Semester Abroad: Bienvenue à Nice, France.

Veronica LaManna, a member of the Verrazano Class of 2016 studying International Business with a minor in French, is spending the Fall 2014 semester in Nice, France.  Veronica arrived in Nice a couple of months ago and is having a great experience so far!  Read below for her first impressions after her arrival in France.

Bienvenue à Nice, France.

I have just begun my study abroad adventure in Nice, France.  I decided to take the same flight as another student who attends the College of Staten Island and who would also be studying at the same school in Nice.  We also decided that it would be better for us to stay with each other and try to find an apartment together.  When we arrived in Nice we did not have an apartment to live in yet, so we stayed in a hostel while we searched for one.  Living in a hostel is something I think everyone should experience.  A hostel is similar to a hotel except it shared with strangers who are usually traveling.  The hostel we stayed in at had two sets of bunk beds, a shower and a sink.  If you needed to use the bathroom, you had to leave the bedroom.  We shared our room with two older women who weren’t from America so they had different ways of doing things that we weren’t used to.  The hostel we stayed at also had rules.  Everyone had to be back in the hostel by 11 o’clock at night.  The hostel also only had Wi-Fi in the lobby downstairs so we weren’t able to have Internet while in the room.  In America we take these small luxuries for granted.  

It was a little hard getting used to life in Europe.  Everything is smaller here, so we had to take turns bringing our luggage up to our room since there was only room for one suitcase in the elevator.  The first few days were extremely stressful since we were jetlagged, unfamiliar with Nice, and living in a different country.  We also were stressed because we wanted to find an apartment to live in quickly. Our school helped us find an apartment, but we had to do most of the work on our own.  It was challenging since we had language barriers with most of the landlords, which caused a few misunderstandings.  After five long days of searching for an apartment we finally found one in Ville Vieux, also known as the Old City.  I have just a ten-minute walk to school and a two-minute walk to the beach.  

The town I live in is very touristy and has a very interesting history.  Our apartment is full of different accents and cultures since it is shared with a few other students who are from different countries.  After getting settled in we had orientation at IPAG, where we got to meet the other Erasmus students and our professors.  In our school we must speak English.  Our student body is made up of students from over thirty different countries.  I have already become friends with so many of the students and it is so interesting to learn about everyone’s culture. Even though the first week was extremely challenging, I have been having an amazing time and I am truly enjoying studying abroad in Nice already.  I am finally getting used to life in Nice and I am looking forward to experiencing this lifestyle for the next four months. 

 

Semester in Hong Kong: Creating Connections

Angelica Grant, a Psychology major in the Verrazano Class of 2013, received a Verrazano Study Abroad Scholarship to spend the Spring 2013 semester in Hong Kong. Read below for more about Angelica's experience with Chinese New Year in Hong Kong.

Gong Hey Fat Choy! (which means “Happy Chinese New Year” in Cantonese!) A week ago marked my first month of classes at the City University of Hong Kong, and so far it has been an amazing experience studying abroad as a CSI Exchange Ambassador! Apart from working on school assignments, I’ve been busy meeting other new students, exploring the city, and signing up for volunteer activities. As the Year of the Snake just began this week, I’m looking forward to spending some time this Chinese New Year vacation reading, relaxing and having fun with friends!   

Getting know the local students at City U has been quite fun! My residence hall is made up of mostly local Hong Kong students who are very friendly and eager to meet exchange students and learn about where they are from. I’ve met a few students already at the first hall meeting who were nice enough to teach me a few words in Chinese (one of my floormates even showed me how to write my name in Chinese Putonghua: 天使, J). My roommate Kiera is from Hong Kong as well, and within the first few weeks of the semester she invited me to go shopping and took me to a noodle shop that served great noodles! Needless to say, I’m enjoying Chinese food even more so now that I can use chopsticks and eat meat, rice and noodles like almost everyone else in Hong Kong! 

