My experience
The University of Hong Kong (and Hong Kong itself) has a unique history not many cities in the world share, and I wanted to experience it while I was still able. It’s colonial past is still within recent memory and its future with China is still unknown. Even during my short four weeks in Hong Kong, the city I knew when I arrived was different from the city I knew when I left.
How has the experience changed you?
Even though the official language is English and the local dialect is Cantonese, I was still able to learn more Mandarin while I was in Hong Kong. Even if I hadn’t made new friends, even if I hadn’t learned new skills, even if I hadn’t explored new places (all of which I did), that one thing would have made the trip worthwhile.
Favourite memory
This may be childish to admit, but my favourite memory of my trip was visiting Disneyland. I had only ever experienced the place from afar and I wanted to see the place for myself.
It was very underwhelming.
This is my favourite memory because it taught me a valuable lesson as Disney continues to buy even more of the world’s most well known intellectual properties:
Be critical of their hype.
Top tips
1. Get your visa sorted ASAP
Hong Kong isn’t part of the Mainland Chinese embassy, and it doesn’t have its own embassy in Brisbane. Instead, you have to send your forms in via post, and the processing period can take upwards of ten weeks. I posted mine late, and the only reason it wasn’t even more tardy was because I paid for a very expensive overnight courier.
Get yours done as soon as you’re accepted into the university.
2. Get ready for bureaucracy
Hong Kong loves its bureaucracy, processes that would normally take a few hours will take upwards of a week in Hong Kong. Getting your student card requires you to fill out two forms, attach a passport photo, hand the forms in at the office, and then wait a week for the forms to be processed.
Also, make sure your online registration form is filled out on the eLearning site. I didn’t do that and my student card took a week longer to arrive.