Willamette University was the first and only entity I knew fourteen years ago when I set foot on this land. Almost everything intrigued me: the cozy Hatfield Library where I could sit on a sofa and stared at the stream outside the large French windows (Picture 8); the Smullin Hall computer labs in which I could always find a computer, no matter how late. When I saw the Apple/IIe in Carol Long’s office, I adored it. When Michael Strelow showed me his laptop with two floppy drives to load the whole Wordperfect dictionary into memory, it easily won over my admiration.

I remember the first snow in my life, the Christmas of 1988.  Walking out the the computer lab in Smullin Hall, my feet were planted on the snow!  Being a southerner in China, I never saw snow falling from the sky. I bent down, touched snow on the grass, and gave out a cry of joy.  In that winter, the brook (Mill Race) running across the campus was frozen. Some ducks were snatched away by some beast of prey.  The campus was in a roar.  Collegian reported that a staff member took the ducks home to shelter them.  My heart was deeply touched.  Every life is respected and treasured here, even that of a duck!  This surely is the land to be.

At that time, I was so impressed by Fred Meyer's "one stop shopping" that I wished Li-qing could come to see for herself, and perhaps Hong and Wei too. We would be going by bike to Lancaster Mall and stay one whole day there. That was 1988. Then Li-qing joined me the last day of 1990, Wei August 1991, and Hong November 1992.

• Willamette University the Beautiful (my photos of the campus)
• Webpage of Willamette University

威拉姆特大学位于俄勒冈州的首府，Salem市，与州议会大厦(capitol)相隔一条街。一条小河穿过校园(图七)。1988年10月我作为访问学者来到这里。住在学校的Hazeldorf 公寓(图一)，日日夜夜泡在Smullin 的电脑室里(图二)。圣诞节那个半夜从电脑室里出来，见到了一个南方人见到的第一场大雪。不久，小河也结冰了。原来在那里歇息的野鸭们被其他走兽抓走了。校刊校报报道了这件事，就有好心人赶快把留下的鸭群带到安全地带，等到河水不再结冰后才一一放回。从此，我深深地为这种人文精神所折服，并乐不思蜀了。

• 庄宏就读Atkinson 研究生学院时写的一封信
• 威拉姆特大学网页
• 美丽的威拉姆特大学校园 (照片)