Study Abroad

Memories You Can’t Exchange

By Grace Chan,  Exchange to Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong

I notice that as I get older, I am more aware of how quickly time flies. Reflecting on when I was younger, I recall that six hours in Elementary School felt like an eternity. My birthday is also in June, which meant that for me, summer could never come soon enough. But today, every hour in a day is shorter, every week zips by, and as I sit in my room in Vancouver, I realized that already half the year has passed. As soon as it hit me, the one thing that came in my head was: what have the past six months meant to me? Did I accomplish any goals, meet new friends, or begin a new job? Needless to say, I soon decided that the greatest highlight of my year so far was the opportunity I had to move and study in Hong Kong this spring.

I could hardly contain my excitement when I first found out I had been nominated to participate in an exchange studies program in Hong Kong. I immediately called my parents to tell them and prepared for my departure months in advance. My mom suggested that I record all my experiences in Asia in a journal, but I had an even better idea: I wanted to create an online blog to share my adventures overseas with my family and friends back home. Since I was new at writing entries and have never kept a diary before, I promised to only try my best at expressing my feelings, mood and stories to my readers. Along with my unbelievably long posts, I also included copious amounts of photographs from my travels. If there is one thing that I would recommend for future exchange students, it would be to start a blog. Not only was it encouraging and touching to read my friend’s comments and their updates, but years from now, my blog will be a wonderful reminder of my journey and memories in Hong Kong.

Unlike many exchange students, I did not stay in the university dormitory but rather lived with my grandmother. I did not mind these arrangements; however, I do believe that my experience as an exchange student was comparably different to others. My mom persuaded me to live with my grandmother and reasoned that we have not spent enough time with her in the past when we visited in the summer. Although we went to dinner together, our conversations were always short and never got very close. Since my experience in Hong Kong this spring, I cannot emphasize how life changing our relationship has been.

Given the chance, I could probably sit and talk for hours about the stories my grandmother and I had. I never expected that my grandmother would share information about her personal feelings, her modest upbringing, and her painful memories with me. What a stark difference this was from the past. One of the most intriguing qualities about my grandmother is her effort and concern over small details. For instance, if my grandmother knew I had an exam coming up, she would make soup that was traditionally known to help replenish the body and boost energy in one’s brain. Or when she realized I had two hours until my next class, she would purposely walk to my school and take me out to lunch so that I did not have do wait alone. I am truly moved by my grandmother’s actions and I appreciate her so much in my life. Although I may not have experienced the typical “dorm life” that other students may have, I did become a lot closer with my grandmother and that is a memory I would never exchange.

By Kendra Wingerter, Exchange to Sciences Po Paris, France

Most people are aware that when they go on their exchange term, they are going to meet a few challenges in their new life abroad.  Culture shock, language barriers, getting lost (a lot), making new friends and missing old ones.  It’s a lot of change for anyone to face, even for someone with travel experience and itchy feet.  But what do you do when the bigger shock is coming home?

As an SFU Vancouver student who is originally from Calgary, I knew how hard it is to leave your home and find yourself in a totally unfamiliar city, even if there are tons of fun times and new friends around you.  Since I’d been through the shock of moving away for school before, I knew what to expect when I moved again, and thought that by the end of my 5 months abroad, I’d be absolutely dying to come home to familiar faces and a culture that I’m an expert at.  But the lonely moments, the cultural self-consciousness, and the desire for home never came.  After my first month in Paris (which is where I spent my semester abroad) I realized that the initial challenges of moving hadn’t really affected me that much, and while I considered trying to extend my exchange, I abandoned that idea thinking that even though I wasn’t feeling it yet, by the end of my planned 5 months abroad I would be more than ready to go home.

Then the half-way mark of my exchange came, and then the 4-month mark, and then suddenly I found myself packing my bags to go home, but not feeling too good about it.  I had checked everything off on my Paris bucket-list, and I didn’t feel like my exchange itself was incomplete or lacking, but I liked my little apartment in the city; the hundreds of museums and historical sites that were at my fingertips every day, the luxury of being close to so many other interesting countries, the every-day language learning experiences, and the relaxed pace of French culture.  I had close friends who had become more like family to me, I had favourite coffee shops and hang-out spots, I had daily and weekly routines, and I had gotten really, reaaalllly good at making crepes.

So at first leaving was incredibly difficult.  I stopped in London for a few nights on my way home and during my time there I felt like I was going through the worse breakup ever.  All I wanted to do was lie in bed, and cry, and eat chocolate, and hold a cat.  When I first returned home, the sinking feeling in my stomach was still there, but each day as I saw more and more of my loved ones, went to my favourite Canadian coffee shops, remembered the ease of speaking in my first language, and was reacquainted with the luxuries of living in a modern culture, the idea of being at home was no longer so daunting.

I come out of this experience feeling like a stronger person, now knowing with confidence that I am capable of adjusting to and being happy in a far-away world (which, as an International Studies major, is nice to know).  If I’d stayed in Paris, more challenges would have come; my friends would have gone home and I would have been left back at social-square-one, I would have had to find a new apartment and figure out a way to fund the rest of my stay.  Though I miss Paris, recognizing these challenges has made it easier to leave my life there, because had I stayed, it would have been a very different life anyway.  Instead of regret, I’m trying to channel any feelings of reverse culture-shock into something constructive: I see it as a positive thing that I left my exchange still wanting to be there (it means I had an amazing experience!) and I have now found my motivation to start looking up those Parisian co-op placements.  Whether going or coming, every exchange has its good parts and it’s bad, you just need to focus on the silver lining to find both your feet and your smile, no matter where you are.

Simon Fraser University student Emily Chen placed first in the Tsinghua Cup Case Competition at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Emily is a fourth year student at SFU’s Beedie School of Business and is studying at Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, one of the top ranked business schools in Asia.

In a team of 4 with 2 Tsinghua students and one other exchange student, their solution to diversify risk and cultivate sustainable growth for a small US based medical devices company solidified their win amongst 32 teams and impressed industry judges. Their prize is a summer internship in Shanghai at Roland Berger, one of the top 5 firms in the management consulting industry.

Image: Emily Chen (middle) placed first in the Tsinghua Cup Case Competition.