James Funder

The University of Queensland, Australia
Exchange to The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

The question of where to go was arguably the hardest part of my exchange experience. I remember spending hours mulling over not just different universities in the same region, but which continent to go to. On the day of the deadline, I settled on the University of Hong Kong, and it turned out to be one of the best choices I’ve ever made.

Hong Kong is a fantastically vibrant city. People are always on the move, the public transport is second to none, the nightlife is amazing, and a plethora of restaurants serving cuisines from throughout the world are vying for your custom day and night. However, what many people don’t realize about Hong Kong is that it is also host to some fantastic outdoor activities as well. There is great trekking on Hong Kong Island, in the New Territories and on Lamma Island. There are also a number of beaches where you can either go to relax for the day or, on the more remote beaches, set up camp and spend the night in front of a fire with your friends.

On top of being a fantastic city, my experience in Hong Kong was really completed by all the friends I have made over here. I now have friends from all over the world whom I plan to stay with when I travel, and whom I’m sure will stay with me in Australia if they ever come to visit. I feel like I have some kind of unique bond with so many of them through the experiences that we have shared: from the initial feelings of being overwhelmed, to the amazing beach trips, the midnight hikes, the 3am dim sum sessions, and just adjusting to life in a foreign city in general. Additionally, I made a lot of local friends, mostly my hallmates. There were a lot of hall functions where you could get to know one another, and the local students are really friendly and will go out of their way to take you to some of the smaller, more interesting local haunts that you wouldn’t otherwise get to see. This really gave me an interesting insight into the local Hong Kong culture. I was also able to make a number of friends through playing soccer with my floormates and for my hall. When I come back to Hong Kong, I’ll be sure to have a reunion match with them.

While saying all this, I don’t want to neglect the time I actually spent at university. The University of Hong Kong is one of the top ranked universities in the region, and when I talked to the locals about the efforts they had to go through just to get accepted, I felt truly privileged to be here. And this high standard is reflected in both the teaching and the wide array of subjects offered. Without a doubt, I took 3 of the most interesting and well taught courses I have ever taken while on exchange: Comparative Law, Multiculturalism and the Law, and International Criminal Law. They were all masters courses, so the format was less lecture and tutorial and more seminar style, which was very different from what I was used to. However, I found it to be a very positive change, one that really made me actively participate in class and thereby get to know the material a lot more intimately.

Another thing I have loved about this exchange is the travel opportunities it has afforded me. In the many holidays we had, I managed to make my way to the Philippines, Borneo, and Guilin and Yangshuo in Mainland China. While at the first 2, I did some of the best scuba diving I’ve ever done, and also climbed Mt Kinabalu in Borneo (I’m on the peak in the picture above), which was an awe-inspiring experience. The scenery in Guilin and Yangshuo was the most spectacular I’ve ever seen – a friend and I rented motorbikes and just rode around the countryside for days on end.

Now that the semester is coming to an end, I’m really not sure what I will miss the most: the friends, the lifestyle, the traveling, or just the city itself. However, while it’s quite sad to be leaving so soon and saying goodbye to everyone, I can’t help but feel grateful to have had this experience. As a lucky recipient of the Endeavour Cheung Kong Scholarship, I would like to thank the Australian Government and the Cheung Kong Group for helping to make my exchange the amazing experience it was. I would whole-heartedly recommend the University of Hong Kong to anyone considering going on exchange.

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