Hong Kong
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Academic Differences between CUHK and Manchester
Riva Japaul, CUHK, Hong Kong Before coming to Hong Kong I assumed that the teaching style at CUHK wouldn’t be that different to Manchester, 3 months later and I’ve been proven wrong time and time again. The language barrier is definitely a recurring theme in these differences!
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Hong Kong: First Impressions
Riva Japaul, Anthropology, CUHK, Hong Kong I’ve been in Hong Kong for just over a month now, and it definitely feels like home. I was expecting to experience some degree of culture shock, but it’s been surprisingly easy to settle into life in Hong Kong. Although HK is completely different to Manchester and my home in London, the energetic nature of the city makes it feel familiar.
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Christmas in the Tropics and Post-Abroad Wanderlust
Elena Thomas: The Chinese University of Hong Kong The last month abroad was somewhat mentally and emotionally challenging for multiple reasons. Firstly, the last month was exam/final paper period and I was rather behind in my studies due to the fact I was often travelling/adventuring on weekends rather than studying. At first it took some time to get back into the routine of daily/extended library visits but don’t fear-it’s a bit like riding a bike…Secondly, everyone’s exams finished at different times therefore all of my companions would leave to return home or continue travelling at separate points throughout the month so I often wasn’t able to have a proper goodbye…
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Vietnam: Abundance of fake Nikes, tropical fruits, and kind souls
Elena Thomas: Chinese University of Hong Kong Upon our evening arrival to Hanoi, we immediately scouted out a well regarded hub for local fare. The streets were a frenzy of mopeds and open air commerce. Women balanced alluring displays of tropical fruits on large table like contraptions strapped around their hips. Dimly lit streets were lined with seemingly endless copy sneakers of the predominantly nike genre. We had an absolute feast of astoundingly economical dishes from crab to snail to blended tropical fruit beverages in gaudy glasses. On initial review of the couple million we had racked up, I had a brief panic before coming to the realisation that £1…
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Academic differences in Hong Kong
By Keir Burbidge, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong I don’t think I expected studying here in Hong Kong to be so different to being in the UK. The first major difference is that I’m doing 5 units here which take up 15 hours a week here compared to 3 units and 9 hours back home… and if anybody tells you that the courses are easier here then they are either lying or on a pass/fail year!
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First Few Weeks in Hong Kong – Initial Reflections
Anthony Bladen – The Chinese University of Hong Kong I have been at CUHK for almost three weeks now and while everyone at Manchester has just finished exam season, here at CUHK we only have one more week of classes until the Chinese New Year break – meaning I have a lot to talk about!
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Hong Kong Arrival: Whole Roasted Pigeon served next to Pizza Express
Elena Thomas: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Journey: Total travel time: 27 hours Total non sleep time: 36 hours Embarking on the longest travel duration period of my life, I couldn’t help but gaze in awe at every occurrence around me. Arriving in Toronto and strutting to my gate for the over sixteen hour flight to Hong Kong to come, I was taken back by the mob of non-westerners. This was perhaps the first time in my life i’ve experienced being a total ethnic minority. It was strangely exhilarating. I was placed in the last row of the entire plane next to an elderly Hong Kong woman who spoke…
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Where has the year gone?!
By Alex Ure (Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong) “Hong Kong is a city of paradoxes, where bamboo coexists with concrete, and temples are neighbours with Gucci” – Hong Kong Coconuts. I read an article about a foreign photographer, Kyra Campbell who really captures the true essence of Hong Kong. The article has already initiated my reminiscence of Hong Kong, and I haven’t even left yet! I really will miss the diversity of this culture. Superimposing the ‘old’ and ‘new’ juxtaposed features of Hong Kong together in one photo is really representative of life here. Below is one of my favourite photographs of hers, merging skyscrapers with dried fish –…
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Chinese New Year – Gong Hey Fat Choy!
By Alexandra Ure (Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong) I cannot believe that February is drawing to a close, now the Chinese New Year festivities are over and mid-terms are around the corner, I need to get my head down (I’m writing this post first though, as it’s much more fun!). Spending Chinese New Year in Hong Kong has been amazing; many exchange students took the week off as an opportunity to travel. I was intending to travel to Borneo, but had so many issues with booking flights that I couldn’t go. This has been somewhat a blessing in disguise as I’ve been able to experience the CNY festivities in…
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Bring on Semester Two
By Alexandra Ure (Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong) I cannot believe that I am now halfway through my study abroad experience in Hong Kong, which is constantly shaping up to be the best year of my life. Semester two commenced a few days ago so I’ve been settling back into the Asian lifestyle after spending the past few weeks back in the UK over the Christmas period. I am excited to be back in Hong Kong to continue to explore and immerse myself in this vibrant, colourful city and to complete my bucket list. Although it has been somewhat bittersweet returning as the majority of exchange students were only…
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Academic Differences – UK to HK
By Alexandra Ure (Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong) SUBJECT CHOICES Despite choosing and finalising subjects before arriving in Hong Kong by utilising the online subject choice information for PolyU, which was both informative and useful, I still ended up changing a few modules in the Add/Drop period. Unlike Manchester, you can choose any subjects from an inbound exchange list and change your subjects in the Add/Drop period, which is the first two weeks of the semester. I attended my scheduled classes and additional subjects that I thought I might be interested in, in case I did not like or find the modules I had already chosen to be suitable.…
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Settling into life in HK
By Alexandra Ure (Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong) So Hong Kong has been my new home for two weeks already, I have no idea where the time’s gone! It feels like so long since my departure from the UK and I’m surprised at how easily I’ve settled in and how welcoming the country is as a whole. There is perfect marriage of East-meets-West here which I think has made the transition of moving here so easy! I really cannot stress enough how amazing and intriguing I am finding Hong Kong is, I absolutely love it and can’t wait to really start immersing myself in the culture. The locals are…
