Humans of CSE October

Intro

Nearing the end of their university degree, some students start to dream of travelling around the world before settling down. For exchange students, this journey takes on an added dimension, as they combine their studies with the adventure of living abroad. From adjusting to a new academic environment to immersing themselves into a different culture, these students experience university life through a unique lens.

In this month’s edition of Humans of CSE, we will be exploring the joy and challenges of exchange students. Two students will be sharing their thoughts and experiences with their exchange program to their respective countries.Through their experiences, we gain insight into what it truly means to step outside of your comfort zone, and how embracing the unfamiliar can lead to the most rewarding moments of university life.

Amy, 4th year Computer Science/Commerce Student

Can you start by introducing yourself, your name, where you're from, and where you went on exchange?

I'm Amy. I'm in my final year studying Commerce and Computer Science, majoring in information systems. Right now I'm on exchange at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), but only as a business student. I've finished my Computer Science part back at home at UNSW, and I’m here just completing the last few courses to fulfill my business requirements.

What inspired you to apply for an exchange program in the first place?

I've always wanted to go on exchange because traveling was always a big part of my life and my family’s. So the idea of being able to travel while studying on the side, especially the courses being pass/fail, was something that had been on my bucket list since I started uni. The question was really just when I would go.

I spent my first three years of uni in societies like CSESOC, so I was hesitant to leave during those society commitments. But in the end, I decided to go on exchange in my final semester, even though UNSW usually advises against it, since it can delay graduation or make it harder to confirm that you’ve met all your requirements. But that didn't stop me. I just had a genuine desire to travel and take on this experience. You only really get the chance to study abroad while you’re at uni, so I wanted to make the most of that before finishing.

Is there a reason why you chose Hong Kong?

Honestly, I actually would have preferred Korea at first, but when I started doing research, I realised there’s a lot more to consider when choosing where you want to go on exchange. I did my research into Korean universities and a lot of the courses that I wanted to take were not offered in English whereas at HKU, it is purely taught in English, with very small exceptions. Language was a major consideration for me, so even for day-to-day conversations, I felt like I needed to be in an environment where I could still use English predominantly.

Another big reason was to travel, particularly to Asia, so being in Hong Kong was the place to be. It's close to many countries, and China is literally just a train ride away. So being able to travel easily, live in an English speaking city while also being able to study in English were the biggest reasons I picked Hong Kong.

How did you first hear about the program, and what was the application process like? Was it competitive, and what did you have to do to qualify?

It's always been talked about. Everyone always asks, whether you plan on going on exchange, or trying one of the short-term exchanges UNSW offers, so it’s always been up in the air for me.  

The application process is actually quite long. You have to apply a year in advance, I actually applied in September of last year. Initially you preference six different universities around the world, researching which ones offer the courses you need. After that, there’s roughly a five to six months waiting period before you get an offer from UNSW. Only one offer is given, so if you don’t get your preferred choice, you might have to reapply next year. After that, there’s a long wait before you hear back, and then you start planning accommodation, flights, budgeting, and everything else. It really tests your patience.

Competitiveness also varies every year just because it's dependent on demand. The reason why it's called exchange is because UNSW can only send as many students overseas as it receives from that partner university. Some universities also have WAM requirements. So at HKU, specifically for business students, it's considered a high demand university and also has a WAM requirement. That makes it competitive, but the tricky part is that you never really know how competitive that year will be. When I applied, it seemed like Hong Kong actually became less competitive compared to previous years, but that could easily change next year.

What’s something you learned about yourself during the exchange?

Despite the application process sounding like I'm very organised, I learned that I'm actually not as organised as I thought I was, and it's actually fine to not be because there will always be things that you don't know until you get there. But in general, I think my friends back at home will know me as someone who's very organised, just with day-to-day things, and even with my exchange preparation. But for something as big as actually going on exchange, I actually made a couple of mistakes, which is fine, and it's good to make mistakes as long as you act to fix them ASAP.  If I made these kinds of mistakes back at home, it'd take me a while to try to figure out a solution but when you're on exchange, you just need to act on them very quickly. I realised I can actually fix things pretty quickly when I have to. Back home I try to stay organised so I don’t end up in those situations, since I’m usually bad at making fast decisions, but exchange really forced me to adapt.

What troubles did you experience before or during your time on the program? For example, cost and cultural differences?

Despite having friends in Hong Kong, I never asked them about how they pay for things, so I purely went on exchange with just my Wise card, which is equivalent to Revolut or UpBank, like an international travel card, and I didn't bring a lot of cash. But then once I arrived here, I actually found out that to top up their version of the Opal card, which is called the Octopus card, and also to pay for things like my accommodation’s air conditioning, washing machine, etc. All these things require cash, and a lot of stores don't take cards either. They only take payments through their Octopus card, which can only be topped up using cash. So I really needed to find a way to get cash ASAP because travel cards like Wise have a limit on how much you can withdraw every month before you start to incur a fee. So I won't lie, I did crash out a little bit, but it's all good now.

Was there any time you felt homesick and how did you deal with it?

Surprisingly, I haven't sat by myself and been upset or terribly homesick yet. It’s because the past two months that I've been here have been very busy but sometimes when I got off phone calls or even when I first left Sydney and my parents at the airport, I was a bit teary, but I didn't cry at the airport because I told myself I shouldn't. Though it's perfectly fine to cry, I was like, if I'm by myself at the airport right now and I start crying, there's no point because I'm literally just going to be crying in the line waiting for security all by myself.

It does get upsetting sometimes. To deal with it, it’s important to surround yourself with people and find friends in exchange. I live at student accommodation that the university provides that I applied for and I have a roommate, and she's also an exchange student from Europe, so I just got really lucky to have someone who is also sharing these kinds of experiences and be able to hang out with. I also text and call people from home from time to time just to do mini updates and I also recently downloaded the Locket widget with my friends so that we can share those mini updates on each other's phones as well. Time flies by really quickly on exchange, so honestly, I haven't had the time to be terribly homesick. I'm just trying to make the most of it.