Friday, October 21, 2011
Yuki Lam @ Bocconi University, Italy (from CityU) 7 February - 1 June 2011
February 14, 2011 Monday
Today the school hold an exchange cocktail party for us. Almost every exchange student attend the party. It is a very fun and new experience to me as this is a rare culture in Hong Kong’s Universities. The wine culture is not that popular in Hong Kong than in Italy, so this was the first time I have ever tried to be welcomed by a cocktail party. After the party, we head to a restaurant for dinner. Again, this is a totally new experience to all of us. A restaurant in the afternoon will transform into a bar with buffet at night. We are taught with a famous Italian culture on that night, which is called “Apperitivo”. “Apperitivo” is an Italian food culture, where we can enjoy all the unlimited food with buying one drink costs 8 or 9 Euro in that restaurant. We were very happy because it was like we can enjoy a budget buffet in Hong Kong. Some foods were quite new to me, there were pasta, cheese, pizza, etc. the outlook of the pasta was quite weird as well. After today, I understand that this world is so large that we may not know everything, so whenever we have chance to learn new things, we have to treasure it and try to enjoy and experience of other culture such as the party, wine and food culture in Italy. Always keep an open mind, respecting our own culture while also appreciate the others.
March 1, 2011 Tuesday
Today I have acquired lots of new knowledge and skills. As one of my objectives to study abroad is to learn from other educational traditions and cultures. Therefore I take courses which do not covered in my University in Hong Kong. I took a management of fashion company course, as I know there is long history of fashion culture in Italy, thus, I know I must be able to learn many special knowledge apart from my original study. What is surprising was that the course professor had invited senior management people from many famous fashion companies to give us a lecture about their experiences such as Hermes, Gucci Group, Ray Ban, etc. these were really rewarding experiences for me to have a further understanding in Italian fashion culture. I enjoyed these lectures a lot and had learnt the Italian attitude of doing things as well. They love perfection, thus they value a lot in quality. Unlike Hong Kong, we always want efficiency, thus somehow we might neglect or forgo quality for efficiency.
After class, I go to ski, which I haven’t tried in my entire life, with the school tour. This is a fun and hard experience because we had not taken any course about skiing, all we did was to look at others and learn. After a thousand falls, we finally could ski for a short path without falling. I have acquired another new skill in my exchange life. What is more, this was not just a skill, but a training of my determination to be prepared any time to take on challenge. This was a good training before my graduation, because I know that there would always be challenges and difficulties when we work in the real world. Thus, I really thank for the school for giving us an opportunities to learn.
March 15, 2011 Tuesday
Another ability that I have trained up with is to do things independently. As we went for exchange and were far from our hometown and parents, we must handle everything on our own. Simple stuffs such as cooking, laundry, booking air ticket and insurance all by myself. Not only have I trained to cook a nice meal, but also handle difficulties on my own. I was living with some of my exchanges buddies on off campus apartment, thus, the host Universities didn’t help us when we had an unfair treatment by the landlord. The landlord accused us for bringing bedbug to her house which we knew we haven’t and we had suffered from this problem once we got into this house already. Then she asked some pest control people to come killing the bugs without noticing us and put all the cost on us which is a huge amount costs 1000 Euro. We were very angry and tried to seek help from host University, Chinese ambassador in Italy, however, no one could help. We were very disappointed, but we didn’t give up and tried to seek help from Italian friends and others to bargain for us. However, though it didn’t work at last, when I think back, I appreciated our efforts because we were united and had tried our best to solve the problem. I understand that when we are away from our parents and our hometown, we are alone, so we had to solve problem on our own. What is more, this is a very good experience to all of us that we have to be very clear whenever we sign any contracts as there might always be evil people trying to trick us. This was an important and costly lesson we learnt to protect ourselves.
