As a boy growing up in India, I had longed to travel abroad. I used to listen to the stories my father would tell me about his stay in Canada and tours to Europe in the 1970s, with great interest.

My big moment finally came in the summer of 1998 when I was able to accompany my parents to Europe, where my father was to attend a meeting. We planned to travel to Belgium, Netherlands and West Germany.

I have clear memories even today of going to Mumbai airport at night all excited about finally going abroad. I had heard several great things about Lufthansa till then but now I finally got to experience them first hand, during the flight to Frankfurt. We flew business class and even today I can remember the excellent service by the Lufthansa crew (工作人员). The flight was really smooth and thoroughly enjoyable, even for someone like me, who is especially afraid of flying.

After spending almost two weeks in Europe, we took the Lufthansa airport express from Dusseldorf to Frankfurt airport for our return. What a journey that was! All along the Rhine (莱茵河), it was simply an unforgettable experience. I had a sad feeling on the flight back to Mumbai as it marked the end of a wonderful vacation, but the Lufthansa crew members were able to change it into a most enjoyable experience yet again, with the quality of their service.

Being the first airline to take me abroad, Lufthansa will always hold a special place in my heart. Even today, I continue to enjoy flights on Lufthansa and simply cannot dream of choosing any other airline. Flying, in general, for me, has always been a terrible and painful experience. Flying on Lufthansa, however, is something I always have and will always look forward to.

I would neither go abroad nor sign up for a language course to improve my English. I decided to get back to reading books in English. I chose John Irving ’s novel A Widow for One Year which I hadn't read before——neither in Polish nor in any other language.

What was the book like? Very challenging! Especially at the beginning, I had to stop thinking in Polish about what I was reading. It seemed to be quite impossible to read and understand without using a dictionary but then I gradually (逐渐地) began to get it! And that was the moment when the real adventure and fun began. Suddenly I was so much attracted by the wonderful characters and the surprising plot of the novel that I completely forgot about the language I was reading the book in.

I must admit that reading this novel was very useful for me. First of all and to my surprise, I found Irving's way of writing very clear and therefore the book is easy to read. This fact made me feel really satisfied and encouraged to read more books (not only by Irving).

Secondly, when you read a book in English, you will stop thinking in your mother language. It's just as if you were there inside the story, among the characters who speak English with you.

Besides, reading Irving, s novel gave me the opportunity to experience a large number of new words and expressions. I marked some phrases I found particularly interesting and even wrote them down.