Exchange Diary (CityU Students)

My name is Chung Sai Yau. I am a year 3 student from The City University of Hong Kong majoring in China Business under The Marketing Department. I will graduate in July, 2011. I have been awarded the Principal’s List in recognition of Outstanding Academic Performance in semester B, 2007-2008 when I studying in College. Moreover, I have been awarded Hong Kong Tai Po Good Student Awards by Tai Po School Liaison Committee of Hong Kong from 2004 to 2007. In addition, I have been awarded the 2002 Best Improved Students Award of Hong Kong when I studying in secondary school.

I have three mains reasons of chosen Singapore as my exchange destination. These were learning different cultures, polishing my language abilities, and experiencing the differences between Singapore and Hong Kong.

Learning different cultures
Singapore is a multi-cultural country. It has a diverse population of close to five million people made up of Chinese, Malays, Indians and other countries. Nearly 50% of populations in Singapore are foreigners who study and work there. Since the information communication technology, transportation and the network technology is improving day by day. The world is becoming smaller and smaller. It is very easy to do business with other people from different countries. In this globalization trend, doing business is not confined within one country. As a business student, I should learn the cultural differences among many different countries in order to know how to do business with other people who have different cultural background. More importantly, gaining friendship with other people who have different cultural background is one of the most meaningful life experiences in this Singapore exchange program for me. It may not happen again when I graduated from university.

Polishing language abilities

As mentioned before, Singapore is a multi-cultural country which consists of many races. Also, Singapore is a country that the people can speak many kinds of languages. They can speak English, Mandarin and other languages very well. In this program, one of my aims was that polishing my English and Mandarin abilities in speaking, writing, reading and listening areas. Fortunately, most of the subjects in Singapore Management University were project-oriented. I can form a group of students with different background students that I can improve my language abilities through interacting with my group mates. It was the rare chances that I can communicate with them using English and Mandarin. Furthermore, they taught me how to write a professional business report in proper English and Mandarin. I have learnt a lot of skills in these aspects and it can help me when I go back to Hong Kong to study and work after my graduation.

Experiencing the differences between Singapore and Hong Kong
Many news reporters always comment the government policies, economic environment, living standard and so on by comparing Singapore and Hong Kong. It is hard to experience the differences between Singapore and Hong Kong by watching newspaper. In my point of view, it should be experience in person. In this trip, I want to experience the education system and citizenship consciousness among these two places. Firstly, the education system was very well in Singapore. Most of the students can use English and Mandarin which were two of the most popular and comment languages in the world. It would gave them the competitive advantages when they going out to find a job or doing business with other countries and people. Although Hong Kong is an international city, the amount of people who can speak very well in both English and Mandarin are lower comparing with Singapore. On the other hand, I can always see that the Singapore citizens have the good citizenships which always gave up their seats to the people in need. Also, this city was very clean because most of the people will throw their rubbish at the dustbin rather on the street. It should be the learning point for the Hong Kong people.

MY COMMUNITY SERVICE EXPERIENCE

I had joined two community service projects during my exchange program in Singapore, which were organizing a one-day mid-autumn festival celebration for the mentally ill patients in Institute of Mental Health (IMH) and helping the children who come from low-income families, and many have parents who are either divorced or separated in Learning is Fun and Exciting Program (LIFE) under the social service institution - Beyond Social Services to assist them with schoolwork and engage them in other recreational activities such as play, and group singing sessions. Furthermore, we will help them produce a CD that saying their voice.

Although I had joined a lot of community service project in Hong Kong, this was the first time for I participated the CSP in the foreign country. The one-day mid-autumn festival celebration was organized by Caretalyst which is one of the community service clubs in Singapore Management University.

Institute of Mental Health (IMH)

The purpose of the CSP was interacting with IMH patients through celebration of this special festival as to bring joy to them. A group of volunteers had participated this meaningful event.

In this day, all of us have to prepare some card which a lot of encouraging sentences were written down that we will give them after the celebration in order to encourage and motivate them in the treatment period. Moreover, we had playing some games and showing some movies with them for ice-breaking. Also, we had singing karaoke and dancing with the patients. In the beginning of the game, most of them were very passive. They seem not interested in the game. Fortunately, they were enjoyed and happy in these games after our motivation. During the karaoke session, surprisingly, they were actively participated in singing the songs that was the most impressed me. At the end of the event, all of the patients can get one card written from us. I saw their face were very joyful and smile. Everyone was happy with this ending and the effort from all of us was no wasted at all.

