Hong Kong, the city that never sleeps Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

The classes may be a bit boring, and how challenging the classes are depends greatly on your professor. I had two American professors and I'm from the U.S. so I would say their teaching style was not that hard to adjust to. The classes are 3 hours long each so it became hard to focus.

On-site administration of your program

The people are extremely nice and always try to be helpful. The student helpers really do try to get to know the foreign exchange students and befriend them. However, the program is extremely disorganized at times. I got really frustrated when I was registering for my courses and changing them. They made me fill out this form and followed by telling me they don't know if I will get the class until later when they process the forms. They were uncertain of which classes were available so it was really a lucky draw. They also make the situation sound worse than it is like telling me the class that I need is absolutely full only to add me in immediately afterwards. I wish their online system is more useful.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

After the initial shock of being back at the dorms, the housing situation was actually not that bad. It is almost comparable to the dorms in the U.S. I think I hated the lack of washer and dryers the most. They only have 4 washing machines and 2 dryers in our dorm so I basically have to stake out and fight for the machines. Laundry means 4/5 hours out of my life in the laundry room. Also to recharge the laundry cards, you need to find someone with a special HK credit card and those are hard to find in the middle of the night when you need to do laundry. We hike up for about 10 minutes to class everyday. There are buses driving around the mountain, but they are not very reliable. The university itself and the dorm is super far away from central Hong Kong where the bars, food, and shopping is going to be. You take about 30 minutes to get down the mountain and another 40 minutes or so to get to the bar street. The buses also stop running after 11 PM so prepare to hike up the mountain in the middle of the night if you do go out.

Food in Hong Kong is amazing if you know where to look. Openrice is a website that is in both Chinese and English. It is similar to Urbanspoon and Yelp so it can be a great help if you don't have locals around. The food in CUHK ranges from ok to terrible depending on your taste. Benjamin Franklin is a hit or miss, but Sino Hall is a hidden treasure where pasta actually has flavor and parmesan cheese is free. You have to find it though. It is kind of a maze to get there. I have high standards for Chinese food so that's why I am complaining. You can get a variety of food from chicken feet to burgers on campus though. Be aware, the staff is kind of rude and one time this staff coughed into his face followed by dipping his fingers into my soup while serving it to me. Do not expect them to treat you nicely if you are there during rush hour. As confused souls in a foreign place, you will most likely be blocking the flow of traffic and get yelled at.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The cultural trips are the biggest rip-off ever for $400 (They tell you it includes administrative costs and Visa costs, but HK students don't have to pay the administrative costs and Visa only costs $15 or so. Basically the $400 pays for the cultural tours). They can be exciting if you are not familiar with the Asian culture, but the most exciting place I have been are the ones that student helpers took us on privately not the tours. Most of the time the tours consist of annoying tour guides who just won't let you sleep on the bus when you clearly want to sleep instead of learning about the different colors of taxi's in Hong Kong. Most of the places they take us to are free with the exception of Ocean Park. I would of gotten more if I went to those places by myself, which is very easy to do in Hong Kong with the MTR system and save myself a lot of money, time, and energy. They put the tours on Saturdays so if you want to go on them, you are stuck in Hong Kong for the whole weekend. If you skip them, you don't get refunded. They also fed us rice with maggots in them once on a cultural tour, and that is not a local delicacy! They only got 3 globes because I loved the farewell dinner so much. The dinner was extremely nice with great food and great atmosphere. It was also good to celebrate with everyone one last time.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

Hong Kong as a city is not as dangerous as people make Asia seem, but you do have to keep an eye out. We get free health services on campus so I can go to the doctor for minor things anytime I want for free. It came in handy when I got an ant bite. I even got medicine for free. I felt extremely safe throughout the program once I took the necessary precautions. I did not go anywhere alone. Rarely do I go out without locals or someone who knows the area extremely well. I never got robbed once.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

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• Dorm

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• International Students