Nicholas Renold's Blog
Program: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Exchange Program
Majors: Manufacturing & Engineering and Computer Science
Class: McCormick 2011
September 1, 2009
During the week before departure I tried not to worry too much, although I was quite conscious of my approaching deadline. I was very active with my friends and family, enjoying the great Chicago summer that all of you Northwestern students experience only a small part of. Being active kept me from worrying too much about my study abroad experience while I began preparing to pack for the flight. I spent most of Friday night packing, and then departed Saturday. Although my mom was sobbing, I said goodbye and concentrated on being open to whatever experience I would find on the other side of that fifteen hour plane ride.
I arrived at Hong Kong and made my way through customs and the baggage claim, which were thankfully uneventful. A friendly face greeted me after I exited the baggage claim - one of my fellow CCI residents lives in Hong Kong, and I
had arranged to meet him and spend part of the week at his house. Although I had not been "culture shocked" yet, and had been able to read all of the English signs in the airport, I was definitely relieved to meet with my friend and have a place to sleep waiting for me after a short taxi ride through Hong Kong. It was much better than trying to find a place to stay, wandering around Hong Kong exhausted and jet-lagged.
I would highly recommend going early to wherever you are studying, and trying to stay with a friend or even a friend-of-a-friend. In the few days that I spent with him I got the insider's look at Hong Kong, touring some tourist attractions but also stopping at little-known restaurants and bars where usually only locals go. He also helped me open my bank account, shop for everything I didn't know I needed, and learn to use the public transportation (which is orders of magnitude better than what we have in Chicago).
As I rode away in my red Taxi, I was becoming more nervous about my stay in Hong Kong. What if my Taxi driver doesn't know where he is going? What if I can't find my dorm? What if they don't have my name in their papers and won't let me move in? These thoughts danced through my head as I watched the never-ending array of skyscrapers slide by outside the window. The landscape turned greener as we went over a hill onto the HKUST side of Clear Water Bay, and my stomach tied knots when we went through the gates and the taxi driver asked me where to go. I just stopped at the entrance piazza, at the highest point in HKUST. It's all downhill from here, at least.
Of all my times in Hong Kong so far, the time that I felt most foreign, stupid, and ridiculous was the moment after I stepped out of the taxi. I had to lug my two enormous American-sized pieces of luggage with me as I wandered around the Atrium desperately searching for any sign that there were supposed to be new students arriving today. Other students were eying me suspiciously as they wheeled their tiny travel bags past me standing in the center of the University Atrium.
The rest of move-in went by in a flash. A sweaty, horrendously humid, hot flash. That is how flashes go by in Hong Kong when you bring eighty pounds of luggage to a university that is built on a forty degree slope. After parking my luggage in my room, I did what every exchange student would and should do - I went exploring. After exploring for a while and getting my HKUST ID card, I ended up at a lecture titled "Will China be the next US?" given by a Professor Austin from Princeton. I immediately felt more comfortable being in a lecture hall; it seemed as if I could walk out the door and still be at Northwestern. As the lecture went on and I learned about Professor Austin's year in Hong Kong and his opinion of China, I thought to myself: If he can survive a year in Hong Kong, then I should be able to do four months.
So now I am finishing this blog post the night before classes start, and I hope you will read along with me as I find out if I can learn and live here in Hong Kong.
