Exchange report Tulane University, USA

Transcription

1 Exchange report Tulane University, USA Elizabeth Chong Spring

2 Table of Contents Part I Activity Log... 3 Part II General Exchange Information... 5 Part III Checklist

3 Part I-Activity Log January I arrived in New York on 1 st January and travelled there for 5 days before I went to New Orleans because the campus and the international office would be closed until 5 th January. The spring semester in Tulane started at 12 th January, but the international office organized various orientation programs for the exchange students for example: visiting the downtown of New Orleans. I joined mostly all of them and these activities are really helpful for exchange students to get familiar with New Orleans and meet other exchange students. February If you will go Tulane University in spring semester, you definitely cannot miss Mardi Gras. Mari Gras is a very special event that attracts many tourists to come and have fun together. Popular practices on this celebration include wearing masks, costumes, parades and also dancing on the street. In the month of Mardi Gras, there are parades nearly everyday, the performer would throw down different kinds of beads or souvenirs according to the theme of the parade from the parade vehicles. Therefore, I spent my first half of February to join different parades. For the second half of February, the workload from homework and midterms started to become more so it would be better to put more time into academic. March Instead of just focusing on academic study here, I also grasp the chance to join different kinds of student societies like Beta Alpha Psi and the volleyball team. Beta Alpha Psi is a professional university business society recognized internationally with the aim to provide opportunities for self-development, service and association among members and practicing professionals in different business fields. For nearly every Fridays, they would have meeting with the business professionals. Moreover, I joined the volleyball team in late Feb and I joined their practice on every Mondays. It was a really great fun to build the friendship with the local students and participated in some volleyball competitions. April In April, there s quite a lot of public holiday like Easter break and Spring break so I spent most of the time for travelling. I went to Disney World in Orlando in my Easter break and Vancouver in Canada in my spring break. I highly recommended you to go Canada if you are going to the states for exchange. Although these two countries are really nearby, the living atmosphere and culture are totally different among them. And also, as April is a peak season of spring break in the west coast of the United States, if you really plan to travel in April, it s better for you to book the flight ticket or hotels earlier in order to save the cost. 3

4 After all these travelling, the late April would be a really busy time for schools. Most of the presentations and final projects submission due at late April and also you have to prepare for the final examination in the first week of May. May I spent my first two weeks in May on finishing all my exams and the semester ended on 12 th of May. After the end of semester, I had a road trip with other exchange students to California, Utah, and Arizona for 16 days. I visited many famous attractions such as the Grand Canyon, the Antelope Canyon, the horseshoe bend and of course the beaches in California. Road trip is a really good method to travel in the states, as the gasoline is comparably cheap and more convenience than the public transportation. So, if you have the driving license in Hong Kong, it would be great to have the international driving license too before you go on an exchange. After my road trip, I went back to New York, the well-known city in the world. For me, New York didn't surprise me a lot because it s quite alike to Hong Kong. But I really like its nearby states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania because it s comparably relaxing and less expensive in terms of travelling costs. Moreover, New York is one of the most dangerous cities in the states, or I should say, the cities with the most travellers are usually the most dangerous one. Therefore, if you go to some really famous cities like New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans too, please take well care of yourselves and don't go out alone at night!! June I spent most of my time in June for shopping in the outlet of New York and New Jersey. And then I went back to Hong Kong in the second week of June in order to start my internship in Hong Kong. With tears, I left the states and all the friends or my relatives I met in the states. 4

