Whew, it's officially been a year since my last old days of high school and the start of my adventure halfway across the globe to the sub-tropical peninsula of Hong Kong. Is it cliche to say that the year has gone by so quickly? Honestly, it feels like every year becomes shorter and shorter. Like I'm sure many have said and will say moving forward, my first year in the HKU-UCB dual degree program has been life-changing in so many ways. But specifically, I have three main changes I've noticed about myself: perspective, outside experiences, and events only possible because of this program.
One thing I need to clarify and emphasize is that the position of a dual-degree student (DD) is extremely unique, in age and experience we are just first years, but internally with academic conditions and mental states we are forced to mold into an unprepared fletching 2nd-3rd year hybrid. So, while we deal with the challenges of a first year, we are also simultaneously expected to act like 2/3 years. Beyond that, even knowing that my time in HKU is limited to two years changes the magnitude of how I perceive things. For example, many students decide their major in year 2, but DD students will have already "graduated" (course-wise) by the end of the 2nd year. Therefore, make sure you know what you want to study, and specifically if it's something that you want associated with you for the rest of your life (yikes.) Or regarding time, while my friends strive to get through university ASAP, I know that I will only be able to speak with them for four short semesters changes, a bit like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Additionally, moving from the West to the East has changed my perspective of culture and life. Aside from the Oriental and British influences on education, nuance differences in the way HK people bustle around the city, or the urgency people eat food with can only be felt by living in a place so different from home.
For outside experiences, Hong Kong has been a gateway to diverse surprises. Even in my brief time here, I've traveled to six different countries (which isn't even a lot in comparison to others) and I've even eaten so many different foods that I had only seen in magazines and movies. Things like dim sum and tea (飲茶), egg waffles (雞蛋仔), egg tarts from Macau, Vietnamese coconut coffee and even Taiwanese beef noodles (牛肉面) have all introduced a new combination of flavors and allowed me to discover a favorite food I didn't even know previously (口水鸡!!). In addition to being a travel hub for the rest of Asia, Hong Kong is going to be one of the only places in the world where so many different languages and cultures are interacting every day. On a normal day, I can hear Cantonese, Putonghua, and English concurrently used in the classroom, while going with Hindi-speaking friends to lunch after class and then playing basketball in Korean with the student team in the evening. My four closest friends all fluently speak a minimum of three languages and upwards of five or six conversationally, (which is honestly a bad thing for my confidence at times), but also amazing for having constant pressure and motivation to push myself in aspects that I didn't know were available before. Not simply in academics but taking risks and experiences that I want to try but was scared of being accomplished before.
Finally, I want to overview some of the events that I have experienced only because of my participation in this program. First, being able to meet other dual-degree students from other universities, one of my closest friends is a student from the HKU-Sciences Po program and have also been able to make friends from the UCL, PKU, and UBC programs. One particular lesson that I've internalized is the idea of "Same experience, different person." The idea that as I grow, I will go through similar experiences where I can see the difference in how I've grown and developed from the previous time. For example, my friend told me about the unique event of being able to have two first days of university with two fresh starts, one in France and one in Hong Kong. In this sense, it will allow me to have a unique opportunity to have a clear benchmark on how far I have developed and grown during my time. How my first day in Hong Kong will differ from my first day in Berkeley. Another event was my student conference to Taiwan, where I was able to meet locals and experience a school culture in another country that I didn't know of before, the experience broadened my views international exchange, impact of student life and allowed me to make friends from different countries with different upbringings and experiences from mine.
Overall, my time in Hong Kong has been unique to say the least. Multiple typhoons, language barrier and the unbearable humidity have all led to frustrations at times, but also made me appreciate the good times and created exciting memories to look back on. With one year remaining, I want to make the most of my time here and experience as much as I can. And in all truth, if my second year can be as fruitful and eventful as my first year then I will be able to leave satisfied with my time here.