地提问，以及得到教授们的及时回复；还有它也意味着学生们有更多的机会参加学术性的研讨会及相关的特殊活动。本学院的教授在各自领域身怀绝技、知识渊博，尤其他们用心设计的课程既非常实用又很有创意。同时，于我而言，作为一名国际留学生，刚刚接触语言学这领域有诸多理解上的困惑和困难。有幸的是，我遇到的这些恩师都给予了我极大的耐心为我讲解复杂的难题和概念。在我考入这所学院之前，我基本毫无用英文写专业学科论文的经验。经过两年的学院熏陶和锤炼，我不仅对论文的写作变得越来越自信，而且通过学术论文的写作，让我对科研的认识越来越深刻，从而激发了我对学术研究的兴趣。在校两年期间，我在语言学及教学研讨会中都做过相关的学术报告。蒙大拿语言学院不仅给学生提供坚实的语言学基础知识而且对学生探索语言学的某个具体领域给予积极的引导。对我而言，我发现我感兴趣的是应用语言学和第二语言习得。我当时求学时，通过完成一系列的课程要求，我也成功获得了ESL教学证书。这对我后来的就业也助了一臂之力。

我除了欣赏本学院有着很强专业能力及敬业精神的教授和合理而科学的教学课程以外，蒙大拿大学语言学学院的俱乐部也是一大亮点。对很多留学生而言，生在异国求学，孤独是最难以面对的。但是，在这里求学，你毋需担忧这一点。该俱乐部会组织很多有意思的活动，让本学院的学生有很多机会接触了解彼此。还有，我不得不说，迄今为止，Missoula 依旧是我最钟爱的城市之一。我爱它的四季分明；爱它的周围自然风光；爱它的俊朗山脉，也爱那一条贯穿整个城市的美丽的河！这些美景一定会为你在蒙大拿大学的求学生活中增添不少色彩和激情！

Thinking back on my time in the Linguistics Program at the University of Montana, I feel so grateful for the experience and knowledge that I gained there. Since graduation, the skills that I learned have also proven invaluable to getting a university teaching position and being a better language teacher. The small size of the program means that each student can get the full attention of the professors, having lots of opportunities to express their opinions, ask questions, get immediate feedback from professors, and take part in academic conferences and other special activities. The professors in the program are very knowledgeable and really committed to designing creative and useful courses, plus they were always patient to explain complex ideas to me that I had trouble understanding at first. Before coming to the program I had not had the experience of writing a full scholarly paper in English and through the program I gained confidence both to do better research and to write better, including papers that I was able to present at linguistics and teaching conferences. The program provides a good foundation in basic linguistics as well as a chance to focus in an area of interest, which for me was applied linguistics and second language acquisition. Choosing to also pursue the certificate of teaching English as a second language through the program also proved to be a good choice for me and helpful in my job searches.

Besides the professional and hardworking professors and the educational coursework, I also really appreciated the UM Linguistics Club. As a foreign student, being lonely is the scariest thing, but you do not need to worry about this issue as the Linguistics Club will give you chances to grow close to your fellow students by doing fun activities together. Also, Missoula is now one of my favorite cities. I love the four distinctive seasons, the surrounding nature and beautiful mountains, the river running by the campus. Together they will make your university life more exciting and colorful!