Jessie LEUNG

Student of City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Exchange to University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

In 2014, I received the Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Awards and my host university was University of Technology, Sydney. It was one of the most valuable experiences in my life and I do not regret going. When I was a small kid, I went to Australia once. However, my memory towards Australia was blurred as I was very young. Before departure, my senior told me Australia was an awesome place and I would fall in love with it. The fact is, Australia is really wonderful and exceeded my expectations.

In this journey, I experienced the Aussie teaching culture. It is true that the teaching method in Hong Kong is quite passive whereas the teaching style in Australia is very active. This learning atmosphere changed my learning style and I tried to be more active while learning. It was a great help towards my studies. Students studying in Australia are so hard-working and their learning attitude influenced me a lot.

Studying was only one of the reasons that I went on exchange. Another reason was to experience the local culture. I lived in the city area of Sydney where city life was so cool. I experienced the local culture of Australia, for instance, the internationalization in Australia. We met different people who had come from different countries. As I lived in the housing provided by my university, I lived with other international students. We shared and exchanged our own culture. I learnt about other cultures and made new friends from different parts of the world. When I look back, I was so lucky that I could participate in Vivid Sydney. Vivid Sydney is one of the greatest festivals in Sydney. It had lots of contemporary artworks which were placed at some city areas and these artworks involved the use of colorful lights. It was so memorable to be involved in this annual event as it was rare that George Street was so busy at night.

Australia is such a large country and Sydney is merely one of the small parts. Therefore, one of my best experiences in Australia was travelling. There are six states and two territories and I went to some of them. Different states have different cultures and I was lucky I had the chance to experience them. When I travelled around, I reflected deeply about my life in Hong Kong and also my future. The Aussie life is so relaxed and I found that it is the type of life I am looking for. I’ve taken some of these learnings and incorporated them into my lifestyle and my attitude.

This exchange was so important to me. I am so happy to have gone on exchange during my university life. If I have chance to choose my destination of exchange again, I definitely would choose Australia.

© Copyright 2018 CK Group. All rights reserved.