Bao-Ying Wong

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

I would like to thank the Cheung Kong Group for its initiative in supporting student exchange. It is a worthwhile cause and I believe that everyone that undertakes an exchange programme learns life lessons which cannot be taught in a classroom.

I view my exchange experience as an experience of a lifetime. When else will you have the time to really get to know a country? I lived in a hall and I believe this is the only way to do exchange. In a hall you get involved with all the activities. You learn the hall chants. Let me give you an example, “We from, we from Starr Hall” (to the beat of “We will rock you”), as cringeworthy as it may be inter-hall cheer competitions are taken very seriously as a matter of hall pride, that cheer is our hall’s secret weapon. In a hall you get to know the local students, as well as the exchange students. I was lucky enough to know a bit of Cantonese, although hardly fluent and so it was a bit easier for me to interact with the locals. An example of one of the rituals is that before exams, each of the floors will go out and eat Super Pass dinner, cut a whole roasted pig and write good luck messages to each other. To “Super Pass” is to pass with flying colours in your exams. When it is your turn to chop the pig, make sure you cut it in one go to represent passing through easily. I attribute at least some of my academic success at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) to the “Super Pass” ritual. This is what exchange is about, getting involved in the culture of your exchange country.

The great thing about Hong Kong is that you don’t have to cook, it is affordable to eat out for every meal. Although at times you do miss home cooked food, I was fortunate to have someone on my floor that cooked occasionally for everyone, our weekly floor soup, a friend who was on exchange who liked cooking seafood (his crabs were delicious) and a roommate who invited me back to her house to eat a couple of times.

Another great thing about exchange is that you meet a lot of awesome exchange students, everyone is friendly and I have made lifelong friends. On occasions some clubs are just all HKU exchange students and if you want to, there is always something to do socially. It includes going clubbing, going on a day trip to one of the islands or Shenzhen, having a Hong Kong style barbeque, all-you-can-eat hot pot, karaoke, shopping, tram party, McDonalds Birthday party, the race track, travelling to other parts of Asia and of course more shopping. This being said, you can still fit in all the social activities while still doing relatively well at university.

In the end although I still call Australia home, Hong Kong has become my home away from home. It will always have a special place in my heart. It is a city that is always alive, always moving and you will never get to really know it on a holiday.

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