The enriching aspect of a study abroad experience is immersing oneself in a new culture and learning about other people across the world. Here at HKUST, I have had multiple opportunities to participate in workshops and learn about various aspects of Hong Kong culture, and I would love to share my experiences with you all.
One thing that brings different people together is food, and I had the chance to learn how to make traditional Hong Kong desserts, such as egg tarts and walnut cookies. The other students and I went to North Point on Hong Kong Island, worked with the Hong Kong New Oriental Culinary Art (HKNOC), and took a lesson on how to make these foods. Egg tarts and walnut cookies are both specialties of Hong Kong, and we were led by a Hong Kong pâtissier. We were provided with the ingredients and recipes and had a live demo to learn the techniques for preparing the ingredients and baking them. We left not only with delicious Hong Kong treats but also with the knowledge of how to recreate those traditional desserts back home.
Another component of traditional Hong Kong culture is the minibus, an integral part of Hong Kong public transportation. Traditionally, each minibus would have a unique sign with Chinese calligraphy made by a master to show the bus’s sources and destinations. Though nowadays the signs are mostly milled by machines, the iconic red and blue calligraphy on a tablet is still a staple on buses. Beyond showing the destinations of a bus, the style is also used for souvenir keychains and to denote traditional Hong Kong culture. I had the opportunity to make my own minibus sign, and I wrote “Discrete Mathematics” and “離散數學,” which are the Traditional Chinese characters for it. I will be taking Discrete Math (COMP2711) in the second half of the program, so I thought it would be nice to have a sign of it in my dorm to look at when I study.
The last cultural event I participated in was Cantonese Over Dim Sum, where I had the opportunity to chat with Hong Kong locals and learn some basic Cantonese phrases while sharing a meal together. This event was hosted by Spark Global, which is HKUST’s department of Global Learning. As Cantonese is the main dialect spoken in Hong Kong, it was a great opportunity to talk to the local students and learn through games. We were all given a pamphlet of Cantonese phrases and had to piece together Cantonese sentences. Even though I came to Hong Kong knowing Mandarin Chinese, there are subtle differences in sentence structure that made the learning experience fascinating and challenging. Coming out of this event, I was able to learn some Cantonese phrases and make connections with local students and other study abroad students from various parts of the world.
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