GUIDELINES FOR WRITING THE EXPERIENCE REPORT
Please write this report in English
The student report will be published on the:
 Study Abroad website (under “Experiences” from partner universities)
 TSH study abroad blackboard page
I am fine with my report being published online: YES
ANR: 107968
Name: Jeroen Visser
E-mail: visserjeroen@hotmail.com
Exchange semester: Fall 2015
Academic year: 2015-2016
Host University: Chinese University of Hong Kong
Country: Hong Kong
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Hong Kong is an amazing city. It is a very densely packed city with unlimited things to
do and explore. Whilst still being Chinese it is very westernized and a completely different
world than mainland China. The university is located in Shatin which is in the New Territories
near the Chinese border to Shenzen. It takes around 45 minutes to an hour to get to the city
(depending on where you’re going) and Hong Kong has an impeccable public transport
system with the MTR stopping on campus and incredibly easy to use. However, personally I
would have liked to live closer to the city, such as some of the other universities, because
there were times when the travel time did limit me to stay on campus. The campus itself is
very big and beautiful with great views of Hong Kong landscape. They work with a college
system meaning that there are dorms spread out all over the campus with affiliations to the
college it is in. Every dorm will have a gym, a canteen and usually a small shop open at night
(run by the students). Otherwise there is a Park N Shop (small supermarket) located on
campus and a 7/11 at the university station). If you want to get something that they don’t have
at the shop then you need to go to Shatin which is a big shopping mall 2 stations away. They
have a bus system (free) on campus which can take you all over. It is also fine to walk from
place to place on campus but you need to find out the system of shortcuts using the elevators
as the campus location is very hilly. The campus is non-smoking meaning you cannot smoke
on the campus. You are allowed alcohol on campus (up to a certain percentage is allowed to
be kept in your dorm). How strict they are with rules and enforcing them are reliant on which
college you are staying in. For example, in one college someone got kicked out of their dorm
permanently because they had an overnight visitor. However, at my college (Shaw) they are
very easy going about the rules and never enforce them. For example, all of the locals are in
eachothers rooms at night and etc. This was really nice as it was really weird for me to have
all these rules in the place I lived but it does come with a downside which is that it can be
quite noisy at night sometimes. I would recommend Shaw college because of this but it is not
located conveniently on campus and the canteens close to the college are bad.The food on
campus was not that great and one of the worst things about the campus. It is cheaply priced
but most of the time the food isn’t good. There are some canteens which are good but in my
case they were on the other side of campus (Western canteen, SHO, New Asia and
Morningside are the best). The city has some great food and if you are willing to spend there
are some crazy dishes to try out! The places where exchange students will go out are Lan
Kwai Fong and Wan Chai (usually only on Wednesdays) which are great places. Other things
to do that are a must are mr. Wongs (unlimited beer/good food for a good price), Stone Nullah
Tavern (Happy hour on weekdays where every drink starts at 1$ and doubles in price every
20 min), Horse Races, Chungking Mansion, Boat party, Camping on the beach, a lot of good
hiking spots in Hong Kong and explore the city!
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
I don’t remember exactly when I got my pre-arrival information but CUHK was quite
organized with getting and arranging all my things. I do remember that it all happened quite
late and my visa arrived quite a short period before my departure. However, there are clear
deadlines so I’m sure if you hand in the paperwork on time everything will be fine. I went to
Hong Kong a week before the introduction period started and stayed in a hostel (living costs
are really expensive in HK). I took a taxi from the airport because I arrived quite late and
wanted to get to my hostel quickly but I would recommend taking the bus as they stop
everywhere in the city and are really easy to use from the airport. I would really recommend
going before the introduction week as this will give you a chance to stay in the city a bit before
you go to campus which is really helpful. Also it gives you the chance to meet people before
the introduction period which is quite fun (in my case these people became my friends for the
whole semester). The first week of the university is an introduction week where you get
acquainted with the university and its campus, it was organized very well by the university
whom provide students at the introduction dorm that can help you with anything. You will be
placed in another dorm than the one you will stay in permanently. You will meet a lot of
people and receive a lot of information here. The university will send you an email before you
arrive asking you if you want a buddy/mentor who can help you as well. I heard good things
about taking advantage of this as it brings you into contact with the locals right away (I didn’t
apply for the buddy program). The dorm itself is a two person dorm including a bed, a table
and a closet. I paid around 700 euros to use the dorm for the entire semester which is really
cheap especially when you look at the cost of living in HK. I would definetly recommend you
to stay on campus because it’s cheap and you will be close to your fellow students and
classes. For the nicest dorms I would recommend Morningside and SHO, for the most relaxed
dorms I would recommend Shaw and I-house (although I would not recommend I-house
because the dorms are one of the worst and it has one of the worst locations as well). I
financed my exchange period mostly by loaning money from the duo.
