I've finally gotten settled into my new home in Hong Kong! I spent the last week and a half or so traveling throughout Asia (see my travel blog for more details) and have finally arrived at the student hostel I'll be staying at for the next four months! I'm staying in Caritas Student Hostel in Kennedy Town, which is one metro stop away from HKU. I explored Kennedy Town today with my roommate and a few other students we met to get acquainted with where we will be spending most of our time. We don't have a kitchen in our hostel, so I had to scope out some places to eat! Below are photos of what my room looked like before I moved in . Even though the room is relatively small, it fits three beds and also has a large refrigerator and bathroom (not pictured). I only have one roommate, so we actually have an extra bed/desk to use as storage space! This will be the first time I'm really living on my own, since I was able to go home every weekend even though I dormed at UH. I'm excited but also nervous - especially since everything in Hong Kong is still so new! Aside from moving in, I've also got my class schedule relatively finalized. We're allowed to add and drop classes this upcoming week, so I can still change it if I find that I don't like one of the classes in my schedule. I'll update the blog if I make any changes. HKU made the registration process really easy if you prepared beforehand! As part of the application/acceptance process you had to list down classes you were interested in taking. At the end of summer they evaluated our updated transcripts and class requests to check if we met pre-requisites for the classes we wanted, then registered us for those classes for us so long as there was space in the classes and no time conflicts. All of the classes I requested were approved! I ended up adding another class later - Chinese as a foreign langauge - so I'm still waiting approval for that course. If you're part of Shidler and studying abroad, I recommend reading through Shidler's list of course equivalencies on their partner school website and then looking to see which of those classes are available during your term of study. HKU listed the pre-requisites for each course in their catalog, which made it easy to see what courses I could take given the courses I had already taken at UH.
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I can't believe I leave in a week! The process to actually be able to get to Hong Kong University has been a long one. It all began nearly 6 months ago, when I applied to MIX to participate in a student exchange. It wasn't necessarily smooth sailing from there - I had less than a month to finish my HKU application since it was emailed late. Luckily, the HKU application is fairly simple. All you have to do is fill out some information about yourself and write one personal statement! They also give you the option to send all of your visa application materials to them to have them assist you with applying for a visa. While it costs an additional fee, it's much easier than trying to do it all alone. One thing I definitely recommend is to get started on your visa application before you get the HKU application, as you can send it in to HKU once you get your application and can have their staff check your materials right away. The most difficult part of the journey was when I found out that I did not get a place in student housing. If you end up in the same position as I did, you'll see something like below. It was really difficult to find housing close to campus. Many apartments were tiny, or very expensive. Most of the places near campus also filled up very quickly - the places I contacted from iMap, the school's private site to where housing owners will post room rentals, were already full by the time that I found out that I did not receive housing. The most common option that I've seen students utilize are hostels and Airbnbs. My uncle in Hong Kong ended up finding a hostel very close to campus, and was able to snag me a spot since he knew the organization who owned it. Finding a roommate was much easier than finding a room. I followed the recommendation of a previous scholar who went to HKU and joined the student Facebook page. It won't be created until the middle of summer for the school year, so if you're going in the Fall don't expect to find the page for your yea right when you apply.
One recommendation I got from someone who worked for HKU's housing company was to study abroad in the Spring, as they often have more housing available then since less students study abroad during that semester. Also, don't be afraid to reach out to HKU's housing email for help with finding housing! They sent me really helpful lists of hostels and also were able to let me know where my place on the waiting list was and the likelihood of this leading to a housing offer. I ended up being offered a place at a school rented apartment at the end of July, so that's something to keep in mind if your waiting list number is low. My number was in the mid-30's. I will be staying at the Caritas Hostel in Kennedy Town, an all-female hostel, sharing a room with a girl from France. Next step: Packing! |
Emily BallBorn and raised in Aiea, HI, traveling to Hong Kong to study Human Resource Administration. ArchivesCategories |