Rex Lui

The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Exchange to Australian National University, Australia

When I reached Canberra, the city where my host university is, I found myself in Fenner Hall, which was located off campus. Even more lucky or unlucky, I was assigned to a postgraduate floor. Initially, I thought I was unlucky because it took me 20 minutes to walk to school. I was also under the perception that postgraduate students seldom played or talked. The only interesting thing was the ‘Canberra Rex Hotel’ beside my hall – it had my name, ‘Rex’, written on its wall.

However, I later found that I was wrong. Walking/ cycling (my preference was cycling) to school was good exercise, especially in a city with so many trees. Ironically, it also made me more punctual for class.

Furthermore, I have really enjoyed living with my floor mates. They are from 12 different countries and some of them have worked before. We have shared our experiences and cultures with each other.

Sometimes we would also cook together and I learnt to cook (or at least distinguish between) dishes of different countries. I found myself becoming more mature and it was a very different experience compared with living in my halls in Hong Kong.

We also went hiking, picnicking and cycling together and it was really fun.

Apart from hall life, I also participated in other activities. For example, I joined an English workshop for Asian exchange students. Not only did I make friends from Taiwan, South Korea and China there, but I also learnt a lot of Australian slang and about the local culture.

One activity I enjoyed most was cycling. In Canberra, the air quality was excellent and there were bicycle paths on every main road. Apart from cycling to school every day, I also cycled during my leisure time. Every weekend I would cycle for an hour to shop. As dining out was too expensive, I also spent a lot of time cooking and now I am confident to say that I can cook (or even cook well).

During the semester break and at the end of the semester, I went to Sydney and Melbourne with some friends. These two largest cities in Australia were similar to Hong Kong: crowded and noisy, with people and cars all over. Nevertheless, the trip was still amusing. I saw many buildings in western architectural style and Chinatown was interesting too (although there were many Chinese around). I also went to famous tourist spots like the Great Ocean Road, Blue Mountain and Philips Island, where I saw wild penguins the first time.

I would like to thank the Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Scholarship Programme and the Office of Student Exchange at the University of Hong Kong for giving me this valuable opportunity to enrich my academic as well as my personal life. The exchange experience has not only enabled me to broaden my horizons, but also enabled me to make friends of different backgrounds. It has opened me to the world.

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