An overseas exchange experience
In summer 2016, I was fortunate to join the Minor in Entrepreneurship(MIE) summer exchange programme in Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. Despite the fact that this is just a relatively short exchange experience within less than two months in Singapore, it does not mean I had experienced little. In fact, NTU had placed me in an academically stimulating environment that was both culturally enriching and socially fulfilling. I had gone through a lot of new challenges and learnt a lot.
Intensive coursework and assessments were challenges of the summer exchange experience. What made these challenges more demanding was a surprise that I had never expected–I was the only exchange student from Hong Kong, while the rest were local students and students from Michigan University, USA. Having no Hong Kong companion means I was forced to communicate with those new English speaking friends, deal with all obstacles I encountered on my own, and learn to be more independent.
As a teacher-to-be, this exchange experience inspired me to reconsider what education is and how it should be implemented. In Singapore and Hong Kong, the entire education system places extremely high demands on students. It is typical for high school students to solely focus on schoolwork from 8 am to 11 pm whereas in the US, they ended up in the opposite. Therefore, students from Singapore and Hong Kong are considered to be more “intelligent”. However, students from the US surprised me. I did not see students from US in the exchange programme to be more “dump”. There were always innovative ideas in their mind, and they dared to dream and try. Some of them have even started their own profit-making online business since the age of 16 or 17, which is drastically different from those “typical conservative bookworms” produced under the spoon-feeding education system in Hong Kong.
I have never expected to have seen and experienced so much in Singapore. The multi-cultural social atmosphere is something simply travelling cannot give you. Exchange experience gives you not only months of exposure to a new culture, but also a journey of self-discovery and personal growth filled with fascinating experiences and unforgettable memories. It will probably be your once-in-a-lifetime chance to explore care-free, and do and see things you could have never dreamed of. Therefore, the advice I will give to everyone would really be to take advantage of any exchange opportunity.
RE Camera