Thursday, March 23, 2017
Beverly Mok, The University of Newcastle, Australia
Monday 22
Feb 2016
Today
is the first school day of Semester 1 in the University of Newcastle. Since I have
arrived on campus only for a few days, I finally could get the chance to go
explore different parts of the university with my buddy after class. At the
beginning, we were holding the campus maps on our hands but we found that was
not that user-friendly because the buildings are labeled by their abbreviation
form. We then took courage
to ask the local students for directions. To our surprise, not only were they
nice and helpful to us, indeed, they even started talking to us and gave advice
to us on how we can adapt to our exchange easier. For example, they would
recommend us different facilities provided by the school and where we should go
for different administration matters. As the exchange students who missed the
orientation week, we felt so much relaxed after this. We also learnt that we
shouldn’t be shy to always ask people for help when we are in the place we are
not familiar with. There are always unexpected results if we are willing to
step forward.
Tuesday 23 Feb 2016
Because
of the remote nature of the host university, we found that almost every
students have got their own car as their main transport. Though it sounds a bit
annoying to students who do not own a car (especially to the exchange students
like us), the university has actually put efforts to make the campus more
accommodating to us. For example, apart from bank, bookstore and cafeteria, there
are student associations providing social events, free breakfast and cheap kitchen
facilities and holding resale booths. These kind of additional offerings are
actually new to me because most of them are self-catered that rely very much on
people’s self-discipline. If anyone’s not following the rules (though they are
not put in black and white), there will not be any more offers like these. I am
totally impressed by the good character of the students here as well as the
trust from the school.
Wednesday 24 Feb 2016
Every
Wednesday is the block meeting of my dormitory. In the meeting, our student
mentor of the block will make different announcement and reminders to the
residence. Different from a formal meeting style, we always have dessert
together after the discussion so as to strengthen the bond of the residents.
After the meeting today, we went to Merewether Ocean Baths for dinner. Instead
of dinning inside the restaurant, I noticed that people in Australia prefer to
have meals on the beach, especially when gathering with friends. They feel more
relaxed to feel the breeze across their faces. They can also move around to
chat with each other to make the gathering more vivid and fun.It
is a great experience to me as the mood of the dinner is chill-out that I feel
less nervous to speak out. Besides, the view of Newcastle is really welcoming
for its natural beauty. I can barely see a pollutant on the floor or in the
sea. I guess this is a good example on sustainable development as a tourist
attraction.
Thursday 25 Feb 2016
This
is the dining room of my dormitory on campus and these girls who are all from
Australia are my dorm mates. Tonight, one of the girl’s boyfriend came to visit
us and cooked us a meal. The lasagna was really tasty and I did enjoy the time
we spent together because our relationship gets closer although I have only met
them for less than a week. We talked about the cultures of Australia and Hong
Kong. For example, we talked about the cultures in terms of dinning, study and
entertainment. Though it is a little bit hard for me to catch up their
conversations sometimes when they talk too fast, this motivates me to work
harder on it since I wish I can exchange more ideas with them in the future.
Friday 26 Feb 2016
This
picture is taken at the end of Nobbys Beach with my newly met friends from
Australia and different Asian countries when we are witnessing the moon rise. As
today is one of the Japanese friend, Shinya’s birthday, we ordered take-away
from a Japanese restaurant and dined at the beach as a celebration. Afterwards,
we walked to the end of the beach and waited for the moon rise. I was so
fascinated by the beautiful scenery because this is my first time seeing the moon rise. I was also happy to meet these friends as I was so homesick after
arriving here for a week. I felt so warm when noticing friends from Malaysia
could speak in Cantonese!
Labels: 2015/2016 Semester B
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