Monday, December 10, 2012
Terence Fung, Cardiff University, UK
15th November,
2012 (Thursday)
Thursday is the busiest day of the week. School starts
at 9 a.m. and finishes at 6 p.m. After finishing all my classes today, I was
very tired, I decided I needed a break from studying. So instead, I met my friends
in front of the business School and headed to to Christmas market in Cardiff
city center together.
The Christmas market was really big. There were stalls
selling all kinds of stuff from christmas decorations to cheese and wine. I tried
mulled wine there, which is a tranditional drink during winter.
My German friend told me that in her hometown they
usually start to decorate their city in October because Christmas is one of the
most important festivals for them.
16th November, 2012 (Friday)
Rugby is one of the popular sports in United Kingdom. Tonight, there was
a rugby match between Wales and Samoa at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. My
friends and I wanted to feel atmosphere there, so we decided to watch this
game.
When we arrived the stadium, there were already lots of people. Some
Welsh children dressed up like a Welsh dragon or Daffodil, which also
represents Wales. During the game, supporters from each team shouted out
cheering slogans. The atmosphere was just fantastic.
Although Wales performed very well in first half of the game, Wales sadly
lost this match.
17th November, 2012 (Saturday)
I am a member of the Photography Society in Cardiff
University . We usually have a regular meeting on Satuarday or Thursday. Today,
we had a workshop of Studio Photography. This workshop went through basics concepts of studio lighting using. And then, we had a chance to use the equipments and take photos of each other. This was my first time taking
photos with such professional kits and I enjoyed it a lot. After the workshop, we
headed to the pub to catch up on each other.
18th November,
2012 (Sunday)
I went to Bath today with other other international students. We took a train at 9:00 and the ride took
about one and half hours. The Christmas
market here is much bigger than
the one in Cardiff. There are more 140 traditional wood stalls in this market. We
spent our whole morning in the
market. And
then we had lunch in a restaurant called "The real Italian pizza company". The food was
really good though a bit overpriced. As most of my friends that I travelled
with are from European countries, I got lots of tips of
travelling around Europe.
In the afternoon, we
went to the famous attractions including the Bath Abbey, roman Baths, the Circus and the Royal Crescent. Then we had a short walk in a
small hill behind the Royal
Crescent. After coming down from the hill, we
didn't know the right way to go and didn't have a map. So, we used a church in
city center as an indicator to identify our position and direction. When we got home finally, I was exhausted.
19th November, 2012 (Monday)
After that, we spent around 3 hours shopping. We both got what we
wanted. This photo is just a small corner of the Christmas section.
Labels: 2012/2013 Semester A
Liu Hoi Ying, Vicky, University of Stirling, UK
February 9, 2012, Thursday
Today is my first day of exchange life and also first time to be in Europe. After taking a 12-hour long flight, I was extremely exhausted and tired since I couldn’t sleep well on the plane. However, there was something made me felt even more frustrated, that is the language barrier I came across once I landed at Scotland, UK. I have learnt British English for more than 15 years but I was still shocked by Scottish accent. At the very beginning, I couldn’t even understand a full sentence of what the Scottish driver was saying. Even more, they may mix some traditional Scottish language called “Gaelic” with English in the daily conversation. For example, “Yes” is pronouned as “I”. I was worried about the coming life here, especially when getting along with the local students, hopefully everything is going to be alright.
After settling down in my room, I was happy to meet my neighbours in the corridor. Most of them are from the United State. Surprisingly, their American accent is easier to be understood than the Scottish one. Thankfully, it made me feel a bit better that my listening skills are still fair enough to communicate with native speakers. All of them are nice and I was happy to be warmly welcomed even I am the only Asian in this dormitory. It is going to be an extraordinary experience for me to fully exposure under an English-speaking environment and I am looking forward on how much improvement in English language skills I will get after the exchange.
February 27, 2012, Monday
I just came back from Paris with my 11 friends today! It was a random weekend trip without detailed planning but it was full of awesome memories.
Everything was spontaneous. I met my travel buddies on Stirling Uni’s Facebook page and we started talking about accommodation, transport and module selection, etc. It was until one girl shared with us information about a bargain plane ticket to Paris, the conversation quickly shifted to travelling. Despite everyone’s busy schedule, we managed to squeeze out a weekend to for our romantic Paris trip.
As you can imagine, we didn’t have much time to plan. To be honest, I was quite word as this was my first time travelling in Europe and I like Paris so much I didn’t want to ruin the trip. Which is why I was so surprised when things worked out smoothly when we arrived. We managed to visit all the famous tourist spots and tried all the must-have food.
I didn’t believe spontaneous travelling can be enjoyable but this experience proved me wrong. Maybe it is because of my companions who come from different parts of the world including America, Canada and Malta, who made the trip so much more fun. It gave me opportunities to step out of my comfort zone with Chinese and get in touch with people with different cultures and backgrounds
March 2, 2012, Friday
The first project meeting with my fellow Scottish group mates went better than I expected. They spoke in heavy accent which I found hard to understand. However I am improving on that. My group mates are very friendly too. They would slow down and repeat the parts where I didn’t understand for me when I looked confused. Another thing I need to work on though is to participate more in the discussion.
