17Department of Electronic Engineering, City University of Hong Kong

Exchange Programme at Clarkson University

Hi! I’m Kelly, one of the students that participated in the exchange

program in 2005-2006 Semester A.

During the past four months, I stayed in a private school called

Clarkson University which is in Potsdam, New York. Honestly, it

was my first time traveling to a place that has almost a half day

time lag behind Hong Kong. Everything was fresh and interesting

for me. I had never thought of staying in such a country that far

away from Hong Kong, I have to thank the EE department which

gave me this chance and supported my journey.

I was very impressed by the spacious and beautiful school campus.

There were meadows everywhere, and the air was fresh and clean.

The weather was always good with many sunny days. Students

liked to play Frisbee and volleyball in the playground, with

barbeque being one of their favorites. I think such a campus is

really appreciated where students can develop their own charac-

ters and hobbies because they are not bounded by a crowded place.

Concerning the personality of Clarkson students, I think they have

an earnest attitude towards their studies. There are more interac-

tions between lecturers and students, which is quite different from

the nervous teaching style in Hong Kong. Most of the local stu-

dents are friendly and helpful, they are willing to help each other

and don’t mind sharing their information and knowledge, which

is one of the points that I highly appreciate. The students have

relaxed lives and they love sports very much, which is why they

usually gather to have sports activities after school. In addition,

they love to have parties especially during holidays and weekends,

I like these because I could join their parties and enjoy their joyful

atmosphere.

It was quite interesting to find that the US professors gave out lots

of homework, which is not what I expected. Speaking of which, I

think the workload was quite heavy, sometimes we needed to fin-

ish a project overnight. However, their teaching mode is some-

how different from Hong Kong. The students learn in a more prac-

tical way, for instance, they have more laboratory work and projects,

and they have a frequent utilization of computer software. Other

than that, they have less materials and simpler exams, since their

syllabus is not so packed and demanding.

Talking about the culture in America, I think their life style is very

simple and easy-going. Actually, their choices of food are also

limited, such as pizza, pasta, sandwich and salad, compared to

Chinese food, it’s obviously not enough. More than that, the Ameri-

cans are independent, most of them separated from their parents

and lived alone when they were young, because they like to have

their own life. They also like to solve problems by themselves.

As a matter of fact, this was the first time that I was not living with

my parents. Everything had to be done by myself. For example, I

had to cook my own meals in the apartment, cleaned up my room

by myself. I had to schedule my time and needed a good ability in

keeping self-discipline. So it is necessary to do the housework

efficiently and independently. In other words, I had to be self-

disciplined to take care of myself. At the very beginning I could

not really adapt to it but gradually I got used to being independent.

This is one of the most valuable things I learnt in America. Life in

America is fresh and new, I am so glad that I can broaden my

horizon and make friends in a foreign country. I also learnt the

way of living in America, as well as their communication style.

Another difficulty I faced at the beginning is that I could not really

understand the American assent and idioms. Because of this, I can-

not make new friends due to my language deficiency. Therefore, I

took a long time trying to get accustomed upon arrival.

Nevertheless, I have learnt that if I want to improve my English, I

have to be brave enough to talk no matter if it’s right or wrong.

Although my English is not excellent at this moment, I am sure

that I am brave enough to communicate with foreigners and I can

speak English more fluently now.

After this trip, I found that Americans are so friendly and I am

glad to make some American friends. It is a valuable experience.

18

Exchange Programme at Korean Advanced In-stitute of Science and Technology

In the previous semester, I am pleased to have participated in the

exchange programme at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science

and Technology (KAIST) in Korea. It is the most famous Engi-

neering University in Korea.

At the beginning of the semester in Korea, I found that the most

difficult and challenging task was not studying but getting used to

the living environment. There were three main difficulties for me.

They were communication, food and choosing courses. Firstly,

communicating with Koreans is difficult. This is because the offi-

cial language in Korea is Korean, so most people are weak in

English. Many things such as documents, menus, TV programs etc

are written or spoken in Korean. Therefore, I needed to spend a

long time to get used to it through learning some basic useful

Korean. Fortunately, I met some Korean friends who could speak

English well. They taught me Korean and helped me a lot in my

daily life. Also, there is an international house on campus or there

are some churches outside the campus where foreigners can seek

help and learn Korean.

Secondly, the food in Korea is very different from that in Hong

Kong. Korean food is spicy and Koreans do not like to eat cooked

vegetables. Moreover, the style and taste of the food are quite dif-

ferent from Chinese food. Therefore, I needed some time to get

used to it. I am happy that I only needed a short period to adjust.

There were some cafeterias on campus but the quality of food was

not good. Therefore, I usually ate outside the campus, although it

was expensive compared with the cafeterias. I have tried many dif-

ferent traditional Korean foods.

Thirdly, it was difficult for me to choose courses in KAIST as

most of the courses were taught by Koreans. After discussing with

the professors, they did then use English in the lessons instead of

Korean. Eventually, I chose four courses in KAIST.

While studying in KAIST, you can find that many students study

very hard. Even at mid-night, there were still many students study-

ing in the library. They also concentrate much on the lecture.

Furthermore, many students prepare well before the lecture and

spend much time to review what the professor’s have taught in the

lecture.

The campus of KAIST is very big; I may need to spend ten to

fifteen minuets to walk from the dorm to classrooms. So, many

students including me would like to buy a bike instead of walking.

When it was winter, the campus was very beautiful as there was

snow all over the place. I was happy to see that, as it was the first

time for me to see snow although it was very cold. My dorm is in

the international village where there are many students from dif-

ferent countries. Most of them came from China and France.

Therefore, besides learning Korean, my Mandarin also improved a

lot.

I traveled to many places in Korea such as Busan, Seoul and some

traditional palaces so that I could learn more about the culture,

history, living style, etc. of Korea. Therefore, I become more and

more familiar with Korea and like it very much. The exchange has

This was taken at a friend’sbirthday party. We made acake for him and we playedgames that night. We allhad great fun!

This is one of the entrances ofmy exchange school-Clarkson, you can see the largegreen grassland everywhere oncampus. That’s really nice!

Ang Kai Lui 洪佳蕾

BEngECE, Yr-2

I went hiking with some Ameri-can friends, it was an exciting andnice trip!