ISTM in Hong Kong

First days in France : I was tired because of the time shift... but also very puzzled... so weird what you feel after a long stay abroad... a mix between being very happy to be back in your home country, sad because the adventure is over... but finally so happy about this wonderful experience !!!

Before my departure, Derek told me that I would not be the same person anymore after my stay in Hong Kong... he was right... a new point of view on France, me, my life. More serene... I have grown up in Hong Kong... and I really recommend you to take an exchange program abroad !

So, how was Hong Kong ?
To make your own idea, have a look on the pictures :

First, the City University of Hong Kong :

And yes, this picture was taken inside the campus :)

The first feeling I had at CityU was : "Waou ! it is like a mall! " I really enjoyed the facilities : free access to computers everywhere in the campus, and you can even hire a laptop (for free) for the day if you do not want to bring your own one :) I really felt I was spoilt there !

Another way of studying (there you do not have to attend so many courses, but you are expected to do lots of personal work) , another notion of teamwork...

Even though from time to time, you may really enjoy a Western dinner,

being an exchange student also means experiencing new things (here a party organized by the International and Non-local Student Office of CityU, for the Mid-Autumn Festival, on October 6th)

and new food : Dim Sum, a speciality in Hong Kong.

Or course, tourism : in Hong Kong, the Harbour and the Light Show
or the museums (free entrance on Wednesday !). I recommend the Heritage Museum,

not far from Hong Kong either Tung Ping Chau,
or Lantau Island for hiking, for the Giant Buddha, the Po Lin monastry and the Ngong Ping Village.

Then, Macao :

Mainland China : Jieyang and the so famous Chiuchow cuisine

or Hainan Island

farther, Cambodia (sunrise in Angkor Wat) :

And last but not least, friends from all over the world !

One of the common things the exchange students here say is "The Chinese are so rude ! They do not even say 'Thank you' when you hold the door for them ! "

One of my floormates invited me at her house in Shantou,Chaozhou, Guangdong province.

I was really well welcomed : as the place is famous for the Teochew cuisine, I was invited to many restaurants, but I also visited the historic centre and its museum. In a few words, it was a very very nice stay ! As I did not expected that at all, I was so happy that I was keeping saying "Thank you" all the time !

But my friend did not want me to say "Thank you" so many times. First because she would feel embarrassed, and then because otherwise it would seem as if I were not sincere... I could just say "Thank you" at the end of the stay.

In Western countries, it is as if we say "Thank you" all the time : thank you for holding the door for me, no thank you I do not want any sugar in my coffee... but for Chinese people, you say "Thank you" only for gifts, or if someone makes a favour to you... in other words, you say "thank you" only if it is worth it !

Different cultures and different definitions of courtesy, who would have guessed that ?

ISTM students, you may want to do your mission de fin d'études or internship in Hong Kong.

So how to look for an internship ?

1) with ISTM : Roselyne will send you the offers ISTM has. Anyway, I strongly advise you to check your ISTM e-mail box.

2) by yourself, via internet.

3) with CityU. Go to the Career Center (Amenities Building, in the way of the swimming pool). They organize many worskshops, but unfortunately, it is in Cantonese (but there are still few in English).

Also contact Winnie KWAN, from the faculty of Science and Engineering. She is very helpful and effective :

winniek@cityu.edu.hk
Phone number : 2194 2348

One of the other French people here (from Université de Technologie de Troyes ou Compiègne) from the same department as me (Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management) got an internship in Hong Kong. I am not sure, but I think he will stay in the student residence, because for his internship, he has a kind of internship course, hence a tutor in CityU. This way of doing is very very interesting, either for the visa (you still have a student visa, which is very convenient ! ), or for the facilities (living in the student residence is a very very good deal in Hong Kong !). I guess you will have to pay the tuition fees for the course, but it is still a very good deal to do that !

Last but not least, prepare your résumé (Curriculum Vitae) in English and when you arrive in Hong Kong, get business cards and suits done !

