Experience Report Hong Kong Fall 2014 E-­‐mail: cheyenne.dohmen@hotmail.com Study program: Organization Studies Exchange semester: Fall 2014 Academic year: 2014-­‐2015 Host university: City University of Hong Kong Country: Hong Kong In the fall of 2014, I went on exchange to the City University of Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a Special Administration Region of China. This means it has more political and economic freedom than Mainland China. It is a big city with a lot of skyscrapers (and nice rooftop bars) and it is very diverse. Hong Kong is divided in two parts The peninsula Kowloon is very Chinese and Hong Kong Island is quite Western, there are also many small islands. CityU is located in Kowloon, just above the centre and is very easy to reach by MTR (the metro). The campus has three main buildings where most of the lectures were held. The campus is pretty colourful and decorated with all kinds of posters with information about activities organized by students. It has many sport facilities like a pool, a gym and a basketball court and it has many food facilities. At City Dining you could get the best rice dishes of the university! Hong Kong and CityU are totally different than Tilburg. The campus is bigger and more vivid. But it is at the same time easy to get around. Everywhere you walk you will see someone you know. When you go to Hong Kong you must go to the Victoria Peak. From the peak you can see the entire Hong Kong skyline. Or just go to one of the many rooftop bars, they all have a nice view. I think Sevva and Wooloomooloo have the best views. There are also some beautiful hiking trails and beaches. The beach of Sai Kung is one the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. CityU has thousands of students but it did not feel like it. They said that this semester, there were more than 500 exchange students. So, when you think you know most of the exchange students, there are always new people to meet. All the courses of CityU last one semester. September and October are the easy-­‐
going months, November is the deadline month and in December the exams start. Practical Information Because I still had to pass one course in Tilburg, I received all the information quite late from the Social faculty of CityU. But also the other students from TSB, who were going to Hong Kong, got the information late. This is the main reason why none of us got a room at the student’s residence. TiSEM received the information earlier and could apply for a room more than a week before us. All the rooms were occupied when we applied. I did not understand why the students of Business could apply earlier than the students of Social Sciences. This is also very unfair but we have addressed the problem to the international office of the Social Sciences faculty. I hope this will be better arranged in the future. At the website of CityU we could find some alternatives, but these were all very expensive. One of us knew an organization, WKHL, which could find an apartment for us. These rooms were smaller and more expensive than the rooms at the residence, but we did not really have a choice. Eventually, I was happy with my room. The service of WKHL was very good and we had a great location. We lived in Mong Kok; a typical Chinese neighbourhood with a lot of shops, and restaurants. The famous ladies market was a one-­‐minute walk from our apartment. After going out in LKF or Wan Chai, where almost every day there is ladies night (so free entrance and drinks all night for ladies), we could take a bus back home at any time and did not need to find a taxi that was willing to drive so far north back to the student residence. When we finally got our acceptance letter in June (they were not very fast with that either) we could apply for a visa. It took around 6/7 weeks before I received my visa, which meant I received it 2 days before I left. My arrival was arranged by WKHL, where I rented my room. I am glad they could pick me up because I had no idea where I needed to go with all my luggage. I arrived on Friday and on Monday our introduction began. We expected a lot because we are used to the Top-­‐week. It was a bit disappointing. We had one lunch with our faculty and some information sessions about Hong Kong, the university and some other practical things. I belonged to the Social faculty. Compared to the Business school, we had no excursion or other events. I also had a buddy but I did not hear a lot from him. That did not really matter because there are instructions everywhere with clear explanations or you could just ask someone else. The students were very helpful. When it came to social activities, other exchange students arranged a lot, for example hiking trips or boat trips. Every week there were parties you could go to. I only had contact with exchange students. We had one big group with exchange students with many nationalities, mostly Dutch, Swedish, Canadian, and Italian. Because everyone invites everyone you meet plenty of new people. In general, Hong Kong is cheaper than The Netherlands but groceries are comparable. Also housing cost 1000 euro’s more for the entire period because I did not get a room at the residence. In total I spent approximately 1000 euro’s a month, all included. Most of my money was spent on travelling. I visited Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Cambodia. When you are in Hong Kong, it is very easy and quit cheap to travel to other countries in Asia. So go out and see other countries and cultures! Academic Information September the 1st was my first official lecture day. The first week I had some introduction lectures so everyone could find out if they really liked the courses they had picked. I was very happy with this week because I could drop one course I really did not like and add another one. I had my last lecture on November 28th. From December 3rd the official exam period started until December 19th. I was very lucky because I had 2 exams before the official exam period, 1 in the study period and 1 in the first official week. On December 10th I was finished and could travel to Cambodia before I went home for Christmas. I followed courses about International Relations with the main focus on the Asia-­‐
Pacific. This was the first time I did courses in IR and it was very manageable. CityU will enrol you for your courses. I was very happy with that because I did not need to worry if I would be able to register on time for the right courses. All the courses I took were worth 3 credits (1 credit is 2 ECTS). These are the courses I took: Course Prerequisites Exam ECTS Comments AIS3121 Play Theories of None Final Exam 6 performance + International paper Relations AIS4072 Contemporary Presentation + None Final Quiz 6 Politics of the paper Asia Pacific AIS3032 State Presentation + and Economy None Final Quiz 6 paper of Asia SS4214 Crime Paper review and + group report None Final Quiz 6 Corruption in and Asia presentation Overall, the level of education difficulty in Hong Kong is lower than in the Netherlands. I had almost no homework, only presentations to prepare and papers to write. I had enough time to reach my deadlines so I had plenty of spare time to do fun things and to explore Hong Kong. Hong Kong did not give me a huge culture shock. But I did need to get used to the people. Mainlanders and locals of Hong Kong are so different than us. They sleep when they can. Half of the Chinese in the library were sleeping. Things like humour and ways of communication are totally different. For example, do not be sarcastic because they will not understand you and they will take it very literally. I have learned to be more patient and comprehendible for other cultures. You can follow Mandarin courses at CityU. I did not follow any language courses because Mandarin is very difficult to learn, especially in four months, and in Hong Kong people speak Cantonese, which is different than Mandarin. In Hong Kong everything is also in English, so you do not need to be afraid that no one will understand you. Maybe in some remote areas, but I never had problems. Although Hong Kong was originally not in my top three I am very happy that Hong Kong was my exchange destination. There could not be a bigger difference in cultures and habits. What I have learned most is that you need to be open-­‐
minded to exploit the full exchange experience. I became more open for new and unfamiliar experiences. I have more understanding for different cultures and it definitely enriched my knowledge about the world and people. Our way is not always the only and best way. If you have the chance to go on exchange, do it! It has been one of the best experiences of my life. I would definitely do it all over if I could! Mong Kok Skyline of Hong Kong from Victoria Peak Beach of Sai Kung