Great international working experience with a balance of work and fun. Past Review
By kevinwlau (Electrical And Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin) - abroad from 06/03/2013 to 08/09/2013 with
Study Abroad Programs in Hong Kong
In addition to technical skills, I also practiced communication in team projects. I also realized that in Eastern culture, people are less direct and in-your-face than in Western culture.
Review Photos
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 2 weeks - 1 month |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
As my first IT work experience, I was introduced to PHP and MySQL, which I had never used before. Unfortunately, the small financial advising company I was working for had no IT staff, so I had to self-teach myself from the beginning. Although there was not much training for my job, I still learned a lot from this internship experience that would've taken much longer in a formal course. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The program on-site arranged a few things, such as a little transportation money, some social events with other interns, and some trips to get to explore the city and surrounding areas. The travel money was barely enough to last 3-4 weeks in my 10 week internship. It was nice getting to meet other people also interning in the same country while at the same time relaxing to get out and explore places I didn't know about. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
n/a. I lived with relatives. |
| * Food: |
Hong Kong is a great place for food. There are street vendors everywhere with decent to good food. Personally, I think it is very rare to come across bad food in Hong Kong. Many places also serve food extremely fast, with rice and noodle dishes sometimes even taking less than a minute in some street vendors. |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
As my family is from Hong Kong, I didn't feel too separated from the culture here. But having lived in the US my whole life, this was also a new experience for myself. On Hong Kong island, there are actually many foreigners and English-speaking people so it isn't too bad getting around. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
n/a. Did not need health care. |
| * Safety: |
There are always lots of people walking around in the streets, so it is pretty safe walking around even late at night. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
For myself, I had to spend about $13 USD a week on public transportation to and from work. Food on the other hand is much cheaper than in the US, with a simple meal costing as low as $3 USD. Even eating at a mid-high class restaurant may only cost around $20 USD. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | $60 |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Hong Kong makes everything very accessible and convenient. You can find convenience stores literally every 30 seconds while walking down a city street. And there are even more restaurants than convenience stores, many of which are affordable street vendors. While these may be cheap, with decent or good food, it still uses up money quickly. For transportation, I would recommend figuring out your route beforehand so you won't end up taking multiple buses or trains while spending extra money. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | No |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | that I could apply directly to the affiliated program and save on costs. |