Address for business cards (the only address I found, but I know you can get yours in Wan Chain or Central) :

Print 100.com
2505, Fook Yip Building
53-57 Kwai Fong Crescent
Kwai Fong, Hong Kong

MTR Kwai Fong, exit C

http://www.print100.com/hk_e/html/main.aspx

You will get 300 business cards for 160 HK$ (16 euros)

Address for suits :
In Hong Kong (I have never been over there, but I was told it is fine, and you can get discount for your CityU Identity card)

Men's High Fashion
Shop 27
1/F shop 07
Hollywood Shopping CTR
Sai Yeung Choi Street
Kowloon, Hong Kong

MTR Mongkok

Tel : 2771 0978

You can also go to Shenzhen (KCR station Lo Wu).
It is cheaper (I got a 2 pieces suit : jacket and pants for 450 RMB = 450 HK$ = 45 euros).
But you have to get first a visa for Mainland China (see the post of October 25th).

At the end of September, the Student Residence Office will ask you to pay your room fees. You have to pay the whole amount (for me it was 7200 HK$ or 720 euros) in once. You have to go to the bank which is next to the library of CityU. If you do not want to line up a too long time (less than 30 minutes) at the bank (and yes, there is so many people here that we line up almost for everything!), the best time to pay is early in the morning (before 10 am).

Personally, since I have a Visa card with an International contract with my French Bank (Jazz International à la Société Générale) I did not apply for the Hong Kong banks (HSBC or Hang Seng bank).

Hence, I have to pay my room fees in cash ! But with my visa card, I cannot withdraw more than 4600 HK$ (460 euros) per week. So, I had to withdraw the money twice.

Please, when you withdraw and then store the money for your room fees, be careful of the thieves ! Last year, the ISTM student who was there had been stolen, and this year, I know than an American student was stolen 5000 HK$ (500 euros)

So the question was : how much is the life in Hong Kong ?

Answer :

1) Food : twice cheaper than in France, except for Western products such as wine, cheese... at least twice more expensive ! For example, this pack of little yogurts (type "Petits Filous", les yahourts que mangent les bébés)costs 26 HK$ (2,60 euros !!), and this litre of milk costs around 15-20 HK$ (1,50-2 euros) I think (sorry I cannot remember the exact price)


Then at the canteen, you get this meal for 14,5 HK$ (1,45 euros !)

And if you go to the restaurant, for example in Nam Shan Estate, next to CityU, you can have a very good dinner (at least four dishes) for 40-50 HK$ (4-5 euros !) ...but in Nam Shan, you have to go with somebody who speaks Cantonese or at least, who can read Chinese, because the menu is not translated in English at all, as Nam Shan is a restaurant for locals !

But if you choose a Chinese high class restaurant (for example Jasmine in Festival Walk), it is around 160 HK$ (16 euros) for a very good dinner !




2) Room : I live in the student residence of CityU. For the semester I paid 7200 HK$ (720 euros) for 4 months, id it is 1800 HK$ (180 euros) per month ! And I have a single room, which means it is more expensive than a double room (around 1300 HK$ or 130 euros per month, but I am not sure). Maybe you will be lucky and get a single room (9 m²). Otherwise you will share a double room (13 m²) with another student. Your room mate can be either somebody you already know (hence specify it when you apply for your rooms), either a HK, Mainland China people, or another exchange student !

3) Goods, clothes and so on : cheaper than in France, but it depends on what you want.

4) Telephone :
- Local calls : if you call with the phone which is in your room, even though you call a mobile phone, it is free !

- Mobile phone : my mobile phone operator is New World Mobility. So I pay something like 0.25 HK$ (0.025 euro) per minute for any call I make or receive to/from Hong Kong or France ! Yes ! You pay when you call as well as when you receive a call on your mobile phone ! And yes again, you pay the same price even if you call in France ! I know that with another mobile phone operator, you can get different prices depending on whether you call Hong Kong or your home country, but I cannot remember the name, sorry.

