When I first decided to travel abroad and live in Hong Kong for the next 5 months, the question that I got from my friends and family time and time again was “why?” Why did I decide to travel to China over any other destination in the world? My response was simple, “I decided to travel to the place that scared me the most.” As funny as that may seem to some people, it is completely true. I realized that I had never had the chance to study the most populated, developing, and bustling economy and country in the world – China. 1.4 billion people. 663 cities. 200 individual dialects.
Most people will tell you about the culture shock that sets in when travelling to a new country, but you never truly understand it until you feel it for yourself. The most difficult aspect of my transition to Hong Kong was the diet. As a vegetarian I found it difficult to transition into a culture that incorporates meat into almost every meal of the day. Slowly, but surely – I learned that the culture and city changes for no one. I learned to embrace the uniqueness of the tastes and preferences in Hong Kong and in China at large.
One of the reasons I chose to study with SU Hong Kong is because of the amazing opportunity to travel to mainland China for the first two weeks. This was truly one of the best ways to dive into the Chinese culture and learn about its past, present, and future. The lectures were in hotel conference rooms, but the real learning happened in the cities we wandered. The first city we visited was Xian, the ancient capital of China. As someone who appreciates art history, I was in awe of the Terracotta Warrior Army museum. Through learning about the first emperor of China, I understood the grandeur of the Terracotta Warriors protecting their ruler’s mausoleum. The next city we visited was the current capital of China, Beijing. Our group travelled through Tiannamen Square, The Forbidden City, and most importantly The Great Wall of China. My visit to the Great Wall of China was by far my favorite day in all of mainland China because of the beauty of this ancient and massive structure. This was also the only day where I saw a clear blue sky in China. The first few weeks in China, I wore a face mask to guard myself against the PM 2.5 air quality – an experience that led to my learning of Chinese environmental challenges. Lastly, my visit to Shanghai was filled with exposure to the mixture of western European influence on an Asian society.
When people go to study abroad, the first identity that is assumed is a student; and the following is a traveler. We should not be too unfamiliar with being a student, but for many people, being a traveler is.
This wasn’t my first rodeo being out of my home country for a long period of time, but it was my first time going alone. While there was some nervousness, I was more excited and eager than anything. I knew what resources that I had, and I felt that I had the energy to tackle any forthcoming challenges. Upon reflection of my duration studying abroad in Hong Kong, I felt prepared for the experience but also learned a lot from it. Here some things to expect while you study abroad and how to have the best travel experience.
What’s Ahead
As with anything, there are good and bad sides. The good side of studying abroad is that you are going to meet a lot of people, make new friends, eat good food, travel to new places, and maybe learn a new language. You will seldom find a time where there is nothing to do with time spent exploring new places with new people and building relationships that will extend beyond study abroad, while not studying. The bad side includes not feeling that you totally fit in the institution, finding thing inconvenient, and/or feeling torn between your old life at home and your new life at your study abroad location. How one experiences any of these study abroad experiences depend on your support at home and abroad.
Studying abroad is a decision that allows yourself to experience the world, be independent, meet different people, adapt to different living, learn about different culture, etc. During time abroad, one will adopt an optimistic, out-going, and relaxed attitude. Your focus turns from school to experiencing as most as you can by traveling the world and making new friends. The overall experience can be addicting and lull one into extending their study abroad experience – at least for me, it did.
I was very tempted to proceed with the process to extend my stay in Hong, but for the first time, I felt held back for once. I thought this situation only happens to those who are “grown up”, or those with responsibilities. “Grownups” have responsibilities to answer to such as family, friends, jobs, and opportunities that should be seized. It is very selfish and immature to just enjoy life without responsibilities – to leave everything behind – because there are people that care about you and want you in their lives, and there are people you will care about too. I asked myself, “Have I ‘grown’ that much to have these responsibilities – to have to make a decision like this?” I understand that studying abroad is a growing experience, but I didn’t realize how much one can grow.
The responsibilities that I believe I personally have are sick family that I must see and take care of, departing friends that I must see, credits I must take to graduate, and jobs and internships to apply for. I had to understand that the study abroad life is not long-term; home is because that is where your past and near future lies. Time flies and things change will you are away and does not wait for you; and the longer you are away, the more you have to “catch up” and accept changes that have occurred. There are future opportunities to come back to your place of study abroad to work or vacation since the location itself will never move.
