My first week in Hong Kong!

Hello everyone!

My name is Sonia and I will be spending the third year of my LLB International Law degree at The Chinese University of Hong Kong  (CUHK)

I arrived at night on the 26th August, before my arrival I was warned by all my relatives and friends about the heat in HK despite the most humid weather of June and July already being over. My uncle kindly offered to pick me up from the airport that evening so I didn’t have to worry about anything because although I can communicate in Cantonese with the locals, I was very tired after my 12 hour flight!

 HKG International Airport

We arrived by taxi and my first thought of CUHK is … one word…… huge! All exchange students had their first week’s stay in an orientation hall, mine was called Shaw College (CUHK has a college system, there are 9 colleges in total) – Student Hostel 2. I shared a room with two other girls from the USA who were very welcoming! Shaw College is the furthest on campus so in order to get around we had to take the shuttle bus, walking is an option but the heat makes it almost unbearable to walk for more than 10 minutes especially as the routes are all uphill!

Above is the view from my orientation hall, being located in the New Territories, CUHK has the most beautiful views out of all the universities in Hong Kong. Our orientation activities started on Wednesday with welcoming remarks from the Office of Academic Links and also various talks about the university and its facilities which are available to us. We were also invited to attend lunch with our colleges and dinner on Friday evening where all exchange students for this semester gathered, a record of over 600 of us!

On Saturday I moved into my permanent hall. I was lucky enough to be placed in one of the most convenient halls which is closest to the university train station (our university has it’s own train station!!) which means that if I arrive home late after dinner I don’t need to worry about missing the last night bus back to my halls. I can take the escalators which means I don’t even have to walk haha! I was exhausted after moving in because Chung Chi (CC) is one of the oldest colleges on campus therefore we had no lifts to use when taking our luggage to our rooms. I happened to be on the highest  floor which is the 4th floor but as soon as I got into my room and looked out the window, I was greeted with an amazing view of the university running track and the sea! Using all that energy was worth it!

 The view from my room

 University Swimming Pool

Term starts today and I can’t wait to see what it’s like to officially study here!

This is all for now, I shall be updating with more photos soon ! 🙂