During my free time over the Chinese New Year break, I went to Tsim Sha Tsui with a group of exchange students to see the fireworks over the harbor on the Avenue of the Stars and visited the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery, which is located in Sha Tin. There are dozens of life-size golden Buddhas at this site that sit along the sides of the path as you hike uphill to reach the main temple.  The main temple contains almost 12,000 miniature Buddhas that line the walls and several other larger figures that surround the outside area at the top of the hill. It was amazing to see all of the handcrafted Buddhas and the elaborate statues that people were paying tribute to. However, it was difficult for me at times to keep a straight face when looking at some of the Buddhas with the more “human-like” expressions!

I also signed up to participate in a volunteer group with my residence hall that will be tutoring children who come from refugee families in Hong Kong. The organization, called Vision First, will have volunteers meet with a local student once a week for a total of eight weeks and teach them a school subject that is relevant to their studies (i.e. English, Math). The program will begin in the next few weeks and I’m looking forward to the experience since it will give me the opportunity to step outside of my daily life on campus, get to know the people of Hong Kong, and become more integrated in the community by helping a child learn a few skills they can use to do their best in school.   

With the end of the vacation in a few days, I’m glad I had this week to celebrate and relax before classes start again on Monday. Living and studying abroad in Hong Kong has been an exciting adventure so far and I look forward to many new adventures and a prosperous New Year as the semester progresses!

Semester in Hong Kong: Arriving and Adjusting

Angelica Grant, a Psychology major in the Verrazano Class of 2013, is spending the Spring 2013 semester in Hong Kong as part of a College of Staten Island Exchange Ambassador program.  Angelica is a Verrazano Study Abroad Scholarship recipient, and she will be serving as a blog correspondent this semester and posting an update each month about her overseas experiences.  Her first post was written shortly after her arrival in Hong Kong in mid-January.  

Today is my sixth day in Hong Kong since arriving at the City University of Hong Kong on Monday and it has been an amazing experience so far! This week alone, I made friends with local and international students from all over the world, toured the campus, used the MTR subway system, visited the Mong Kok shopping district, and saw a light show on the skyline! It has been an amazing week. Although I expect the next few weeks to get a bit more intense as classes begin on Monday, I’m glad these first few days of orientation were a fun and relaxing introduction to the campus and customs of Hong Kong!

I arrived at the Hong Kong International Airport on Monday night with another CSI student, Michael, who is also participating in the Exchange Ambassador Program for the Spring 2013 semester. Once we arrived at the campus in Kowloon, we were greeted by staff and shown to our dorm rooms. The City University of Hong Kong (also known as “City U”) classrooms and administrative buildings are right down the street from the residence halls. It is a very lovely campus with many subsections. It was a little confusing for me to get around the campus at first, but since everything is located so closely together (the local mall and the MTR are both walking distance), I found that it is very easy to get around here and explore different parts of the city.

I also registered for my courses this week, including an introduction to the Mandarin language course and two psychology elective courses. I am hoping to learn Mandarin in order to communicate with native mainland Chinese speakers and upon arriving back home to build connections with international students and staff. The two psychology courses I will be taking are on cognitive psychology and violence and crime in society (the second of which ties in very well with research I did last semester on children’s perceptions of bullying during middle childhood).

So far, I have noticed a few customs in Hong Kong that are completely different than those of the United States. First, driving in Hong Kong is not the same as in America; it is standard for people to drive on the opposite side of the road, which means it is very important to look both ways before you cross the street here! As well, meals on campus are typically very nutritious and come in reasonably sized portions. Many stores also sell herbal tea and other healthy drinks to choose from. For example, I was very surprised when ordering a double cheeseburger at McDonalds that the drink offered to me with the meal was milk and not soda! I don’t normally associate milk with fast food, but I thought it was interesting how there are so many different efforts made in order to promote health and wellness here in Hong Kong!

Apart from studying, my goals for the next four months are to volunteer at the local Salvation Army, learn some tai chi, and practice speaking Cantonese with my roommate (who is a local student). Acclimating to life in Hong Kong has been quite incredible and I plan on making the most of my time here as the orientation week ends and classes begin. I’m looking forward to even more new experiences in the weeks to come!