My hometown is far away in Moscow.

Chapter 215 The Illiterate's Journey

When chatting with friends about major European countries, Hu Yi can usually manage a few impressive remarks. But Europe is actually quite unfamiliar to him. Aside from the geography he's learned from books and television, the only cities he's familiar with are Milan, Munich, and Barcelona, ​​which are famous for football. He knows very little about tourism, sightseeing, and cultural history.

So although he was very excited to go on the trip with Natasha, he couldn't come up with any concrete plans, so Natasha had to take on the responsibility of making the plans all by herself.

Natasha had long dreamed of traveling through Europe. Originally, she only planned a budget-friendly solo trip, but now that her boyfriend had agreed to go with her, her budget was much more ample, and she felt more confident, so she began to consider expanding the itinerary as much as possible.

She went to the bookstore and bought a huge stack of reference books and maps. Every day after dinner, she would sit at a small table, flipping through the books and drawing. After several days of frantic planning and preparation, she finally chose a travel route that could include as many famous attractions as possible and was relatively economical. She also filled her notebook with all sorts of reference information.

Natasha excitedly took out her notebook and explained each item to Hu Yi. Hu Yi could guess the more famous big cities based on the Russian pronunciation, but he had no clue about the names of the small towns and attractions. He could only nod repeatedly like a chicken pecking at rice.

With the plan finalized, and after obtaining their visas and purchasing their plane tickets, it was already late July. Hu Yi asked Fu Jia Hui for leave, exchanged four thousand euros, and carried them with him. Everything was finally ready.

At this time, the entire European continent was already in the sweltering heat of summer. The two of them, wearing shorts, tank tops, sunglasses, and sandals, dragged their suitcases and walked hand in hand to the airport, beginning their first long-distance trip.

When young couples travel together, a romantic atmosphere naturally accompanies them all the way. Their laughter and joy are interspersed with endless affection, allowing them to immerse themselves in happiness at every moment.

However, various minor troubles soon followed. Their first stop was Cologne, Germany, and as soon as they got off the plane, they realized they had underestimated the trip. Natasha's fluent Russian was useless here, and Hu Yi's mediocre English didn't seem to be very effective either.

Hu Yi grew up in an era when English education was just beginning to take hold in China. From fifth grade to high school graduation, English was always the main subject in school. Teachers and parents repeatedly emphasized that English is a universal language and never mentioned other foreign languages ​​that were not related to teaching.

With the popularization of English proficiency tests, the increase in demand for studying abroad, and the rise of various course materials and training institutions, English teaching has become a trendy activity in society.

Slogans like "Learn English well, and you can go anywhere in the world" quickly took root in people's minds, to the point that many people mistakenly believed that everyone in the world needed to learn English.

Having spent several years in Moscow and met many foreigners who didn't speak much English, Hu Yi didn't harbor such naive ideas, but he naturally assumed that one could communicate fluently in English on the European continent.

To my surprise, once I arrived here, I found that apart from a few places such as the airport and hotels, it was difficult to see English signs on the streets, and it was also very difficult to communicate with people in English.

This situation stems partly from the fact that most European countries do not teach English, and partly from Hu Yi's rather ordinary spoken English. Sometimes, when he finally encounters someone who understands English, if the other person speaks a little fast or has a local accent, he will have trouble understanding them.

He himself speaks a thick, Chinese-accented English with a strong Russian rye bread flavor. Both parties in the conversation often think they are speaking English, but neither understands what the other is saying.

After several difficult attempts to communicate, Hu Yi became too lazy to waste his breath. The two of them were like illiterate people, and could only use gestures and guesswork to ask for directions or shop.

Fortunately, Natasha bought several travel language manuals before her departure and wrote down most of the place names and common phrases in her notebook, so she didn't miss the important trip.

They traveled together, stumbling and bumping along the way. The two of them made a lot of funny mistakes due to the language barrier, but this also relieved a lot of the fatigue of the journey.

Natasha's itinerary focused on visiting historical and architectural sites, with most of the attractions being churches across Europe. From Cologne to Paris, from the Vatican to Florence, and from Venice to Milan, each city featured a world-renowned cathedral.

Hu Yi was always awestruck by the magnificent appearance of these buildings, but he couldn't muster any interest in Natasha's vivid explanations. He often listened with little interest and no understanding, but he couldn't bear to spoil her fun, so he had to force a smile.

More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye, and the last stop of their trip was Interlaken, Switzerland, a small town nestled between two lakes. When the two arrived at the hotel, it was drizzling, and there was hardly anyone to be seen outside.

These days they spend most of their time wandering around bustling big cities, whether visiting various large buildings and museums, taking a gondola ride through the Venetian canals, or taking a horse-drawn carriage to Neuschwanstein Castle, always surrounded by crowds of people.

Now that they had arrived in this elegant and tranquil town, Hu Yi's mood immediately improved. He and Natasha walked out of the hotel, hand in hand, strolling leisurely along the town's streets. After passing through a cluster of low-rise buildings, the view suddenly opened up before them.

"Look!" Hu Yi pointed into the distance: "Snow-capped mountains! But... it seems there's only a little bit of snow left on the summit."

"This is actually quite nice. Haven't you seen enough snow in Moscow?" Natasha smiled sweetly. "I prefer this meadow in front of me."

Hu Yi lowered his gaze and saw a grassy pasture enclosed by a simple fence, which looked about the size of a football field. Five or six cows were standing, lying, eating, or sleeping in the middle of the grass, leisurely enjoying the undisturbed summer days.

"Wow, so much land, so few cattle! Their place must be so spacious!" Hu Yi exclaimed on a whim, cupping his hands to his mouth and softly calling out, "Hi! How are you all doing?"

A cow slowly turned its head and mooed. Hu Yi was overjoyed and jumped up and down, pointing at the cow: "Look! It answered me! It said 'Things are alright'!"

"What?! You're really something!" Natasha laughed so hard she almost fell over. "Anton, are you talking to a cow?"

"Yeah! There aren't many people around here, they must be so bored." Hu Yi stared at the cows with a silly grin. "Why don't you say something too? Maybe they'll understand."

"Really? I'll give it a try." Natasha finally managed to stop laughing, straightened up, and imitated Hu Yi, clasping her hands together and shouting, "Cows! Hello! Anton is a big idiot! Do you agree?"

(End of this chapter)