{"id":4396,"date":"2017-01-12T10:44:24","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T00:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/qut-exchange-students\/?p=4396"},"modified":"2017-05-12T11:00:26","modified_gmt":"2017-05-12T01:00:26","slug":"action-packed-semester-in-hong-kong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qut.edu.au\/gone-global\/2017\/01\/12\/action-packed-semester-in-hong-kong\/","title":{"rendered":"An action-packed semester in Hong Kong"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jaime L, Bachelor of Business<\/strong><\/p>\n

City University of Hong Kong (Semester 1, 2016)<\/strong><\/p>\n

New Colombo Plan mobility grant recipient<\/strong><\/p>\n

I completed one semester of exchange at City University Hong Kong. Going on exchange has opened up so many doors for me. My time abroad in Hong Kong has been invaluable to building both my career opportunities and my global mindset. Personally, my whole exchange was a highlight. I have built so many great memories and experiences in the past 5 months that I will never forget.<\/p>\n

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Highlights<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hong Kong is an absolutely incredible country. It is so condensed yet there is something for everyone. Living in Hong Kong I discovered there is so much more to the country than just high rises and condensed city. Catching a ferry or even bus just out of the city you\u2019ll find so many hikes offering incredible views of the nature in Hong Kong. One of the many things I loved about Hong Kong was the public transport. You can get a student oyster card and ride the MTR for next to nothing, and it\u2019s so easy and fast to use! But we found that even just catching an MTR somewhere and exploring the streets of Hong Kong was enough, there was something to see everywhere!<\/p>\n

Finances<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had budgeted $10,000 for the whole trip. I went over budget in my time in Hong Kong, spending around $14,000. However the reason for this was spontaneous trips that I went on to Thailand, Macau and China. I had not planned on overseas travel but when the opportunity arose I jumped on it blowing budget but not regretting it at all. Also, I loved exchange so much I extended my trip at the end, also causing me to go over budget. Getting student accommodation is one of the best things for the budget as it is so cheap. Eating in Hong Kong is generally pretty cheap, unless you eat at Western style restaurants: then it can be quite expensive. CityU has a number of canteens where you can pick up a decent (not great) meal for around $5 AUD. As I mentioned before public transport is not expensive nor is the shopping there if you barter hard enough.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Accommodation<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was lucky enough to be given a shared room at student accommodation. This was great! They had a bus come and pick you up from the airport to take you to residence; they had tours to IKEA so students could get all their bedding and such and also a large number of Welcome Parties and Galas. The room and facilities itself was nice, definitely comfortable although small. I was lucky in that I got a really nice roommate which definitely helped. The accommodation is right next to the uni which is a massive bonus! It was also nice to be living basically with all of my friends I had made there.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n

Overall Hong Kong was easy to live in and feel at home. I had no issues with safety at all which was huge in making me feel at home quite early on. Luckily I had a travel card so when I was running out of money I could easily just transfer across. The main challenge I faced was to do with my subjects. Once I got to Hong Kong Cityu told me that I had to change a subject to meet their requirements, and this was about a week after I arrived. Being in my second last semester of my degree I didn\u2019t have much room to move subject wise and it turned out the subject I had chosen would not work with QUT, however I found this out too late and could not change. This has now resulted in me having to complete 5 subjects this semester.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tips <\/strong><\/p>\n