by Tonny Wong Chak Ming (7B 2009, now a BBA student of Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
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| Embrace the ocean, embrace the world.. |
I would like to share some of my exchange experience to the United Kingdom with my dear schoolmates.
To make the long story short, I was selected by the Faculty of Business to join a one-semester exchange programme to the U.K. after going through a number of interviews. There was a complex feeling in my mind when I first landed on the London Heathrow airport in January. A mixed emotion of excitement, loneliness and discomfort sprang in my head, for it was the very first time I had left China with no companions.
I was picked up by the university staff and taken to my host family, where I met my landlady and her son. She is a nice elderly woman who runs a small-sized textile-manufacturing company by herself. We got along well for most of the time, except that she tired to forbid me to cook Chinese fried rice, which I insisted doing to get away from those oily junk foods.
Soon there was a series of orientation activities organized by my host university, Kingston University and I met a load of exchange students there. Guess what, I was the only exchange student from China there and that’s exactly what I was looking for, no more Cantonese or Mandarin. The biggest difficulty I encountered there was nothing about cultural difference but spoken English. The hard fact I must admit is that the English both you and I have been learning for so many years is formal, academic English, which is very different from informal, colloquial English.
So there was a communication problem between me and my friends who were mostly from the United States and Western Europe. Usually I had to repeat a sentence twice to get my message understood. Worse still, as they had different accents and ways of expressions, I’d got to be very concentrated in order to fully understand what they’re talking about.
To make the long story short, I was selected by the Faculty of Business to join a one-semester exchange programme to the U.K. after going through a number of interviews. There was a complex feeling in my mind when I first landed on the London Heathrow airport in January. A mixed emotion of excitement, loneliness and discomfort sprang in my head, for it was the very first time I had left China with no companions.
I was picked up by the university staff and taken to my host family, where I met my landlady and her son. She is a nice elderly woman who runs a small-sized textile-manufacturing company by herself. We got along well for most of the time, except that she tired to forbid me to cook Chinese fried rice, which I insisted doing to get away from those oily junk foods.
Soon there was a series of orientation activities organized by my host university, Kingston University and I met a load of exchange students there. Guess what, I was the only exchange student from China there and that’s exactly what I was looking for, no more Cantonese or Mandarin. The biggest difficulty I encountered there was nothing about cultural difference but spoken English. The hard fact I must admit is that the English both you and I have been learning for so many years is formal, academic English, which is very different from informal, colloquial English.
So there was a communication problem between me and my friends who were mostly from the United States and Western Europe. Usually I had to repeat a sentence twice to get my message understood. Worse still, as they had different accents and ways of expressions, I’d got to be very concentrated in order to fully understand what they’re talking about.
Fortunately, this situation didn’t last long after I integrated into the UK’s drinking culture, which in short means pubs and clubs. I was ‘trained’ by my friends to have several glasses of beers and shots in one go. Though it’s not very good for health, it’s necessary if you want to hang out with them.
To fully utilize my time in the UK, I joined the volunteering society to engage myself in some social service projects and enrolled in a business competition. I traveled extensively during the exchange period, with 2 guys from the US to Scotland and Ireland. Afterwards, I became a backpacker and explored Europe in the Easter holiday. I visited Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Austria and Greece. This was a very inspiring journey and my horizons have been greatly broadened.
I’ve got to stop writing now or else this article will be too lengthy. Hope you've got something out of my sharing and I wish you every success in the coming future. Cheers!
To fully utilize my time in the UK, I joined the volunteering society to engage myself in some social service projects and enrolled in a business competition. I traveled extensively during the exchange period, with 2 guys from the US to Scotland and Ireland. Afterwards, I became a backpacker and explored Europe in the Easter holiday. I visited Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Austria and Greece. This was a very inspiring journey and my horizons have been greatly broadened.
I’ve got to stop writing now or else this article will be too lengthy. Hope you've got something out of my sharing and I wish you every success in the coming future. Cheers!
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