5 Part II- General Exchange Information Visa Procedures You have to start your Visa application after you received your admission packages from Tulane University. There are quite a lot of things you need to do after receiving the packages and the health check would be the most time-consuming one. But don't worry, you can complete the health check in the clinic of HKUST and with a reasonable price. At the same time, you have to complete the application form online of the VISA application, pay the fees and make the appointment of a short interview in the U.S. Consulate General in Central. International Services & Activities Before the start of the semester, the international office organized various orientation activities. In order to familiar yourselves with the city or meet other exchange students, I really recommended you to join most of the activities at least for all those required by the international office. Apart from these, Tulane University international office always organizes different kinds of activities for the international students like regular coffee time on every Fridays. This function allows the international students to meet more local or international scholars and students. It benefits me a lot and broadens my horizons as I could interact with people from different cultural or educational background. Also, they would assigned two local students as your mentors, it s a good chance for you to know more about the local cultures and know more about the good places near the school. The International office of Tulane is great and they offered the exchange students with lots of help and advices. Moreover, if you need to travel outside the states like Canada within the exchange, remember to go to the office and ask for the signature on your VISA document. Accommodations I didn't find my accommodation before I went to New Orleans therefore I booked the hotel for three days to settle down in the city. The international office said it would be difficult for exchange students to live in dorm and suggested us to find the roommates or houses after we arrived. Indeed I think it's not a good way to do so as I think the hotel charges is quite expensive in New Orleans as it s a famous tourist attraction and it s hard to find the roommate. And actually there are two Facebook page called Tulane Classifieds and TU s Off-campus Residents Association (OCRA) to help you more easily find the accommodations. Many local students or exchange students would upload their request and you could find your preferred roommate or house. For me, I finally rent a house with one master student nearly the campus (in South Saratoga Street) with USD$690 and my landlords are really nice person. They helped us fix every problem in the house and drove us to the grocery store every week. Moreover, try to only rent the house with the landlords recommended by the school or you have to ask for the opinion of the international office before you signed the contract. Due to the fact that some of the landlords in New Orleans are not reliable 5

6 and they may over-charge you, do more research on the accommodation and the landlord. Course Registration Tulane University provided quite a wide range of courses and it s particularly famous for its finance major. I only registered with four courses in Tulane as I am an accounting and information systems major students but ACCT and IS are only a minor in Tulane. Unlike HKUST, it s quite easy to register into any courses, but as we are just exchange student, we cannot register the courses by ourselves but the international office would do so. So, it s better for you to make up you mind more carefully on which courses you want to take. Otherwise, you have to send them and request form every single time when you have to change your timetable. Also, as there s not much student go to Tulane before, you have to do the credit transfer application before you go on an exchange Courses In Tulane Equivalent courses in HKUST MGMT 4120 MGMT4210 ACCN 4110 ACCT 3020 ANTH 1030 HUMA Common core PSYC 1000 SOSC 1960 Teaching & Assessment Methods I enrolled in four courses in Tulane that were Accounting, Management, Linguistic and Psychology courses. The study life in Tulane University is quite different from HKUST. I think the education in the States focus more on the ability of self-learning of the students. The professor usually assigned a lot of case studies and projects to the students before the lectures. And the students are required to have class discussion throughout the whole lecture. Moreover, the academic atmosphere is obviously different from the one in Hong Kong. The United States students are more willing to discuss and open-minded, they participated a lot in the class discussion and voiced out different kinds of unique ideas. Sports & Recreation Facilities There s a comprehensive sport center within the campus, which included gym room, swimming pool and indoor running tracks. I went to the sports center quite often in my exchange and the school would also organized various health and fitness courses every weekday like ABS class, dancing class etc. Most of those classes and facilities are free of charge even for exchange students. Cost/Expenses The cost of living and expenses in the states are much higher when compared to Hong Kong. If you dine outside, you are required to pay extra 10%-15% for tips and even for some public transportation like taxi, you have to pay tips too. I don't really recommended you to buy any textbook as it costs at least $USD400 for an accounting book of my courses. But if you really need that, try to ask other exchange students to see whether they are willing to share the book with you and split the costs or you can try to find the book on Amazon or in the school library. 6

