Jan Grnac

BIFin International Finance

The Chinese university of Hong Kong (CUHK) is one of the two options Dundee university offers to its students who are considering a year abroad in Asia. My decision to choose CUHK as my first choice instead of City University of Hong Kong was more less randon but eventually right. I hope this short article will convince you that a year abroad in Hong Kong is an unforgettable experience.

Just like Hong Kong itself, CUHK is a very international university and a a destination of hundreds of exchange students from all round the world such as USA, Europe, Japan or China. Thanks to an introduction week for exchange students, meeting new people made getting used to a new place and culture much easier. Not only did we go out together or shared our travelling plans but also helped each other. However, inspite of university's quality of teaching and world-wide reputation, the number of full-time students from Europe or USA is low and during the whole year I met only two of them. After being admitted by the university, all the students (full-time or exchange) choose one of the six colleges based on their preferences. Every college organizes its own social events, trips or other activies for its students. Moreover, every college has its own student halls as well as social and sport clubs. As a member of S.H.Ho college which was founded only in 2010, I had an opportunity to meet my fellow college friends at regular dinners as well as succesfull and inspirational people from private and public sector at official high table dinners. All the rooms in the students halls are shared by two or three students and college pays a lot of attention that all the exchnage students are spread out between the colleges and they share a room with a local student. My roommate during the whole year was Japanes guy from Nagoya. Even though he used poor English as a excuse not to talk to me much, we both overcame our cultural differences and by the end of the year we became a very good friends.

As I have alreday mentioned, university has a high reputation especially in Asia. During my whole year, I did not face any problems related to my studies and all the professors and staff were happy to help me or my friends with any issues we have had. Except for taking the ususal economic modules I was required, I signed up for mandarin chinese classes which were very popular among all the exchange students. Even though a year is definitely not sufficient time to learn this language, thank's to the amazing and essecially patient lecturers I am happy that I had an opportunity to get a basic introduction into this beautiful language.

When it comes to Hong Kong, it really depends on the kind of person you are. I simply loved it because it is different from what I had expected before I arrived there. Except for its amazing Hong Kong island part with all the skyscrapers, shopping malls, restaurants, bars and night-clubs etc., the city has many small islands, hidden sand beaches, mountains or less known city districts with local markets worth exploring. For its variety, safety and security, food, transportation, people, attractions, festivals etc. everybody must love Hong Kong a bit.

I guess this article speaks for itself. Hong Kong as one of my friends said was a game changer and I am confident to say that many other people leaving Hong Kong felt the same way. Living there was an eye opening life experience in many ways and I sincerely hope I will have a chance to return to Hong Kong sometime soon. There are many more things I could talk about but I will leave the rest to discover for yourself.