Saturday, August 25, 2012

What Time Is It In Hong Kong?



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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Finding a Christian Church Near HKUST


Nearest in distance to HKUST:

Clearwater Bay International Baptist Church

Also Popular:

The Vine Church

Other:

Kowloon International Baptist Church


Catholic:

Saint Vincent's Parish

  • Location: DD 24, Lot 352, Hang Hau Road
  • Access: 5 minute bus ride on the 11 from the northern busstop 
  • Hours:
    • Sunday 8:30 am (English Mass)
    • Sunday 10:30 am (English Mass)
  • Phone: 2719-8750 or 2719-9081
  • Website: http://stvincent.catholic.org.hk/

Sacred Heart Church

  • Location: Lot 1762, DD221, Yau Ma Po Street, Sai Kung Town, N.T.
  • Access: 10 minute bus ride on the 12 from campus
  • Hours:
    • Sunday 9:00am (English)
    • Sunday 7:45 (Cantonese)
    • Sunday 10:30am (Cantonese) 
    • Weekday 7:00am (Cantonese)
  • Phone: 2792-2967 or 2792-0181
  • Email: sacredheart@netvigator.com
  • Website: http://shc.catholic.org.hk/

HKUST Student Fellowship Organizations:

Christian Community Fellowship (CCF)


團契生活
  • Notes: Not quite sure if they speak English in this fellowship.
  • Email: su_cf@ust.hk

Other International Churches/English Ministries in Hong Kong

Click here to expand the full list.

English/Non-English Churches in Kowloon and New Kowloon

Click here to expand the full list.
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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

HKUST Buddy Program

Before your arrival in Hong Kong, HKUST gives you the option of having a buddy to help you out at the airport and get you acquainted with the campus/the local city. You'll also be able to specify your buddy preference as male or a female.

About a month before school starts, they'll send you the buddy program activity sheet outlining the details of things to do with your buddy. Here's what my activity sheet looked like:

Buddy Program Activity
- 8 September 2012 (Saturday) -

Meeting time: 10:30 am
Meeting Venue: LG4 Common Room, Lift 3

Program Rundown
10:30 am                       Welcome & Introduction
10:45 am                        Light Brunch
11:45 am                        Depart from HKUST
12:30 - 1:30 noon          Arrive at Stanley Market for LUNCH
                                       Students can choose their own from a wide variety of restaurants
1:30 - 2:45 pm               Visit the Bazaar & Beach
                                       Visit historic buildings at Stanley: Murray house, Police Station
2:45 pm                          Depart from Stanley Market
3:30 pm                          Arrive at Victoria Peak
3:30 - 5:30 pm                Free activity at peak
5:30 ~                             Leave the Peak to head to Central: Lan Kwai Fong, Hollywood Road, SOHO (Optional), etc.

* There will not be transport back down from the peak. Students are to take public transport home.

Details: Start off by visiting Stanley Market where students can shop and have lunch. Ride up to the Peak for a panoramic view of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the surrounding island.
What to Bring: Camera, Money
Lunch Options: Pepperonis, Saigon, Pickled Pelican, Pizza Express, Boathouse, Chung's Cuisine, etc.


There were more buddies than exchange students this year, so some people were assigned two buddies instead of one. The GSO (Global Student Office) assigned me two girls (I requested girls), but for some reason the SBM (School of Business Management) also assigned me another buddy, one guy. I didn't mind having more buddies (more help!) but I just didn't want to be taking away someone else's opportunity for a buddy so I emailed both departments about it. Basically, it just seemed like they made a mistake but since they had already assigned three buddies to me, they weren't going to do anything about it.

My first buddy never emailed me or responded to any of my messages. My second buddy accompanied me until after the buddy activities were over, but never kept contact afterwards or took the initiative to acquaint me with the city. My third buddy, however, was great! He was really considerate and offered to pick me up at the airport and take me to IKEA to purchase bedding, hangers, and other dorm essentials. We also kept in contact throughout the semester. Most buddies will be really friendly and super helpful. You can expect them to offer to pick you up at the airport, help you with your octopus card and sim card, and also take you to IKEA as well.
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Thursday, August 9, 2012