One thing that I found interesting is the difference in working style between us. As per our way in HK, we tend to do some background research on the topic before meeting. The local students, however, prefer a more laidback approach. They like to gather everyone and brainstorm on the topic before any information search. This may be useful in generating ideas but it wasn’t quite efficient cause at the end of the 3-hour long meeting, we just came up with an outline for the project and concluded that we needed to do research before next time we meet.
This was my first experience of cultural shock. Scottish tends to take everything slow which was very unbearable for me in the beginning. But when I realized I flew all the way from Hong Kong to experience a different culture, I knew that I should change my mindset to accept them and put myself into their shoes.
March 28, 2012, Tuesday
Scotland is famous for its whisky, traditional dance and music with pipe. Tonight I could try all of them and experience Scottish life by joining Ceilidh dance night organized by the International Society. Ceilidh is a Gaelic word representing Scottish social gathering. It involved group dance in pairs together with a Scottish pipe band playing folk music. The dance emphasized on footsteps and following rhythm of background music. Once the music accelerated, we all had to move faster in order to catch up with the beats. When I felt tired, I could take a seat, take a sip of whisky and chit chat with my friends for resting.
It was a brand new experience to me. I am not good at dancing but I could pick up the steps quickly. Playing in a group made the overall atmosphere very joyful, therefore it was also a good way to sooth pressure.
In Hong Kong, we usually watch movies, have a meal or sing karaoke for social gathering. By comparing the social gathering formats in Hong Kong and Scotland, it clearly shows that the lifestyle in Scotland is healthier and more aesthetic than that in Hong Kong. I can’t say which way I like more but I think the Scottish style can somehow help people bond together better.
It was a brand new experience to me. I am not good at dancing but I could pick up the steps quickly. Playing in a group made the overall atmosphere very joyful, therefore it was also a good way to sooth pressure.
May 30, 2012, Wednesday
Time Flies! Today was our last school day at Stirling University. My friend and I organized a farewell party in our floor kitchen. I presented them a traditional Chinese dish – fried rice. I don’t know if it’s because they haven’t tried proper Chinese food or they really liked it, my dish was emptied in a minute.
After dinner, we went for a bonfire on the hill nearby to participate in tonight’s highlight –result announcement of our dorm superlatives. Recently, we voted for the Best Smile, Best Hair, Most likely to move to Scotland etc. in our dorm. All were hilarious but all recalled our sweet and lovely memories with everyone. There was laughter and happy tears all around. Although we have just known each other for 3 months, we lived together and met every day, and we have built up a close friendship. It was really hard for us to say goodbye.
Although my exchange study in Scotland has come to an end, I always think that I am just going to start a new page of my life.. I planned to go the Netherland, Belgium and Italy on my own and later meet up with my Hong Kong friends in Switzerland. I will have a safe and fruitful journey and turn to be a more tough and strong girl after that. Finger crossed!
Labels: 2012/2013 Semester A
Nicola Yip, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
3rd
November, 2012 (Saturday)
I’m now
in Amsterdam with my friends. It’s already 5 in the morning and we've finished partying. Amsterdam
is really a nice place to spend our weekend! It’s totally different comparing
with Rotterdam (the place we study in). In Rotterdam, you can’t even see a
person on the street at night but you can always see a crowd of people having
fun on the street here!
11th
November, 2012 (Sunday)
November 11 is a special date in Coln (a city in Germany) and every year people there hold the biggest festival to celebrate. People will all dress up and attend the street parade. It starts
at 11:11 every year on 11/11 and the celebration lasts for a few months. Most
of the stores closed today and all the old and young joined this festival. It’s a really nice experience for us to take part in this huge event!
16th
November 2012 (Friday)
I’m in
Poland now. Today I went to Auschwitz which was really worth visiting! Even
though I paid attention in my history class and learned what Nazis did to Jews
during WWII, it’s still shocking when I visited the concentration camp. We were
all depressed when we left but luckily a warm, yummy dinner cheered us up. Plus
the food here is really cheap! The dinner we had cost us 10 euros/p only! This
price can’t even make us full in Rotterdam!
24th
November, 2012 (Saturday)
3 months
passed so quickly and I still remember how scared I was when I first arrived
here, it was like yesterday. Everything was new to me and I just acted like an
IDIOT on the first day. I didn't know I had to push the door button when the
tram stopped if I needed to get off the tram. Instead I stood there helplessly
and waited for the door to open automatically. I didn't know I had to pay for
50 cents if I wanted to use the washroom in Burger King. I was thinking about
why a staff kept standing outside the toilet and did nothing. There are too
many funny things that I can’t list them all. What appeared to be culture shock
had become familiar and normal. They all added up and made my exchange life
more unforgettable. Look forward to the next half year. Really hope that I can
discover this place much more deeply.
27th
November, 2012 (Tuesday)
Studying
hard these days as it’s the exam period. People always say that studying in
Europe is so much relaxing and students here don’t need to study very hard.
However, I found that these are not true in this country. It’s no problem for
you to relax but you should take your own risk that you will fail. Also, most
students here are very hard-working also they are eager to learn. They read so
many news, book etc. It seems like they know everything. I don’t want to fall
behind. I better work harder!
Labels: 2012/2013 Semester A
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