‘Foreign Friday’ is a series of blog posts where our members tell you about their experience during their semester abroad. In this first edition of 2020, our former swimming coordinator Kathleen will tell you more about her semester abroad in Hong Kong!
Dear Sharks,
I was asked to write a little piece about my semester abroad, so here it goes.
For the ones that do not know me, I am Kathleen and I just got back from my semester abroad in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is an amazing
city. I did my semester abroad at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
While I was studying there, I lived on campus. The campus was on a hill and very big. There were school buses to take us to our class. Furthermore, the University has its own mtr station (the mtr is a mix between a train and a metro), which was handy to get into the city. From my flat it was 20 minutes by bus to get to the mtr. On campus there also is an outdoor swimming pool.
As I already said, Hong Kong is an amazing city and it is very big. On average it took an hour by mtr to get somewhere in the city (from campus). With a group of friends, we did a lot of day trips into the city and every time was saw something completely different. From the business district to lovely beaches, from a Buddhist temple to a fisher’s village and so on. Furthermore, I hiked a lot in Hong Kong, which led to some beautiful views. Besides Hong Kong, I also travelled to Seoul and Beijing. One of my favourite days on my semester abroad was the day I went to the Great Wall of China. Overall, I had an amazing time on my semester abroad.
From left to right: Great Wall of China, the view from Lion Rock, and one of the many beautiful beaches.
Since I am back, a lot of people have asked if it was safe regarding the protests. I was able to avoid the protest for quite some time. However, the protests were visible everywhere. The whole campus was covered in posters and gravity. It felt very special to be there, while these protests were going on and, especially hearing from the people who lived there and their views on it. I hope everyone in Hong Kong stays safe and I definitely would like to go back sometime! ? <3
Lots of love, Kathleen