World like Home, A story about friendship

World like Home，一个关于友谊的故事

March 26th, 2014. Efuet arrived in Paris. At that time, he had no friends or family in France. Right from the beginning, he had many difficulties, especially going from the Orly airport to the Montparnasse train station with his three suitcases. “I must be the only one in this situation.” He thought to himself.

2014年3月26，Efuet来到巴黎。 当时，他在法国没有任何朋友或亲人。 从一开始，他就遇到了许多困难，尤其是提着三个手提箱从奥利机场到蒙帕纳斯火车站，然后转火车去勒芒 “我应该是唯一个遇到这种情况的人” 他自言自语。

Arriving at Le Mans, Efuet realised that most of his acquaintances had experienced similar hurdles. He thought it was a local problem, that they were the only ones facing it: “this must be a localised problem within my community.” He whispered to himself.

到达勒芒后，Efuet了解到他的很多朋友都有过类似的经历。这是一个一直困扰留学生群体的问题，”这是留学生群体需要改善的问题。”他自言自语。

On September 10, 2014, he met Christian, a Colombian student lost in the city of Le Mans. Christian is looking for his student hostel. Efuet will then spend several hours with Christian assisting him with his university enrolment, insurance subscription, opening a bank account, visiting the city, and so forth. It was a gratifying experience for him. Soon enough, Efuet realised most students have these same difficulties. He understood that as a matter of fact, it was a universal problem and so he asked himself, ‘how can we solve this problem?’

2014年9月10日，他遇到了Christian，一个在勒芒市迷路的哥伦比亚学生。Christian正在寻找去学生宿舍的路。然后，Efuet陪同Christian度过几个小时，并协助他完成大学入学办理手续，购买保险，开设银行帐户，游览城市等等。这对他来说是一个非常幸运的经历。很快，Efuet意识到大多数留学学生也有同样的困难。事实上，这是一个普遍的问题，所以他问自己：“我们如何解决这个问题？”

Efuet then turned to a couple of friends including his classmate Xing, a Chinese student in France. Xing shared the same frustration he had as a foreign student in France. He immediately identified with Efuet’s story. How can we delete this problem foreign students face when they arrive in France? The solution, they thought, will be to make everybody feel at home wherever they are. This solution will be later on known as World like Home. As Xing puts it, “When Efuet first talked to me about the concept of World like Home, I was instantaneously convinced by the solution. Indeed, I regurgitated my experience as a foreign student in France. If I were welcomed by a volunteer, my student life, or simply life in France would have been much easier”.

然后，Efuet 与几个朋友讨论，包括他在法国学校的同学赵星。星与其他在法国的外国留学生一样感到很困惑。于是，他决定与Efuet一起开始旅程。留学生到达法国后，我们该如何解决这个问题？他们认为，解决方案将是使每个人无论身在何处都有家的感觉。这个方案就是“World like home”。正如星说的那样：“当Efuet第一次和我谈论world like home概念时，我就认同了这个方案。我回想起刚开法国留学时的经历。如果我能联系到当地的留学生群体，可能就不会遇到那么多不便了”。

Through a travel agency, Xing had spent more than 500 euros, just for a taxi to pick him up at Charles de Gaulle airport, then drop him off at a hotel less than 15 mins away. What a waste of money, you say!

星刚来法国的时候花了500多欧元通过留学中介预定了一辆出租车在戴高乐机场接他，然后在不到15分钟的路程将他送到酒店。 真是太昂贵了！

有一个好的想法仅仅是第一步，我们应该如何把你个好的主意变成实际的东西？

Having an idea is one thing, but how do we move from an idea to an adopted solution?

We formed a team of more than 13. Within the first six months, the team dropped to 3. Efuet, Xing and another team member. In the course of the next 5 years, the team will see more than 20 people come and go. You ask why people leave? The implementation is taking too much time, they say.

最初，我们组成了一支超过13人的团队。在最初的六个月内，我们的团队只剩下三人。Efuet，Xing和另一位团队成员。 之后的5年内，团队来来回回有20多人加入又离开。 你问为什么人们会离开？ 许多人觉得这个花费的时间太多。

But Xing and Efuet will remain steadfast. Steadfast when faced with the inherent difficulties in creating a company in France as a foreigner. Steadfast in looking for the best ways to mitigate these difficulties, steadfast in building their friendship as they work hard to create a better world for us all.

但是星和 Efuet 依然坚持了下来。 坚定不移地面对在法国创建公司的挑战。 寻找解决问题的最佳方法，并在他们努力为我们所有人创造更美好世界的过程中建立起坚定不移的友谊。

Efuet’s new book “Smiling in Hardships, Lessons from our first failure” (280 pages) traces our 5 years of building World like Home, of building our friendship as we strive to create a better world for us all.

Efuet的新书《苦难中的微笑，我们第一次失败的教训》（280页）追溯了我们5年的创业过程与遇到的困难，以及建立友谊的过程。

Efuet and Xing have known each other since 2014 as students in ISMANS. They worked as a team on their final year project with the European Space Agency before co-founding World like Home. Why are they still working together today? Because we get along and understand each other very well. They trust each other and still believe that we need a world like Home.

星与Efuet是ISMANS 的同班同学，早在2014年就认识了，他们也一起做毕业设计，之后共同创立了World Like Home。 他们为什么会一起至今？ 因为他们相互理解，彼此欣赏。 以及彼此信任，相信这个世界需要像 World like Home这样的平台。

Thanks to Efuet for telling our story to the world, this book is my story too. I love this book because a lot of people talk about their successes, but what we don’t know is the failure that preceded the success. As Efuet said in the book, being an entrepreneur, you will face difficulties such as fundraising, criticisms, stress — the story in the book is a real story, and it can’t teach you success but it can help many young entrepreneurs avoid pitfalls, speed up their projects. The World like Home adventure gave me the courage to face difficulties in life and in my professional career.

感谢Efuet向世界讲述我们的故事，这本同时讲述了我的故事。 我喜欢这本书，因为很多人都在谈论他们的成功，但是我们不知道是成功之前的失败。 正如Efuet在书中所说，作为一名企业家，你将面临筹款，批评，压力等困难。书中的故事是真实的故事，虽然不能教给您成功的捷径，但可以帮助许多想创业的企业家避免不必要的陷阱 ，加快他们的项目进程。World like Home的冒险给了我勇气。

Efuet & Xing,

Co-founders, World like Home.

Smiling in Hardships, Lessons from our first failure.

English version $ 22, 280 pages, French version, 20 €, 301 pages.