After a long semester abroad, I'm finally home again! I'm so grateful that I had the opportunity to spend four months in Hong Kong. It would not have been possible without the support of the Freeman foundation and my family. It's easy to say that my semester in Hong Kong will be an unforgettable experience. I'll miss the ease of taking the MTR, the dim sum that was available at all hours of the day, and the amazing people I got to meet. I traveled more in the past four months than I have in my entire life. If nothing else, studying abroad definitely gave me the travel bug! The most surprising part of studying abroad was that it made me realize how much I love Hawaii and the life that I've built at UH Manoa. Every time that I told someone I was from Hawaii they wanted to know more about what it was like to live there, as most people had an idea of what Hawaii was like but had never been there. Talking about Hawaii made me realize how much of it I adored and how much I missed being there. I had always wanted to leave Hawaii, but then when I actually left all I wanted was to come home. Pretty funny how that worked out! I think a lot of people imagine studying abroad to be like one big vacation. I'll admit, that's kind of what I thought it would be like to. I pictured myself going out all the time and exploring the city, traveling to nearby countries every week. In reality, studying abroad is really hard! These are some tips to hopefully make it a little easier. Helpful Things I Learned Abroad 1. Take advantage of three day weekends, especially during the beginning of the semester. At HKU, most of the course load is during the last month and a half of school, so don't plan on waiting until then to travel! Three day weekends aren't super common, so make the most of the ones you have! Plan a weekend trip to somewhere nearby that you don't feel like you'd need an entire week for, like a city in China or Thailand.
2. Don't be afraid to talk to people in your classes. Group work accounted for a significant part of my grade in all of my courses. Talking to more people will help you to join a group you are confident in, who you get along well with. Group synergy is important, especially if you want a good grade. 3. Learn a little bit of the language before you go abroad. You don't need to know much, just basic things like numbers and common phrases (i.e. thank you, please, excuse me). It makes it a lot easier to order food and communicate with your local classmates. 4. Check class availability for the semester that you're attending the school to help you plan out your classes. One of my friends at HKU accidentally read the availability for the Spring semester instead of the Fall, and ended up getting rejected from most of the classes he listed because they weren't offered during the Fall semester. If you read through the availability for the right semester and check the pre-requisites to make sure you qualify (they are usually listed in the syllabus that is linked to the availability), you are more likely to get the classes that you want. 5. Take a country specific course that relates to why you wanted to go to that country in the first place. I wish that I had taken a Hong Kong history class because it would've helped me to better understand Hong Kong as my grandfather had seen it, versus the city that has replaced the Hong Kong of the past. I realized how little I actually knew when I visited the Hong Kong History Museum. Maybe for you that would be a finance class, a cultural customs class, or a food course. 6. Have fun, and don't stress out too much! I was so anxious and stressed during the last two months that I didn't go out at all! That's my biggest regret. I was so worried about my grades and doing well in my classes that I forgot to make the most of my experience. There's a lot of places that I wish I had gone, like the Tai O fishing village on Lantau Island and some of the towns in the New Territories that are a little further from the city. Don't be like me! Remember that learning doesn't just happen in the classroom - it happens in the experiences you have out of it too.
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Emily BallBorn and raised in Aiea, HI, traveling to Hong Kong to study Human Resource Administration. Archives
January 2019
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