So make or receive calls from your room phone, it is free !

5) Internet connexion : provided by the student residence : included in your room fees !

6) Subway (MTR and KCR)
The prices depends on where you go. For example, for a journey between Kowloon Tong (the MTR station of the University) to Tsim Sha Tsui, it is around 3 HK$ (0.30 euros). Please apply for a student Octopus card (with the Student Development Service in the University : 6th Floor, Amenities Building) as soon as possible, so you can get concessionary prices (50 % off).


So in total, including the room and a very nice way of life, I spend around 4000-5000 HK$ (400-500 euros !) per month.

After the fountain pens, the draft paper.
Yesterday, it was my first exam.

As Hong Kong is a low-context culture [1], everything is said or written.
So before the exam starts, the teacher said "As there are people here, whose it is the first year in CityU, I have to read the rules for the exams..." And he started to read the rules (do not eat, do not speak, raise your hand if you have enquiries, switch off your mobile phones...). By the way, the rules are also in the website of the university... and you receive an e-mail saying you are strongly advised to read them before taking the exams...

Then the exams started.

ISTM students, if you choose the subject MEEM 6012 Management of Technological Innovation, you will have questions like : " cooking pan and peanut : think of a new product and write a rough business plan..." (no, no I am not joking ! one of the purposes of the course is to make you be more creative ! see post of November 13th...and do not worry, you will also have more academic courseworks such as a research report and a business plan to write...)

So I started to think... but...no draft paper !!! I had to raise my hand (as specified in the exam rules) and ask for draft paper... and when I handed in my paper, I also had to give my draft paper...

Is it a French thing to have draft papers for the examinations ? If someone has the answer, please, post a comment ! Thanks in advance !

[1] Hall, E.T. , and Hall, M.R., (1989), Understanding cultural differences: German, French and American. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.

So a few weeks ago, we went first to a place near Mongkok, to visit the social centre.



We had a presentation about the poor people in Hong Kong. Those people can be new arrivants in Hong Kong (from Mainland China, India...), old people, single parent families... It is quite surprising to see that even for poor people, there are sport machines in the social centre ! That points out how Chinese people take care of their physical health (and also mental health, because for them, mental and physical health are one) !!!

We then visited the buildings where the families live...it really has nothing to do with the French H.L.M. ! And the difference is so obvious, especially when next to the "poor" building, you have a wealthy building.


And the "flats" are so tiny ! Imagine one mother and her child living in a 10 m² (if not less) apartment ("apartment includes main room, "kitchen" and "bathroom"... ) ! Our group was "in charge" of a family, id a mother and her son.

If I have understood everything (obviously, people speak Cantonese here, and obviously I already speak Cantonese fluently !-) ), the lady is from Mainland China. She married a man from Hong Kong and gave birth to her son in Hong Kong. So the child is a Hong Kong citizen. But the lady does not have the Hong Kong citizenship, but the Mainland Chinese one. (Nota : Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region, with its own rules and law). As long as the man was alive, even tough the lady could not live in Hong Kong (she only had the right to visit her son once a month), the family used to live happily. But the man died. And here, when you are in need, you do not have as much money from the government as in France. Furthermore, even though the child is a Hong Kong citizen and is only 8 years old, his mother still does not have the right to live in Hong Kong and raise him. Indeed the child can deny his Hong Kong citizenship and become a Chinese citizen, but he would lose many advantages in Hong Kong (education...), and would not get the same advantages in Mainland China.
So the lady asks for the right to stay in Hong Kong permanently, which also means the right to work... but now, she has not still managed to get it. Nowadays, she is actually in Hong Kong with nearly no income, and no friends or any support, except from the social centre : most of Hong Kong people look down on people from Mainland China, especially when they are not wealthy...