June 1, 2011 Wednesday
Today is the last day of the exchange study, I had a farewell dinner with all exchange students. We are glad to know each other, we are happy to learn a lot from other countries and culture. This was a day and a good opportunity for me to review my half year experience. When I first came to Milan, I heard from others that Italy was dangerous, especially at night because there are many pick pockets and gangsters. And we have real experiences happened around us, some of our buddies’ wallet or other personal stuffs had been stolen. Therefore I had paid extra attention no matter when I was walking on the street or riding on the tram. Luckily, I haven’t met any of these robberies. However, when I looked back, I started to understand that this may not be related to luck, but the attention around the new environment. This was a really good training for me to protect myself. I know that although there are lots of evil people in the world, we can still escape from them once we know how to protect ourselves. After this exchange study experience, I really feel myself had grown to be an adult.
Labels: 2010/2011 Semester B
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Heather Wong @ University of Strathclyde, UK (from CityU) February - June 2011
Time flies and I finally came back to Hong Kong. The last half year was a dream to me, an extraordinary and unforgottable dream. I experienced so many different things during this half year, including changing attitude, meeting new friends, experiencing different cultures etc.
I did have high expectation about excahnge before the trip, a lot of fantacy. But at the same time, I did also understand that I may have to gone through a lot of difficulties and delimmas. So I felt complicated before the trip. Attitude influence mind set a lot, I can only think of the negative side if I think in the negative way. Luckily, I always believe that a coin has two sides. When I lose something, I must have gain something at the same time. And it is very important to have such belief not only when I go exchange but in my entire life, to keep optimistic and striving.
I met so many different people during the last half year and they all inspired me a lot. Being an exchange student, I admire that I was not good enough at the beginning. Maybe due to the unfamiliar environment, I did not take much initiative to get to know more people in the first welcoming event for exchange students organized by the host university. But then I met a Spanish exchange student. He came to me and said” Remember, you are an exchange student! You do not need to be afraid. Just go and meet people, learn new things and enjoy your life here!” These words influenced me a lot and I always keep them in mind.
I found that such exchange experience to be very memorable. During the last half year, I met so many friends from different countries: France, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Australia etc. We went picnic, dined, watched movie… And we still keep in touch with each other even though we now back to our own countries.
On the other hand, such exchange experience helps me to become a better person. Before going exchange, I was a person who easily gets panic if things do not goes with the plan. My professor joked that he hopes I will lose all my wallet, money and passport that I can learn how to stay calm when bad things happen. And just like what he wishes, I suffered many different dilemmas such as buying the wrong tickets and get lost when traveling. The first time I bought the wrong ticket, I was shocked and panic. I was emotionally upset and take quite a period to have emotional recovery and think of the solutions. But then, similar situations happened again and again, I started to get used to them and more importantly, I understand that there is always a solution. The most important thing is to “keep calm and carry on.”
Almost everybody envied me that I can travel in Europe. That is true and I am glad that I have such opportunity to travel around. I am always interested in different cultures and I believe that the best way to learn a culture is to experience it. The most unforgettable experience it the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton. It is such a grand event. And this is one of the many special experiences that I had.
Being thousands of miles from home was not always easy. But it was also an opportunity for me to learn. Being the eldest child in my family, I am taught to be a very independent person. I get used to take care of my own and my younger sister and brother, do all the housework, cook the dinner, handle all the sundry duties etc. However, I was still like a “princess” at home. My parent loves me so much and they always put me first. Although I love my parent so much as well, sometimes I was impatient when they talked to me. Being apart from them, I know how their love is important to me and I learned to cherish it.
Before going exchange, I had a lot of fantasy. Having tried to live a new life, meeting new friends, improving English, learning and experiencing different cultures… It was really fantastic in some aspects, but things are always two-sided: When you gain something, you always lose something. It is not pessimistic, but preparation. It is always good to adjust our attitude and thought in order to face the fickle environment. It is not pessimistic, but instead optimistic. It is always good to remember that things are two-sided: When you lose something, you always gain something.
Although I gone through a serious of difficulties, I did gain a lot far more than I expected including academic knowledge, personal moral, attitude and a lot more. These experiences are definitely unforgettable and critical in my life.
Labels: 2010/2011 Semester B
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