7 Items Expenses (in HKD) Airfare (round trip from HK to NY) $18000 Accommodation $30000 Food expense $7000 Visa application $3000 Travelling expense $25000 Miscellaneous $5000 Social Clubs/Networking Opportunities Instead of just focusing on academic study here, I also grasp the chance to join different kinds of student societies like Beta Alpha Psi and the volleyball team. Beta Alpha Psi is a professional university business society recognized internationally with the aim to provide opportunities for self-development, service and association among members and practicing professionals in different business fields. By joining the volleyball team, I also have the chance to build the friendship with the local students and participated in some volleyball competitions. Health & Safety As required by the school, it s compulsory to purchase the health insurance. For me, I didn't buy the one in Tulane because it s really expensive for me which is around USD$1000. Therefore, I purchased one recommended by the international office that is just around $HKD 3000 and it covered the whole exchange period. I think an insurance is necessary for living the states as the medical expenses are extraordinarily high and I heard that the expense for ambulance is around USD$800 per time too. Secondly, Tulane has provided a lot of safety precautions for their students. The most useful one definitely is the Tapride services. Tapride is a free shuttle service that only operated after 8pm every day. It s something like the taxi services but free of charge. You can request for any ride by an apps or other means to go to any locations within one mile of the school. Food I dine out a lot during the first month of my exchange but afterwards I mostly cooked by myself, as it s expensive to dine out. Tulane offers the shuttle bus service to the Walmart nearby the school so it s convenience for you to buy the ingredients to cook. Moreover, sometimes I would cook or dine with other exchange students. We just take turn to prepare the dinner so as to try different kinds of food in different countries. But in Tulane, you can purchase the meal plan in which you can enjoy the buffet in the school or you can go LBC which is a canteen providing different styles of food like Chinese, Japanese, Mexican food. Transportation The public transportation in this city is mainly bicycle or streetcar. Streetcar is a public transportation that operated along by one of the longest and most popular historical street, St. Charles Avenue. St Charles Avenue is famous of its historic 7

8 house that built in different kinds of style like Italianate or Greek style and Tulane University is also located on that street. Rather than the public transportation, being a Tulane Student, you can freely use their shuttle bus services that travelled to downtown of New Orleans, supermarket and shopping malls etc. And also you can use the Tapride services at night to ensure your personal safety. Living in New Orleans, you have to be aware of the safety issue especially in French Quarter and Bourbon Street, as the crime rate in New Orleans is extremely high. Climate The weather in New Orleans is not as cold as in New York and it doesn't snow a lot but sometimes, it would still drop around to zero degree. Oppositely, in April and May, it s quite hot like Hong Kong and it rains a lot in the summer. During my exchange, there s even tornado in New Orleans. So if you go to Tulane in Spring semester, you need to bring both winter like down and summer clothes but don't bring a lot as the clothes in the states are comparatively cheap. Communication At the beginning, it s really difficult for me to understand what the American said. But after this exchange, I found myself more confident and fluent to talk to the American. In New Orleans, there is very little population of Chinese, even in Tulane, there s very little Asian in the campus for undergraduate. This exchange trip definitely can polish my English skills through interacting with the local American and other international students. I open up myself to meet other students and the local people to communicate with them in English actively. In the lectures in the United States, the professors usually encourage the student to actively participate in the discussion therefore I had many chances to communicate with the local American students and freely to share my thoughts and ideas with them. Cautionary Measures First of all, safety problem was the biggest issue in New Orleans. Crime has been always recognized as an ongoing problem for New Orleans. The crime rate and the homicide rate in certain impoverished neighborhood is the highest among the cities with similar size. As I was the only one student in my university that went to Tulane University and I lived off campus in my exchange program, therefore I have been really worried about my safety problem. Although Tulane University has provided a lot of safety precautions for its students like the shuttle bus and safe ride services, there were still quite a lot of crimes nearby my campus or my neighborhood. Secondly, the transportation is regarded as one of the difficulties for me too. Apparently, the United States is not as convenience as Hong Kong. As an exchange student there without car, it s even difficult for me to go to some large-scale supermarket to get some groceries or when you went to travel, it s so inconvenience without any vehicles. Due to the fact that the public transportation system is not that well developed in the states, it usually spent me much time that expected to go to my destination. 8

9 Part III Checklist Checklist of items to bring: Cash (not too much) /Credit card is preferred Adaptor (for the US) Down Laptop USB Suits Medicine Copies of important documents Umbrella Calculators No worries! Except the passport and identity card, you can nearly buy everything you need in New Orleans. If more information is needed, get my contact from SBM Exchange Team by ing at Good luck in New Orleans and Tulane, you will gonna have great FUN! 9