Andrew LAU

Student of The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Exchange to Monash University, Australia

It has been my dream to go on an exchange. To me, the idea of exchange is that you can share your culture and life experiences with local students and people from all around the globe, and the other way round. Australia is a dream place for me that I have never thought I could step on, not to mention living here. This must be my most precious oncein-a-lifetime experience and the most unforgettable moments in my life.

I lived in Farrer Hall of the Monash Residential Services throughout the five-month period. It is located at a walking distance of 15 minutes from the main learning area of the university, which is regarded as “living on campus”. Compared to the halls and buildings in Hong Kong, the few residential halls in Monash are shorter and bigger on average. In particular, Farrer Hall where I lived is a 4-storey building with almost 100 rooms on my floor.

There is no air conditioning in almost all living places in Australia. Most of the houses and halls are built by brick. Brick is famously known as being able to provide warmer winter and cooler summer in indoor area for residents. I was absolutely amazed by this idea and totally agreed with it because the heater which was operated by just hot tap water, was barely useful for me. It was warm enough in my room.

Melbourne is the most livable city in the world for 3 consecutive years. One of the reasons I think is the environment and building density. Other than the few blocks of residential halls, I could hardly see any buildings in 500 metres’ distance. The scenery is extremely green with many trees and grass. It is definitely good for health including your breath and sight. Since spring, I had been running around the area. Living in such a pleasant place made me feel
very contented.

One may find it easy to study here when knowing the normal study load is 4 courses per semester. However, if one thinks that the graduates in Australia learn less than others, it is a wrong analogy. Courses in Australia focus more on nonlecture learning hours. It has comparatively fewer lecture hours and less assignment but commonly requires more thorough and intuitive reports for each assignment. I really learnt something after researching on materials of a few chapters and writing an at-least-ten-page report.

The grading of courses is not as mild as one may think. However, it is quite encouraging because of the choice of words for grades in Australia, that is, Credit for a normal grade C, Distinction for a normal B and High Distinction for an A. To me, the wordings really matter. On the contrary, it may not be imaginable that an A, i.e. high distinction, is more difficult to obtain than in Hong Kong.

Australia has 6 states and 2 territories, namely New South Wales (NSW), Victoria (VIC), Queensland (QLD), Tasmania (TAS), South Australia (SA), Western Australia (WA), North Territory (NT) and Australia Capital Territory (ACT, i.e. Canberra). Properly planned and funded, I had been to 5 states and 1 territory out of the above. The experience was very memorable as it was so lucky for me to walk through this special country. Each state has its own character and you would not find the same special features in two different cities in Australia.

Australia is an island country, a really big island. The country is populated in only coastal area, in which almost all cities are characterized by a harbor or river. Australia is also a multi-cultural land with almost every citizen as an immigrant or was an immigrant few generations before. Every race in Australia is growing in population, in particular, Chinese people in Australia is growing much faster in proportion nowadays.

I have never thought that I could have a chance to travel around Australia. Exchange is a good opportunity for me to step on this piece of blessed land in the southern hemisphere.

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