For the first semester of 2023/2024, I have been on exchange at the University of Manchester (UoM) in the United Kingdom. UoM is a public research university in Manchester, the 3rd largest city in the UK. It was founded in 1824, celebrating its 200th anniversary this year. UoM is the largest single-campus university and the 3rd largest university in the UK. There are three main faculties in UoM, namely the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, Faculty of Humanities and Faculty of Science and Engineering, each subdivided into different schools to provide education for more than 90000 students per year. Not only does UoM have great academic emphasis, but it also provides various non-academic activities. There are a lot of cultural, arts and sports societies for students to participate in, which allows students to have a well-balanced university life.
Through the HKUWW exchange programme, I could choose various courses I want to study. Among all the courses, I have chosen two planning courses and one geography course, all of which are provided by the School of Environment, Education and Development. One special point about UoM courses is that they provide a fully online course where students can set their own schedule to study the contents at their own pace. This allows me to have a flexible schedule and study progress. Just like HKU, each course provides one lecture and one tutorial/workshop every week. Students are required to attend both sessions, and attendance will be marked. The learning atmosphere at UoM is inspiring and interactive. Students are willing to interact with professors by actively asking and answering questions. For tutorial sessions, many group discussions and group tasks are allocated to students so we can revise the topics taught while communicating with classmates.
Among all the courses that I studied, PLAN20521 Environmental Planning and Impact Assessment is the most engaging course. The main topics of the course are how cities can be built to mitigate and adapt to climate change and be more environmentally sustainable. The best part of the course is the workshop in which students will be put in the character of a town planner. Different urban issues and topics will be distributed each time, and they are required to create development plans. This allows me to put theories into practice. Also, field trips are organised to bring us to the good environmental planning examples around Manchester. This experience gives me first-hand experience with how urban areas can be built with green and blue infrastructure.
Except for academic experience, there are two best parts of my exchange: dormitory life and travel. For dormitory life, I was allocated to live in a mixed-gender flat with seven other students. It is the practice of UoM to put exchange students and undergraduate students in the same flat, facilitating cultural exchanges. In my flat, there are four girls and four boys, and 3 of us are exchange students, while the remaining are undergraduates. I have met students from England, Scotland, Spain and Taiwan. We always sat in the common area to share about our cultures and learn about other cultures. We cooked our dinner in the kitchen together as well, and that was the time when we would share how our day had passed and the fun things we learned from lessons. It is grateful to have met very good flatmates. We have become, and will remain, good friends.
Another good part of the exchange for me is to broaden my horizons. In the exchange programme, I got a chance to travel within and out of the UK. As this was my first time travelling out of Asia, everything was new for me. In different parts of the UK, there are different vibes. In some small towns like Chester and York, the historical buildings give a silent and chilling vibe, in contrast to London, which brings an energetic and busy feeling. I can also learn about the local culture here because different parts of the UK have their own slang and ways of life. As I am a football lover and the UK is famous for its football culture, one of the best moments for me would be having the chance to watch a Premier League match at Old Trafford Stadium, which is the home of Manchester United. The whole football match was a new experience for me and made me feel zero regret in choosing Manchester as my exchange city. Apart from traveling within the UK, I also got the chance to travel to other European countries. The most unforgettable travel for me would be my trip to Sweden, where I watched the aurora for the first time. Watching the aurora required luck, and I was very surprised and happy to see it successfully with my eyes.
After mentioning the good points about my exchange, here are some moments when I find Hong Kong may be better. Firstly, transportation fees in the UK and Europe are high. A bus trip to Manchester costs £2 (equivalent to $18), which makes me choose to walk 45 minutes to the city centre instead of taking buses then it could be one of my exercise routines. Moreover, as I experienced Autumn and Winter in the UK, I realised how precious sunlight could be. From November to December, the sun sets at around 4 pm, followed by a long night. This limited the time I could travel around the city before sunset, and I even had to go to lessons after sunset. Not to mention Manchester is famous for its rain, combined with the cloudy weather every day, so it is no wonder why people say it is easy to experience ‘winter depression’ in the UK.
Although these may seem the ‘bad points’ of exchanging in the UK, I would rather treat them as special moments, because I would never have a chance to experience them if I am not staying in a city for four months. I am grateful to have this chance to study for a semester in Manchester; this has definitely been one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life. Thank you to the HKU IAO for organising the exchange and for Fung Scholarships for sponsoring me for this exchange.