Debbie Tutaan

University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Exchange to City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Choosing to study in Hong Kong was one of the best choices I had made throughout my university life. Hong Kong is a vibrant city, filled with neon lights, flashy cars, a very affluent society with a spectacular harbour lined with skyscrapers.

Coming to Hong Kong to study was a step in dark as I did not know what lay ahead of me. Little did I know, that I was going to have an experience of a lifetime filled with lots of late nights painting the town red, lots of exploring and sight seeing, living within the compound of the university, learning to work in groups from another culture, eating take away everyday and even to the extent of skipping breakfast as each day started after midday.

Studying in Hong Kong gave a good insight to the Chinese culture. I enjoyed dining out eating the various cuisines up on offer from Yum Cha, Chicken Feet to the extensive range of seafood to the kebabs at 6am in the morning.

Studying at City University was very different from studying back home. Students in Hong Kong seem to be very focused on their studies willing to give up weekends and evenings to catch up on all the work and cover all homework that is assigned. In Hong Kong they prioritise studies before any extra curricular activities. For this, I admire the motivation of these students.

The facilities of the university where unbelievable – from an American style cafeteria, to a library that that had an extensive range of books, state of the art classrooms, very active Student Societies, to having laptops available for loan. At the beginning of the semester I was puzzled as to why so many students hid behind laptops during 3 hour lectures – to only find out half way through the semester that a majority where finishing off group assignments or investing their attention to MSN Messenger instead of listening to the professor.

The student residence was a place where all the students would unite each night at the benches provided to discuss any unusual experiences for the day and enlighten each other about each others culture from the 100 or so exchange students from all over the globe. Each night at the benches was like being at a United Nations gathering as we had a vast range of cultures represented on exchange.

The university facilitated various events to help us foreigners to experience and be immersed into the Chinese culture from holding a banquet dinner, to allowing us to participate in The Moon Festival Celebrations to holding beginners Cantonese classes to help us navigate our way through Hong Kong.

Overall, I believe that studying in Hong Kong has complemented my university studies by being able to experience studying and living in another culture. Most importantly it enabled me to meet and befriend fellow exchange student from all over the globe.

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