Caitlyn THOMAS

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

My semester abroad spent at The University of Hong Kong was the best four months of my life and the most memorable experience I could have ever hoped for. I’ll be honest, I thought that I had a pretty good idea of what exchange entailed after having listened to a number of my friends brag about their exchange semesters in the past. For this reason, I arrived in Hong Kong with pretty high expectations where these expectations were far exceeded within three days of arriving.

After the initial shock of the unbearable humidity, I was struck by the height and density of the buildings, the amount of people that could cram into a perfectly clean MTR, the hills that never seemed to end and the views that you could get from any one location across the island of Hong Kong. I was also struck by the immense cultural diversity that could be found in such a small area. In the financial district, you could find local Hongkongers, Chinese and British people, South Africans, Australians, Americans and many more. In Kowloon, you could find just about any Asian nationality that exists, where people visit for some of the best shopping and food in the world. And at the University of Hong Kong, you could find all of that and more.

The University of Hong Kong is one of the topranked universities in the world and so attracts people from all across the globe. It was not uncommon to see study groups formed with people who each came from a different country and I made it my goal to meet and befriend as many of these people as possible. In doing so, I spent very little time alone. Each day that I was at university, I would meet a group of friends for lunch where we would then make dinner plans and almost always end up at Lan Kwai Fong, the famous partying district on Hong Kong Island. On other days, I made sure that I saw as much of Hong Kong as possible. Whether that was by climbing to the top of The Peak, visiting the Big Buddha on Lantau Island, practicing Tai Chi with a view of the Hong Kong skyline, trawling through the Ladies’ Markets in Kowloon, or sipping a cocktail at the highest bar in the world, I made sure I saw it all. These experiences confirmed to me that Hong Kong is the perfect combination of East meets West and I can’t imagine having spent my exchange semester anywhere else.

The Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Awards also provided me an opportunity to travel, visiting Singapore, China and Macau during my semester abroad. What was perhaps most memorable, however, is the friends that I made while on exchange. I’ve since gone to visit almost all of them across the globe and have no doubt that these friends will be lifelong friends. We speak constantly about having a reunion in Hong Kong in the future and I am counting down the days until this becomes a reality.

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