Programme: Chinese Culture and Shandong Exploration Camp
Partner Institution: Harbin Institute of Technology
Period: July 5—25, 2023
During this exchange program, I learned much about universities in the mainland and their differences from Hong Kong universities because, in the first two weeks, we attended speeches and had conversations with students there. I have found that their school campuses are very large, even larger than HK Disneyland. Therefore, I had the chance of riding a little motorcycle on their school campus. Also, I have found that their schools offer some bachelor programs that are not provided in HK, like spacecraft engineering and nuclear power engineering, and had experienced an ORV that was crafted by their students.
They also took us to visit their laboratories of vehicle making and 3D printing, which is very impressive. They gave us 3D printed souvenirs that we wanted and let us visit the vehicles they made for competition. The place where we lived in their school is pretty nice, with a bathroom for every room. There is also a very beautiful beach just outside the HIT(WH) campus. They also took us to visit some tourist spots in Weihai and visit sites related to Chinese culture, like Confucius Temple, where I learned much about Chinese culture.
They also took us to some companies to visit in Jinan, and I learned more about the working environment there. I have also learned to take care of myself, as it is my first time to go to a very far place to live by myself for 21 days. The meals that we had were decent, and many are their local cuisine, which I had never tried before.
The most impressive thing is not what I learned from the program but the experience of the program. I made friends with other students that went from HK and also those students studying there. We went to KTV and live house there in our free time, and those were the most memorable moments in the tour.