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Monica McNab
RMIT University, Australia
Exchange to Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
The idea of living in Asia was a little daunting at first. I wondered if I would be able to cope with such a different culture and environment. I have to be honest I wasn・t sure. Yet I always like a challenge, there is so much to learn from it. So I pushed on, wrapping up my studies here at RMIT・s Textile Design and prepared for the trip abroad.
I really couldn・t imagine what it would be like and the whole thing seemed so surreal. It really didn・t feel like I was going. Even after I had arrived these feeling still remained. The towering cement, strange smells and different language made me feel dizzy and lost. How could this be reality? But it was.
After taking an insanely, driven bus ride from the airport, I arrived at Hung Hom Station. There I met my Hong Kong buddy, Iris, who was assigned to me by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her purposes was to assist me during my stay. Thank goodness for that, otherwise I may never have found my accommodation.
With a little help it wasn・t long until I found my bearings. Hong Kong became quite easy to navigate, especially the public transport, which was excellent. Trains would come every 3 minutes and buses every 10 minutes, so there is no waiting around, and no need to run. I took good advantage of this and saw a lot, so it wasn・t long before I was showing the locals around.
Adjusting to the lack of space was probably one of the most difficult things. I was living on the 18th floor of the student halls, in a small room which was shared with another student. The bathroom was shared also with the room next to us. We didn・t really have a kitchen. They called it the pantry, that・s pretty much what it was. A tiny room shared by the whole floor, with one microwave and one electric cook top so I didn・t do much cooking but it didn・t matter too much as eating out was often cheaper then buying groceries, depending on where you went of course. The variety of small eateries, just in our local area seemed endless.
I had no trouble adjusting to the lifestyle. Like all the young Honkers, I too stayed up till 2 or 3 am no matter what time I had to be at Uni. I took regular naps, went shopping any chance I got, mostly in the evenings as shops were open till 10 or 12 every night. As a designer this was a totally great way to combine work and pleasure.
Despite the fact that Hong Kong is a very multi-cultural city, The Cantonese locals are still very prominent and although most people speak English they speak it in quite varying capacity. At times it was quite challenging to communicate, but luckily their culture is quite good with hand gestures and pointing.
Yet it wasn・t just the locals I was interacting with, there were many different exchange students from all around the world. There were roughly 200 from Europe, USA and other parts of Asia. It was great to be able to make friends and share this experience with them.
Time went far too quickly, and before I knew it I had to leave my newly found friends and home. I am so grateful for my experience, and to the students who befriended me and helped me find my way. Especially my buddy Iris, who was a great support and helped me through a most interesting time.
My program of study at HKPU was very different from RMIT because of the focus on fashion rather than just textiles. The facilities at HKPU are very good with a lot of money spent on new machines. I had access to digital print facilities on campus but the lack of CAD labs on campus was a real shock compared to the CAD labs at Brunswick campus. There was a lot of emphais on Powerpoint in classes for presentations and I had to do a few group team projects which certainly tested my communication skills. The HK students were always late for classes, mobiles were going off all the time and their attention span was minimal!
The experience of the exchange program was very beneficial to me because it developed my self reliance skills. I had to make decisions on my own because of the teaching style at HKPU. I felt my skills and capabilities developed at RMIT enabled me to cope with the projects at HKPU very well. My presentation
skills were more refined and professional compared to the HK students but they certainly had very good skills in fashion and pattern making. In retrospect the exchange experience was a great opportunity and I am grateful to DEST and Cheung Kong for their support of the RMIT/HKPU exchange.
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