BBA International Business student
Jonathan Kung
An exchange journey offers you a chance to explore the world and connect with local and international students. I have longed for an opportunity to explore the world ever since I was admitted to the university, and I was glad to take advantages of having two exchanges under the International Triangle Programme, spending my last couple of semesters in two different continents - Montreal, Canada & Lisbon, Portugal.
Ecstasy went with a mild sense of anxiety as being the first batch of ITP. There were lots of rumors from my peers saying that both cities which I planned to go for were relatively 'undesirable' due to the language barrier. Indeed, both destinations are not a popular choice that Hong Kong students would like to choose. On the other side of the coin, this opportunity was instead a good one to get closer in touch with foreign languages and cultures.
The Language Barrier
Recalling my first arrival in Montreal, it was not a good start as I arrived late at night with the lack of help from my host. It was not likely you could find your way accurately without the help of Google Translate, as I stepped in a place where once a French colony. With a shallow understanding level towards French, I had to constantly ask for help from the information counter in the airport, and checking my location through my cellphone in order to ensure that I got off at the right position. Undeniably, English is always regarded as the most prevalent language that people share, but it does not work the same in some areas in which their first language is French. This gradually became a driving force for me to enroll in an introductory course in French so as to better adapt my life in Canada.
Exploring the city
To save myself with more time to explore the city, I have signed up 4 courses for the semester. The campus was always filled up with exchange students from all parts of the world, with different races and nationalities. Each student was so unique and his/her experience and ideas were always the best way to reflect their culture. The universities in Canada advocate the virtues of ideas exchanging and questionings, which is completely different from Hong Kong. Such motives encourage student to always think out-of-the-box and ask questions. In HEC Montreal, there was a massive after-class support from professors and teaching assistants. Staff rooms were always opened for hard-working students who needed extra help with the concepts. The school also equipped with a spacious library and work centers where students could obtain useful resources to finish their reports and presentations. One of the best experiences which I enjoyed the most during my semester was the group works that I had to work with people coming from different disciplines or nations.
There is always a reason why Hong Kong students keep themselves away from working with exchange students as they are afraid these exchange students will “freeride” the work, increasing their work load. So, when there is no excuse as an exchange student, it is a great chance that you can interact with foreigners, understanding their cultures, thoughts and even their stories. One of the courses which I registered was running a virtual corporation as a group in which we had to compete with other classmates. Our team had weekly meetings to discuss our pricing and positioning strategies in order to make our ‘business’ profitable. We had memorable moments working together and exchanging our ‘business secrets’. Although it was just a ‘game’, we all treated it seriously and we won in the end. Having a good grade was indeed a testimony of our collective group work!