Australia

A strong sense of belonging is always present in my current school as staffs and students are all very friendly. They all love to socialize and make new friends, after a few months, we are already like a big family. Although my school expects us to perform high quality hospitality, such as serving food and beverages properly and using our front offices skills to provide the best service, I really enjoy the moments in these practical exercises since I can gain a lot of useful daily-life knowledge no matter they are about bar, sequences of service or coffee etc. After 2.5 years of studying and including 1 year of placement in different hotels in Australia, I am sure I will become a professional Hotel Manager!

Entering university is an important step in our life, as it is a gateway to our careers in the future. University life is not only about studying and getting results, but it is also about learning to live by ourselves. For me entering Monash University has not been the wrong choice as I am exposed to mingling with students who came from very different backgrounds, learning to adapt to the different culture and lifestyle. It is also from this point where lifelong skills are developed such as time management and the need to take self-initiative as high school's 'spoon-feeding' disappeared. Last but not least, joining the clubs and societies in the university is an eye-widening experience. For me, I have joined the University's Student Association, where I met different people and learnt to engage myself in helping to improve the university's community.

In my Y11, just like many other DP students from other cohorts, I had to choose which university to study. Truthfully speaking, choosing which university to study is not even a problem to me, especially since I didn’t take university ranking into account because I believe it fails to reflect the specialised subject of an university has to offer, and it would seriously affect your job prospect in the future. What concerned me more is to plan whether to stay in Hong Kong, or head oversea to continue my undergraduate studies. Weighing the pros and cons are not easy, and to me, family weighs the heaviest.

After careful considerations, I chose the latter.

Although the thought of going oversea all by myself was frightening, I was also thrilled about what lied in front of me. It is that turning point of your life where you have the chance to experience a foreign culture, explore the world, and venture into the unknown. And so I thought, ‘Let’s see what the world has to offer.’

Choosing where to study for 3, 4, 5 or even 6 years is a very personal decision and it really depends on what you wish to study. I love history, but at the same time I realised it would be very difficult for me to look for a job after studying, so I added International Business into the mix. With studying a double degree in mind, I found Australia to be my first choice due to its international outlook and close connection ties with Asia-Pacific regions. If I ever had the chance to work in a multinational company within the Asia-Pacific region, the working experience in Australia is a definite plus as I will be used to engage with different ethnicity on a daily basis. On top of that, it has nice weather, a multicultural society, and people are really friendly. Though everything can pretty much kill you in the land down under, I never regretted the choice I have made 4 years ago.

I chose to study in Macquarie University in Sydney, an university that is known for its diversity in backgrounds, students and subjects. As an amateur athlete, I also chose them for their active sportsmanship and achievements in Australia national wide. While the acceptance rate is higher and it has a more flexible requirement to receive an offer than other universities, the graduation rate is lower than others because of the contents they deliver. Studying Macquarie is not hard, but it’s not easy as well especially I am doing a double degree and double major. In my final year, I participated in Australian University Games, a national-wide university sporting event, represented Macquarie University in Taekwondo and returned victorious with a gold medal.

In terms of social aspect, Macquarie University is fun. We have a lot of student and social groups for students to join and the vibe is genuinely positive. To maximise my Aussie experience, I have joined the Buddy Program, a volunteer program that aims to assist new comers to understand more about Sydney and Australia in general through tours, exploring Sydney’s history and heritage, and more importantly to share my understanding of Sydney and Australia. Through this program I fulfilled my dreams to explore different cultures, simply by meeting people from different ethnicity, religious and national background. Whilst engaging with domestic and international students, I continue to understand the Australian culture and value. It was truly a cross-cultural experience for me here in Australia and as an international student, there’s no way I will ever forget about this amazing experience that built my understanding of ‘integration’.