HKUST Course Registration/ Course Validation


My Insights:
  1.  Assume the worst and be prepared with alternatives. Your key courses/the prerequisite courses may not be available when you go abroad. Try to take the basic courses like Marketing Management (aka Marketing/Principles of marketing/etc etc.) at your home university first so you can take advantage of HKUST's more unique courses like pricing strategy, global marketing, new product planning and product management, promotional and advertising management, etc.
  2. Narrow down your courses early & choose quickly. There is a very short period of time between the day the timetable is released and the day the online course selection form is due. I only had about 5 days and the tentative course list was very different from what was actually offered that semester. You will also be required to put down alternative courses/times.
  3. No prerequisite? Email your professor. Mention you're a study abroad student only here for X period of time and that you really want to take advantage of their great course. If you have pertinent work experience or have taken a course similar to the prerequisite, include that information as well. I mentioned a principles of marketing class I took in high school as well as the several marketing internships I did over the years. I also included an old but good recommendation letter from the teacher I took principles of marketing with and eventually I had my pre-requisite waived. 
  4. Register for the courses you want first, regardless of the pre-requisites. Like I mentioned earlier, pre-requisites can actually be waived depending on the amount of relevant work experience you've had,  courses you've taken, etc etc. They don't tell you this and even though they emphasize not choosing courses you don't have the pre-req. for, I think exchange students have more leeway with this. Keep in mind, some classes are harder to get into than others.
  5. Upload everything you think will be relevant to the course selection form. For students who don't have any problems with pre-requisites, you'll only be required to upload an unofficial copy of your university transcript. If you're trying to register for courses without having the necessary pre-requisites, you'll need to upload anything you think can get you in the course. They forward all your materials to the professors, and the professors are the ones who actually decide which ones can enroll in their course and which ones can't. Some professors are very strict with their pre-requisites so it's a good idea to email them before the course selection deadline to get an idea of which classes are possible for you to get into. I sent them an unofficial copy of my university transcript, a highlighted copy of my high school transcript of pre-requisite-similar courses, a resume with relevant work experience, and a letter of recommendation letter from my high school marketing teacher mentioning some of my accomplishments relevant to the course (FYI: The recommendation letter doesn't have to be written specifically for this purpose, I just used an old rec. letter from a scholarship I was trying to apply to.) Exchange students -- if you don't get a chance to upload these materials before the course selection deadline, the program adviser will email you again later and ask for them.


My Experience:

So coming into the HKUST course selection process, my original plan was to take two key courses during the Fall semester: MARK 2120 Marketing Management and MARK 2110 Organizational Behavior. These two courses are the basic underlying prerequisite courses for nearly all of the Marketing and Management courses offered by HKUST and without them, you won't be unable to register for anything. If you've already taken a basic marketing course at your university, you should be able to override this prerequisite easily. I, however, did not have enough time to take a marketing course before going abroad and this has made initial course registration period (or as HKUST likes to call it the "Course validation" period) quite a bit more stressful.

A tentative list of the courses they were supposedly going to offer during the year was actually released earlier in the beginning of July. But the actual timetable wasn't released until 5 days before you are required to submit the course selection form online. Many of the courses on the tentative list were also not available on the actual timetable for the Fall semester, MARK 2120 Marketing Management, being one of them.

After freaking out for a couple of days about how I wouldn't be able to register for any the marketing courses I had purposely studied abroad to take, I came across a great tip about emailing the professors from someone on the internet. I would have actually done that earlier if it weren't for the program advisor that had told me there wasn't anything I could do without the prerequisite. This turned out to be completely wrong advice but anyways, I emailed all of the professors about the Mark 2120 Marketing Management prerequisite for their courses. Here were the results:

MARK 3220 Marketing Research
  • Emailed: VAN DER LANS, Ralf J A
  • Result: 
    Thanks for your interest in my course. There are different requirements for exchange students to be accepted for a course. At the start of the semester, the school will send the transcripts of all exchange students that want to attend my course. Based on the transcripts, I will then decide whether the exchange student is allowed to attend my course. So please register for my course.

    Note that Marketing Research is a required course in our marketing program. Usually there are many students registered and there are only a limited number of places for exchange students (which is not under my control). So approval of transcript does not guarantee a position in this course.

    Looking forward to seeing you in Hong Kong the coming semester.

    Kind regards,
    Ralf
MARK 3430 Global Marketing
  • Emailed: HELSEN, Kristiaan
  •  Result: Agreed to waive pre-req.
MARK 3480 Pricing Strategy
  • Emailed: GUO, Liang
  • Result: Suggested I add class during the Add/Drop period
MARK 3450 New Product Planning and Product Management
  • Emailed: MUTHUKRISHNAN, Anaimalai V
  •  Result: No exemptions given for pre-req.

MARK 3410 Promotion and Advertising Management
  • Emailed: GALLI, Maria
  • Result: Agreed to waive pre-reqs after looking at my transcripts, work experience & letter of recommendation.


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    Sunday, August 5, 2012

    Introduction

    Hello everyone! I'm a 4th year student from northern California majoring in Global economics and minoring in East Asian Studies. I'll be studying abroad at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) this coming year (2012-2013) in the School of Business and Management.

    My goal is to make this blog a resource for the people who decide to study abroad at HKUST in the future. Hopefully it'll make your study abroad experience at HKUST a little easier.

    [Update] I have now finished my exchange program at HKUST. Having experienced all the lows and highs the school has to offer, I reflect back on my experience humbled and grateful for the opportunity. HKUST's smaller population size of students allowed me to foster intimate relationships amongst other exchange students, international students, and locals within the span of just one year. Despite the academic rigor of the school, my travels and friendships were standout experiences that left me with very positive memories of HKUST and Hong Kong.

    Thanks for reading! =)


     



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