My expenses were as followed:
 Housing: Around 700 euros for the entire semester
 Food: 200-250 euros
 Transport: 50 euros
 Books: 0 (I only had
online e readers)
 Miscellaneous:
200500
The amount of money you
spend a month really depends
on how you live, where you eat
and what you do. In the first
month I went way over budget
because I was going out all the
time and eating a lot of good
food off of campus. However,
the last month I had exams
and wanted to save money for
my travel plans after exams
and I only spent 100 euros a
week in total.
There is an international office
located in the I-center which you will come across in the introduction period. You can ask
them any questions or email them if you need anything. Also your mailbox is there if you have
any mail etc.
I found all of the classes I took relatively easier to Tilburg University. However, since you have
such a broad choice I found them really interesting. I chose all my classes in regards to China
and it was great to take classes which focus on the place you are on exchange; I would
definitely recommend doing this! The classes I took are listed below. I was doing my minor for
Liberal Arts and Sciences taking 4 courses at CUHK and one online course from UvT.
Course Name
Prerequisites
Exam
Sustainable
Development
None
Global China
Business
Environment
of
China
International
Relations in South
East Asia
None
None
Written
+
Assignments
+Presentation +
Debate
3 Papers
1 exam + 1
paper
None
2
papers
Tutorial
discussions
Major at TiU
Approved
as
(minor/ elective
/ extra)
Minor
Minor
Minor
+
I found that in the beginning there was little to do for the courses. In the middle of the
semester the workload starts and I had to start handing in papers. At the end of the semester
the workload is at it’s maximum as I had to hand in papers and study for exams. All my
courses are in English but you also have the option to do courses in Chinese. The teachers
are very relaxed and nice. The lectures can be 3 hours long or split up into a 2 hour period
and a 1 hour period on another day which I was not used to and found quite annoying as it
was too long for me. Even though the courses were relatively easy I was really happy with
them because I learned a lot which was applied to Hong Kong or Asia which made it really
interesting.
There is an international student organization for all the universities, called ISN, but they only
organize parties in the city. There are many activities organized by the university to explore
the city which are great but as the semester progresses there are little to no activities
organized for the exchange students. However, I didn’t mind because once you know your
way around there really is no need for this as there is enough to do in Hong Kong.
All the students and teachers spoke good English which was really nice. I did not experience
a big culture shock because I am already familiar to the culture as I used to live in differnet
parts of Asia. I think that Hong Kong is very westernized which makes the potential culture
shock a lot less. There are a lot of things that still surprised me though such as the level of
fear the people have of germs and sickness which you will see because people with colds will
walk around with masks. Also everything is very ordered and there are many rules which I did
not experience in other Asian countries.
In conclusion, I would definitely recommend Hong Kong as an exchange destination. I feel
that Hong Kong is one of the best places you can go to exchange because it is such a diverse
city with many things to do, it’s easy to get around, it’s centrally located in Asia and thus
traveling to other countires is very easy and cheap, it is more westernized than other places
which is definitely an advantage and etc. Also the university is really nice and beautiful
because it is located a bit further away from the city which allows for one to get a break from
the busy city.
Contact details:
Can the International Relations Office share your e-mail address with prospective exchange
students, so that other students could contact you for more information? YES