The difficulties of assimilation
I feel it is important to open a dialogue on what study abroad students do and what the purpose of studying in another place. Please reply with your thoughts, whether you’ve studied abroad or are yet to go. I’ve spent a lot of time pondering these ideas before coming to Hong Kong and now I’ve found myself increasingly concerned with the question everyone must answer for himself: where do I belong?
The question is not about finding a location, but a social circle, a hobby, a routine, your everyday self. To begin I shall discuss the idea and expectations of exchange students from my own experience. Of course in some ways they relate specifically to Hong Kong and Asia, but I believe many things I address are commonalities of the study abroad experience. Also, keep in mind I must generalize to some degree, and there are exceptions.
What do you think of exchange students?
Before I came to Hong Kong I noticed that they are very much a clique in Missouri Southern. I talk to several of them, and they are generally friendly, but why is it that people from Denmark (or any other country) hang out with people from Africa, Chile, France, China, etc. (you get my point) instead of being absorbed into other social circles? I thought the purpose of studying abroad was to gain an understanding of a different place with different customs by putting yourself in a new and sometimes uncomfortable situation. In part, I attribute the lack of assimilation to the idea that most people take the path of least resistance. After all, we exchange students, while we may have very little in common with each other before meeting in our respective schools, now are in the same situation. We are in a new place and don’t know anyone. We band together. Would the same people be friends if you removed the common factor of both being study abroad students? Now I may come off as critical, but I’m in this situation now where a majority of the friends I spend much time with are fellow exchange students. Some of them are even fellow Americans. I don’t mean to imply that I don’t like my friends here, contrarily, I consider myself privileged to have met them. Some days I just feel that maybe I’m not truly a part of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Talking to local students, I’ve gotten the impression of their expectations of exchange students. They expect them to not study very hard, to not assimilate, to party every night, to spend weekends traveling and sightseeing and so forth. In all honestly, they are usually not too far from being correct, but of course there are exceptions. A few experiences have led me to these conclusions. There is a downtown bar district called Lan Kwai Fong, and it is crowded with foreigners of all types: middle-aged, rich white businessmen, international students, and tourists. The local students expect me to frequent Lan Kwai Fong. Another experience involved me attending the Astronomy club meeting. I was the only exchange student there, as the meeting was being conducted in Cantonese. As soon as I entered I was already drawing stares. A girl in front of me kept me slightly informed as to what was going on. The event was a question and answer session, so I kept my hand up for quite a while. Finally, when I was allowed to ask my question about what the club does, students were laughing at me. I asked the person next to me about it. She said that it is very uncommon for exchange students to attend any club meetings.
The specific difficulties for me as I try to fit in as a local student are multiple. Foremost is the language barrier. Although nearly every student here knows English, they prefer speaking in Cantonese. So it is hard to start a conversation without having to play the role of ignorant exchange student. Also, the social structure here is different. The social network seems to be dominated by the subject of study. Most local students will spend time with the other students they share most of their classes with, or the students that they attended their orientation camps with. Another bothersome difference stems from the work ethic here. It seems so many students will spend 10 hours per day with school work, projects, presentations, and pre-professional student organizations. The result is students having large networks of friends that they say “hello” to in passing, but know very little about.
While I’ve focused predominantly on the social obstacles, I still have met many friendly local students. I’ve just encountered more resistance than I expected. I keep calling the locals to come on an adventure with me, and every once in a while they don’t have projects or meetings. I’m just doing what I can to keep from falling entirely into exchange student sub-culture. I also want to encourage others to remain aware and actively choose your experiences abroad.
The question is not about finding a location, but a social circle, a hobby, a routine, your everyday self. To begin I shall discuss the idea and expectations of exchange students from my own experience. Of course in some ways they relate specifically to Hong Kong and Asia, but I believe many things I address are commonalities of the study abroad experience. Also, keep in mind I must generalize to some degree, and there are exceptions.
What do you think of exchange students?
Before I came to Hong Kong I noticed that they are very much a clique in Missouri Southern. I talk to several of them, and they are generally friendly, but why is it that people from Denmark (or any other country) hang out with people from Africa, Chile, France, China, etc. (you get my point) instead of being absorbed into other social circles? I thought the purpose of studying abroad was to gain an understanding of a different place with different customs by putting yourself in a new and sometimes uncomfortable situation. In part, I attribute the lack of assimilation to the idea that most people take the path of least resistance. After all, we exchange students, while we may have very little in common with each other before meeting in our respective schools, now are in the same situation. We are in a new place and don’t know anyone. We band together. Would the same people be friends if you removed the common factor of both being study abroad students? Now I may come off as critical, but I’m in this situation now where a majority of the friends I spend much time with are fellow exchange students. Some of them are even fellow Americans. I don’t mean to imply that I don’t like my friends here, contrarily, I consider myself privileged to have met them. Some days I just feel that maybe I’m not truly a part of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Talking to local students, I’ve gotten the impression of their expectations of exchange students. They expect them to not study very hard, to not assimilate, to party every night, to spend weekends traveling and sightseeing and so forth. In all honestly, they are usually not too far from being correct, but of course there are exceptions. A few experiences have led me to these conclusions. There is a downtown bar district called Lan Kwai Fong, and it is crowded with foreigners of all types: middle-aged, rich white businessmen, international students, and tourists. The local students expect me to frequent Lan Kwai Fong. Another experience involved me attending the Astronomy club meeting. I was the only exchange student there, as the meeting was being conducted in Cantonese. As soon as I entered I was already drawing stares. A girl in front of me kept me slightly informed as to what was going on. The event was a question and answer session, so I kept my hand up for quite a while. Finally, when I was allowed to ask my question about what the club does, students were laughing at me. I asked the person next to me about it. She said that it is very uncommon for exchange students to attend any club meetings.
The specific difficulties for me as I try to fit in as a local student are multiple. Foremost is the language barrier. Although nearly every student here knows English, they prefer speaking in Cantonese. So it is hard to start a conversation without having to play the role of ignorant exchange student. Also, the social structure here is different. The social network seems to be dominated by the subject of study. Most local students will spend time with the other students they share most of their classes with, or the students that they attended their orientation camps with. Another bothersome difference stems from the work ethic here. It seems so many students will spend 10 hours per day with school work, projects, presentations, and pre-professional student organizations. The result is students having large networks of friends that they say “hello” to in passing, but know very little about.
While I’ve focused predominantly on the social obstacles, I still have met many friendly local students. I’ve just encountered more resistance than I expected. I keep calling the locals to come on an adventure with me, and every once in a while they don’t have projects or meetings. I’m just doing what I can to keep from falling entirely into exchange student sub-culture. I also want to encourage others to remain aware and actively choose your experiences abroad.
posted by tim at 9:10 AM
0 comments
