New challenge

I’ve never imagine that one day I can stand on a debate stage and speak in English. My classmate Vivian who is good at English and speaks fluently invited me to participate in a debate competition because of vacancy of her partner. Thinking that the students who are good at oral English are all in the debate club, I accept the invitation at once.

Think now, I am thankful for Vivian to give me a chance to face new challenge. We should finish our debate draft early but it lasted until three days before the official competition.

Just coming back from the VEX worlds, I was excited and felt still live in the life there. Exactly, the debate competition came. Vivian and I prepared for the debate on the whole Monday night. Both of us are students living, but we used phones and computer secretly just like thief, preventing from discovering by the teacher.

My assignment was the draft of PROS. The debate topic was about refugees. I strangled my brain to write down everything I could think about. It was hard but expanded my thinking a lot.

A normal night

The last night before the debate competition. I got the suit and tried on in my dormitory. My dormmate helped me to adjust the tie. There exist a second, I felt very lucky to be classmates and friends with them.

I intended to review the debate draft at night, but I fell asleep quickly and unconsciously.

5:50 AM, the teacher woke me up. I got up quickly without any sleepy. To my surprise, my dormmate encouraged me and hoped me to get a good rank, even he was sleeping on the bed well.

Exciting day

We had 4 rounds on the first day. Every time we were PROS unexpectedly. I really enjoyed the feeling and atmosphere when two sides were debating. Just like a spark collision of thinking. We even beat the Nanjing Foreign Language School because of the excellent cooperation of Vivian and me.

On the afternoon, when all the rounds ended. I heard my name from the host. We entered the top eight!

On the bus

Because we were PROS in all four rounds, I thought we were familiar with the strategy and pace of PROS. Then, I suggested Vivian being PROS tomorrow if it was possible. But it was the divergence of us. She had finished the CONS draft but it didn’t work at all. She want to be the CONS tomorrow. I requested her on the whole way back to the school.

Finally, I gave up. I realized that I was a little impolite to treat a girl in this way. Everybody need to practice and exercise in the competition. I apologized to her and then prepare for the next day.

Unexpected results

We are the last of the quarter-finals, which means that the first day of our first knockout opponent is the first place. We were hopeless but tried our best to compete for the top four. After the competition, we felt that we were certainly lose the game. But to our surprise, we won the game!!!

Both of Vivian and I was too excited because we defeated the group first. At that moment, I felt like my heart is jumping out!

But we lost the semifinal at last. However, we were still very happy because it’s a very perfect ranking.

Think more deeply

First, I have made many friends through the competition. They are from Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, which are more advanced than Xi’an. There are many things I can consult and learn form them. Also, I find all the competition whatever the field is, robot, computer, debate, the true meaning is meet more friends and expand my horizons.

Second, I understand and cherish my old friends more. After a competition, a few days staying together, we all made progress and became a better me. The old friends, the partners, they are different for me. We learned from each other and communicate more effectively.

At last

At last, I want to say that thanks to Vivian, I learned a lot from her. Not only about the skills of debating, but also the truth of life.