Studying @ Chinese University of Hong Kong

This semester I’m taking a class at Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) every Friday. Before I started that class I was very annoyed with having to take a 1 hour ride on the bus+MTR in each direction every week, but now that over half the semester has passed by, I got to say that I kind of look forward to that trip every week. It’s refreshing to experience a different university every once in a while, different campus, different atmosphere, different professors, different students, it adds a special flavor to the ordinary routine.

I admit that the first time I visited CUHK it wasn’t really love at first sight. It was a big campus, walking around is almost impossible unless you’re in remarkably good shape and the weather’s really nice, and back then it was a public holiday so the campus was empty. This past semester I got to see a different CUHK, and I like it a lot more now. It’s quite vibrant, the views from the top of the university are spectacular and – no offense meant to UST -  the students walking around CUHK generally seem more fashionable and outgoing. I’m guessing having more humanities, art and social sciences tends to do that to a university.

So, there’s a lot of positive things to be said about the system that allows the universities in HK to share classes & transfer credits. In this class I’m taking, over 90% of the students are not from CUHK. They even have outside students coming in from Macau and Guangdong province sitting in on that class taking a much longer ride than I am each time with a border crossing.

The wrap it up – a generally positive experience. If you haven’t been to CUHK, it’s worth a visit around campus just for the views…

Following are some panoramas and campus shots for you to get a sense of things.