Dear Internet,
This is it. I’ve decided to write a blog. I should have started writing a blog 10 years ago, when I had my first trip to Japan, but for various reasons I didn’t want to share my experiences in public. Internet can be scary place, but maybe I can share something of my life.
A week ago, I landed to Hong Kong. After a stressful flight from Helsinki to Hong Kong, I have settled down quite quickly. (My facebook page has a story about a hassle with fligh tickets.) I have stayed abroad several times, and every time I go through the phases of culture shock. First everything is super cool, then plain, then I want to go home, then things start getting better and at last I’m used to the local culture. Except when I went to Uganda. That time I wanted to go home right after arriving there, haha. But I’ll write another post about what happened in Uganda summer 2015. Everything blew and there was no preparation done by the organizing side. But let’s get back to Hong Kong. After arrival, I slept half of the days and just adjusted to time difference. I met a dear friend of mine whom I hadn’t seen in many years. Then on Monday, my work started.
I came to Hong Kong for an internship. I’m working for a company called Asia Exchange. They provide exchange studies as a service. This means that they are an alternative option for study exchange programs for students. For example, you study at university X. You want to study abroad, but your grades aren’t good enough or your school doesn’t want to send you to their partner university. Sounds sad and is actually quite true in many cases. That’s where we come in. Students can choose from our 10+ partner universities and experience Asia even if their GPA is below average or they don’t have certification of their level of English (TOIEC/TOEFL ETC). Only thing they have to do is to pay for a tuition, which is much more affordable than contacting universities directly. For more information, please visit http://www.asiaexchange.org.
So, what do I do? My job is to look for connections (universities, student organizations) in Asia and try to network with them. Looking for clients (students) from universities in Korea and Japan. This is what I’m going to do for three months. Then we’ll see again what to do. Fingers crossed. Let’s hope everything goes smoothly.
But what have I been doing in Hong Kong? Actually, not much. Sleep, adjust to time difference, sleep, work and so on. So far Hong Kong hasn’t been such a shock to me. I’ve lived in Asia before so I’m used to big buildings and crowds of people. People speak a strange language, but they understand English. Last fall I was actually spending quite much time and effort on learning Mandarin Chinese. Didn’t really help since people here speak Cantonese, haha. We’ll let’s see if I’m going to stay here longer, maybe I have to take up one more challenge.
Adjusting to the work has been quite easy, since I’ve worked in two university international centers. Also at my orientation, it was quite nice to learn by dialogue, since I could contribute own experiences and thoughts about the field of international education. But so far, I’m really happy for this possibility. Although I’m technically an intern, I get to do stuff I like and work with nice people. Can’t complain.
There is one thing that is bringing me back to life in Asia. Soymilk. I wasn’t ever such a friend of soymilk or alternative solution for traditional (cow) milk. For some reason, drinking soymilk in Asia feels logical and local, so I’ve started drinking it again. Small things that make big differences in life. Also, hanging out in Starbucks in Finland doesn’t feel the same as in Asia.
Not just soymilk, but I’m also glad to get back to the world of tea. There is also difference in bottled teas. When I was in Japan, the tea was usually without sugar, but when I went to Taiwan, I learned to drink sweet tea. Now I’m exploring the world of Hong Kong tea. I like sweet, but sometimes it’s nice to drink it plain.
My objective for next week is to spend more social life. Now it’s kind of difficult, since I’m new here and don’t have that many friends, but my plan is to find a local Toastmasters club where I can make new friends while polishing my public speaking skills. Also, Meetup is full of all kinds of activities. Too much work makes a Jack dull boy, right? There has to be something else than work, right? Although I like my work, even if only one week has passed.
Well, this can be it for the first blog post. So far writing about stuff feels good. Maybe I’ll continue. I’m planning on making posts about my previous adventures in Asia as well. Wait for those 😉
Lauri
Lauri Lehmusvirta 