Previously in my last blog, I touched on how the Hong Kong/Chinese school system is a manifestation of and an influencer of cultural values. Recently, I have observed a difference between the young mindsets of Hong Kong residents and those of foreigners. When interacting with students at my school, we can relate to many things since we both have similar interests and life spans composing of development and life experiences. This applies to both my exchange/international friends as well as Hong Kong natives
However, I wonder, “why can’t I connect with Hong Kong natives on a deeper level or more naturally, like I do with my foreign friends?” I don’t believe it is a language or culture barrier since my foreigner friends are from all over the world such as Australia, Sweden, China, Canada, U.S., and U.K. – all with different cultures and where English may not their first language either. It is also not the difference in age or education level since we are all in the same or similar institutions. I believe it goes down to the difference in people’s experiences which helps them relate to and connect with others on a deeper level. In experience, there is a sharp difference between quantity and quality that contributes to character growth.
In Hong Kong, I hear more stories of, in my opinion, immaturity or lacking greater experience. I have been subject to people’s rants of a variety of situations in Hong Kong already – from both family and friends. For example, (in all anonymity) I’ve heard people only going study something at a certain place just because their parents said to, hiding a credit card bill because the person didn’t want his/her guardian seeing the amount of spending, and one asking his/her guardian to wipe his/her bottom after being constipated. Obviously, this is not to generalize all young Hong Kong people. I am only providing the causes for my impression. There are definitely “normal” people in the middle of these situations, but I think there are more cases of this “extremity” in Hong Kong than I have ever observed before.
The first criteria I had when choosing places to study abroad was that the school has to be located in Asia. As Asian-American, I wanted to learn more about the culture and ideals in what my own Chinese-American culture is rooted in. The “East” (Asian) and “Western” (European) world are known to have opposite “thinking”, such as collectivism and individualism, respectively. I wanted to see myself if I could completely adapt to the Asian ideals that stray away from what American or “Western” ideals I grew up with. As a student at The University of Hong Kong, I was able to experience the Chinese/Hong Kong culture and thinking through its school system.
Learning
In China and Hong Kong, memorization became a standard way of learning because it is required to learn a language such as Chinese. Characters had to be memorized on how to write and how to say. Students would also be asked to memorize the extensive history and literature that makes up China. This point was made by my Cantonese teacher, who also proposed that memorization helps to recall information faster.
I, an American student, however, was surprised at the request to memorize. Besides preparing material for tests, I was never blatantly asked to memorize anything. I wondered, “Is this why Asians experience the notorious stress that they have due to academics?” In my experience, memorization adds a lot more stress than knowing and understanding material. Information that would be asked to memorize would always be available with the resources everyone has today, so instead of spending time and energy to memorize, I believe in the reinforced American thinking that learning how to think critically is more important, especially in upper-level education such as university.
At first glance, Hong Kong is just like the online pictures - a metropolis built on mountains and islands; unique and majestic. Upon arrival, however, there are details available to you that an image cannot capture. Details may be small and easy to overlook, but they can reveal the real story of the environment, culture, and daily life of a place and its people. Allow my first blog post to share how I have come to know Hong Kong through its details.
안녕하세요 (hello)! Weeks 10 and 11 on this study abroad journey were fantastic. It was the time of the Buddha holiday, so some classes were cancelled and my friends and I decided to go on a trip to Thailand and then Hong Kong! It was so amazing to be able to adventure around Asia like that. The trip took a total of 6 days in Thailand and 5 days in Hong Kong.
I arrived in Thailand on Thursday night and our hostel was located in a place called Nana. The first sight of Thailand that my friend John and I caught was of Lady Boys lining the street of our hotel and offering tickets to raunchy attractions. It was very confusing because these hot women would be walking around and you were never really sure if they were actual women. The culture in Thailand was honestly so progressive that at the end it was not that big of a deal. It was hot, humid, and everything was in your face, so that night Jesse, Sabrina, Mike, John, and I went to eat Arabic food at 3am. The next day we went out to explore the city. We stopped by a street vendor for 90Baht worth of Thai food(less than 3$). I got basil chicken and rice. Then we explored the metro and city markets and raced Tuk-Tuks (rickshaws) back to our hotel to meet our friends Gabby and Danny, who are abroad now in Tokyo. Later that night we went to the Red Light District of Thailand and there club promoters would yell at you to come see their Ping-Pong shows. Everything at the Red Light District was obviously very explicit and vulgar. We went in to see what a Ping-Pong show was and honestly it was not something I would want to see again.