Today, we invited the lady and her son (as well as other families) to our campus. We showed them the university and the dormitory. Then we had a barbecue in the BBQ area inside the campus. Afterwards, we played games at the lawn, next to the dormitory. Even if at the beginning I worried because the ice between the students and the families had not been broken yet, finally this day turned out to be wonderful ! At the end of the day, the families told us they really enjoyed the day and felt they have friends ! They even invited us to visit them ! This day was not a charity day in fact ! It was a day of sharing, a day of barbecue and games, and it was soooooo nice !!!! (Nota : Chinese people are very proud of themselves. If they do not trust you, or if they feel you treat them as inferior, they would not open their hearts to you, they even would not accept your presents... for example, I offered perfume samples to the ladies... first they did not want to accept it : they knew they would not be able to give me a present in return, because they could not afford it yet, and also because I would leave Hong Kong soon... but finally :D)

Now I understand why people like to do charity projects... When you do not do it because you expect something in return, when you only do it because you just want to share your time, when you only do it for the sake of doing it, it is so nice ! It is so nice to see smiles on people's face ! It is so nice to experience that while you did not do anything special or complicated (we only invite them for a barbecue and games ! ) ! It is soooooo nice because it really makes you take life easier ! :))

The French are posh...so dear French people, if you come to Hong Kong to study and if you are addicted to your stylo plume, do not forget to bring your own fountain pen, ink, and eraser (effaceur) ! Because it would be very difficult to find some here !!!-D

They are here and everywhere, you cannot avoid them... they can tell you the truth...but only a part of it... let's talk about stereotypes !

First, the French ! What did I hear about them ???
First of all, they are so... romantic ! ohhh !!! Is it surprising that most of the French boys here have a Hong Kong girl friend ? They are so popular ! But you also have the other side of the moon... the French are romantic... and thus, you cannot trust them... they flirt with you, but that does not mean they love you... (said my Chinese-Indian friend)
Then, the French "do not care"... (said a Hong Kong boy) it is true that compared to the Chinese people, we do not have this notion of face, we do not care about what people would think of us...
And...this is what I heard a lot from European people : the French are posh ! I even received an e-mail saying : "Now i also know that not all French people are snobs : )"
(and yes ! I am posh: that is why I was nearly the only one who dressed up for the CityU banquet...)


The Chinese (both Hong Kong and Mainland China people) are shy : so if you want to be friends with them, be patient... when I arrived here, I had to keep on saying "Hello" to my floor-mates during more than one week (without any answer), before someone said "hello" in return.... it is the same with my kungfu mates : except one, nobody talked to me during at least one month ! But they turned out to be very nice when I came to them...

The Hong Kong people are noisy and speak very loud (maybe that is why I do not like my neighbors... being waken up at 3 o'clock in the morning because they go to bed and "forget" that some people are already sleeping at that time, is at least very annoying !!!)

(And yes, here it is a low-context culture [1] : everything is written ! It is quite convenient when you are a foreigner and you do not know the local culture : you do not have to wonder how you should behave).

The American are pushy and not really cultivated... one of them even asked whether Denmark was a Swedish city....

And the Danes...studying all the time ! Even in a trip to Macao !
Then Denmark, according to Hofstede [2], is a feminine country : that means that people care a lot of their living condition, and that the housework can also be done by the man. Can you see this Danish boy cleaning the table ? It is nice, isn't it ? ;cD



Even though stereotypes can be very useful (when I have an appointment with American or Danish people, I come earlier or on time...whereas, when it is with French or Chinese people, I just take my time, as I expect them to be late ! haha ! ), be aware of them ! They are only a short-cut ! They are not true all the time !
For example, one of my friend here is American, and she is very cultivated, and she speaks a perfect French ! By the way, she is often annoyed by the préjugés people have against American people...
Then, I have a Turkish friend here... and no, he is not pro-Ben Laden... and he even eats pork...


[1] Hall, E.T. , and Hall, M.R., (1989), Understanding cultural differences: German, French and American. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.
[2] Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations across Nations. 2^nd Edition Thousand Oaks. CA: Sage.