Fun and Exciting Program (LIFE)

The project goals of another CSP which was helping the children in LIFE program was that helping the children from disadvantaged backgrounds, raising awareness for Beyond Social Services and sustaining our project in long term. It is one of our projects in the course – Leadership and Team Building.

Firstly, we helped children from disadvantaged backgrounds by volunteering at the beneficiary at least twice a week. Most of the children come from broken families and suffer from some form of financial difficulty. In general, the children are recommended by their schools to join this after school program so that they can receive additional academic support and behavioural counseling. Our team was able to help the children by providing them with academic support whereby our team tutored them with their homework.

Secondly, we raised awareness for our beneficiary. We were given a booth at Power 98’s Carvivor Rally event, where we held our publicity campaign. We educated the public about Beyond Social Services by giving out flyers that elaborated about the purpose of the organization. We spoke to members of the public, and shared with them the details of our project and the beneficiary. Through the publicity campaign, the public offered their words of encouragement for the children of the LIFE program to achieve their goals in life, through a photo scrapbook; in addition, they were allowed to pledge donations to the beneficiary, thus helping to sustain the efforts of our beneficiary to continue to provide support for many more children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Lastly, we managed to sustain our project. We will provide continuous funding for the beneficiary through the sale of the CD as the beneficiary has agreed to sell the CD on their website. We have managed to secure sponsors that were willing to cover the cost of the CD production and the songwriter, vocal coach and recording studio have provided their services and expertise for free. This would include the composing of the song, vocal lessons for the children, the charges of using the recording studio and the mixing of the music that would be produced into a CD. Thus the money raised through the sale of the CD would go entirely to help sustain the programs of Beyond Social Services, which will include the LIFE program.

Although there were many challenges in the CSP, after all the events, we were successfully produced the CD which can raise fund for their program in long term sustainability, but more importantly, the children can express their feeling in the CD. It was an unforgettable experience for them. I hope that they can change their future by continuously chasing their dream. That was the ultimate goal of our project.

MY STUDENT EXCHANGE EXPERIENCE

In SMU, I have learnt a lot of skills including presentation skills, discussion skills and creative thinking skills. Most of the subjects in SMU are project-oriented based. We need to present our ideas to the professors during the class. I have learnt a lot of skills in creating a professional PowerPoint and presentation skills from my classmates. Also, class participation occupied a lot of percentage of our final grade. Thus, most of the students will express their opinion and ideas during the class. I can learn a lot of things which I should aware when I discussing with others such as no blaming and focus on the main situations rather than people. Furthermore, I have learnt a lot of creative thinking skills thought my creative communication class because the professor invites a lot of professional who are working in the advertisement firm or the story writer. They gave us many lectures that told me how to think creatively. In addition, we have to create a storyboard for the real business company. It can give me the thinking training in different dimension that can help me think critically and creatively.

On the other hand, I had joined the host family program organized by SMU. I had joined them in a lot of significant activities including SAFRA Singapore Bay Run and Army Half Marathon 2010 and the 2010 Formula One Race. All of these activities were very famous in Singapore and luckily I can join with my host family. It was the first time for me to run on the road in Singapore and the first time for me to hear the very louder engine sound in the formula one race. This host family program can gave me a lot of understanding for the Singapore culture. At the same time, my host family can have a better understanding about Hong Kong.

Last but not least, I have been travelled a lot of places which including Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and so on. It gave me the chances to explore other cultures. Also, studying and living in Singapore for four months opened up my eyes as well as strengthened my independence, learning skills and language skills. It was the very important experiences which could help me in the future success.

CONCLUSION

In this Exchange Program, I have met a lot of friends from different countries and city including China, India, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan. It gave me the chance that extended my network in all of these countries and city. It was very difficult to establish friendship within four months exchange program among more than seven countries and city but finally we can establish the long term friendship and network. That was the most meaningful experience in my life.

Furthermore, this program provides me a lot of local community service experiences. In this time, I understood that there were no boundaries between countries and countries. We can help any people in need in anytime and anyplace if you are willing to give your helping hands. After this trip, I hope that I can establish a social service institution that helping people around the world and without any boundaries in the near future.

Lastly, thank you for the Alumni Giving Club and City University of Hong Kong. They gave me a lot of supports and chances to experience Singapore, serve the community and extend my global network. Thank you!

Labels: 2010/2011 Semester B