Exchange Report Tam Chun Ho LLB University of Warwick One academic year Holman Fenwick Willan Scholarship for Student Exchange

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1 Exchange Report Tam Chun Ho LLB University of Warwick One academic year Holman Fenwick Willan Scholarship for Student Exchange I went to the University of Warwick for the whole last academic year. Warwick is a renowned university in the UK and it is different from other UK universities because it has its own university campus in Coventry city. It is situated at the heart of the UK; Birmingham, the second largest city of the UK, and Coventry are nearby. I lived in campus accommodation during my stay at Warwick, living in the campus meant that I was having a real student life there. I lived with 14 other fresh undergraduates on my floor, majority of them were local British and some were from the northern Europe and I was the only Asian there. It is really a new experience for me since I am the only Asian there and most of them did not really know much about Asia, especially China. I was often asked whether or not I know any Chinese kung fu when I first met them. It is a fun experience for me to live in campus accommodation. We cooked together in the small kitchen, watched movies together in the pantry, played card games and poker, played football in the car park downstairs, drank and got drunk in the corridor, went to party in the school or nearby clubs etc. These are all something I won t really do in Hong Kong at least I don't get drunk so easily in Hong Kong. Christmas dinner was another highlight since all people of the two floors made a feast by ourselves and it tasted really nice. I built really good friendship with them all. I met some other exchange students from HKU and also HKUST at Warwick. We are like a family now after the one year experience at Warwick. We often cooked and ate together. I was the chef of this family and I feel really happy as they really appreciate my cooking skill. I would say I became a better cook after the one year intensive cooking practices. Studying law at Warwick is not as demanding as that at HKU. UK students normally do fewer courses in a academic year than in Hong Kong. What I did in the UK was about 80% of my usual workload at HKU. The legal teaching at Warwick has a similar style as at HKU, except having a smaller class size than that of HKU. Students are

2 more enthusiastic and more willing to take initiative in classes, I was encouraged to participate more in the class discussions. Hopefully, I could take this mentality back to Hong Kong. I took my time travelling around the UK and also the Europe. I am a long time diehard fan of Liverpool Football Club. I had the fortunate to make a trip to the Anfield Stadium and watched two football matches. The atmosphere created by the Liverpool fans was enormous and it is something I could not find elsewhere in the world. It is definitely one of the highlights of my exchange. I visited a number of countries and cities last year. Sometimes I even skipped lectures to go on trips. My destinations include France, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Prague, Croatia, Spain and Greece. I was able to see different parts of Europe and understood much more about each country and their different culture. It is remarkable for a 22-year-old young guy to have travelled to so many places in the world. The backpacking travel experiences were a challenge to my ability of coping with accidents and uncertainties. Often I was in a situation that no one could speak understandable English, I had to resort to the most basic communications by gestures. Luckily, people I met in the trips were very helpful. Apart from visiting the famous tourists spots, the best part of the trips was talking to the local people. I was able to learn more about their lives and cultures through talking to them. I could also find out some very nice places that only the local people know. After so many travel experiences, I have a new understanding of what a trip should be like. Some people just want to visit as many spots as time allows, and the whole trip is like a checkpoint game. I am completely against such mentality. I reckon we should travel like a local, do what the local people do. We could better understand the place and the people. For some places such as Paris, I would definitely come back in the future to taste the luxurious side of the city. As a student and backpacker, I was not able to experience and enjoy its commonly known elegance. I would also come back for Jungfrau because by the time I was on the top of Jungfrau, the weather was very bad, the only thing I could see was a snowy white sky. I am delighted to be able to go on exchange. I do not come from a well off family; very rarely did I have chances to go abroad. The number of flights I took last night was probably a multiple of the number of what I had before the exchange. It is beyond doubt that the exchange opens up my eyes and it is a dream comes true for

3 me to be honest. I certainly did not think I could have travelled to so many places at the age of just 22. I made quite a number of really good friends during my stay at Warwick, I am sure such friendship would be for life. I would definitely miss the days at Warwick, the simple and relaxing life that I did not have much to worry about, the complete freedom that I can do whatever I want and go wherever I want to be. I would say the time abroad recharged myself to be able to walk on to cope with the life in Hong Kong. I would definitely suggest the others to grasp any opportunities, whether or not it is an exchange program or an overseas internship, to go aboard and experience something different from what we used to have.

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