Baby tiger at tiger temple
The next day we explored various temples. The architecture surrounding them was gorgeous and we also explored Khao San Road, a typical tourist shopping district, and bought elephant pants there. That night we ended up at Skybar from the Hangover 2. Everything was expensive but the view was to die for. Sabrina’s birthday was that night at 12am so we went to an ice bar to celebrate. I have never seen an ice bar but essentially you go in and the workers give you bear costumes and you go into a room made entirely of ice. That was a great experience because I had no idea what it was and it was so silly. The next day we went to more temples and then the Weekend Market. At the temples I saw the famous reclining Buddha. Then we took a river boat cruise around Thailand. I drank coconut juice on the boat and I felt like I was in a movie. The weekend market was just your typical tourist market. We took Tuk-Tuks everywhere. The humidity was crazy as well because there was no way you would be able to go through the day with dry clothes. The next day we booked a tour for the Floating market and Tiger Temple. At the Floating Market we essentially sat inside of a long boat and went down a canal where other vendors sold stuff to you off of their boats. Then we got Pad Thai at a local restaurant and took the bus to the Tiger Temple. The Tiger Temple was my favorite experience because we got to see and interact with adult and baby tigers. We got to feed the baby tigers and play with them. I felt overjoyed.
Fun facts about Thailand is that fruits of all sorts are sold for 50cents on the streets all ready for you to eat, it’s very hot, Tuk-Tuks are the mode of transportation, and Pad Thai is still just okay. On Tuesday I left my friends in Thailand to join my friend Alissa in Hong Kong.
Let me tell you that Hong Kong was not what I expected. I imagined stereotypical China and having a hard time getting around. What I saw was western people and familiar stores. However, it was an amazing experience all the same. Alissa and I woke up on Wednesday and went to try local foods. We tried Congee, which is a mystery ingredient in rice and a banana leaf. It was odd but apparently a local favorite. Then we met up with Alissa’s cousin Betty, who works for CNN in Hong Kong, and she showed us around. We went to Hong Kong Disneyland and met Minney Mouse and enjoyed the rides. The castle was under construction and therefore the top tier was made of a box. The rides were 1minute long maximum and cute babies from all over the world flocked the Disney streets. Overall, the experience was very exciting and it was interesting to see how the parks differed from the United States. That night we got typical Chinese food in the city. We ate dumplings, pork buns, string beans, etc. It was amazing. There was not a night in Hong Kong when we weren’t extremely full. All thanks to Betty for showing us around.
Reclining Buddha
The next day we got Dim Sum in the morning at a local Dim Sum place around our hotel. We were seated at a table with random Cantonese speaking people and they showed us how it worked. We ate massive pork buns and dumplings and it was amazing. Tea was served with everything. Then we went to see the Big Buddha at Po Lin Monastery and the village around it. It was really high in the mountains and it was a foggy day, so the Buddha looked ominous. Alissa and I walked around the village surrounding the Buddha and got souvenirs. That night we took the ferry around in Causeway Bay and saw the skyline. It was the prettiest city skyline I have ever seen, including New York City. Afterwards we got Peking duck and Maccha, green tea ice cream, for dessert. The next day was Alissa’s birthday so we celebrated at Stanley Island and market, where we ate three old-school western desserts, and then at a Chinese hot pot place. Then we went out on the town with Betty and her friend to Lan Kwai Fung, LKF.
The last full day was my favorite because we go to go on a Junk boat to an island 1 hour off of the coast of Hong Kong. The junk boat was meant for a going away party of one of Betty’s coworkers. From the boat we got to see amazing mountains and water and eventually jumped into Millionaires Bay next to Sai Kung Island. Hong Kong is such an interesting place in that it’s a city with a high-rise skyline against huge mountains and yet has island with clear, light blue water. I got a chance to meet engineers that work in Hong Kong and with them we swam to the little island. The weather was perfect and not as humid as Thailand. That night we had Szechuan food and then we went back home to Seoul.
Wow I can’t believe that I have the opportunity to do all of this and I would recommend an abroad experience in Seoul to anyone. With that said, I am so happy to be here at my home in Seoul. 안녕(goodbye)!
