One thing about exchange is that you often are out of your home country alone, and are therefore eager to get to know new people. Universities often accommodate this need by matching up local students / full time exchange students with newcomers. Even though I am on GLOBE and thus have 15 local students whom I already know, I signed up and was matched with a geology student from mainland China studying in Hong Kong fulltime.
One of the best things about exchange buddies is that you not only get to see the same experience you're having from a different perspective, but you also have someone to share said experiences with. Ahead of my 10 day trip to Beijing, it is also great to get some first-hand dos and don'ts, such as where to stay, what trains to get, and how to prioritize precious time.
Another form of exchange buddy here at CUHK is language exchange, something my Danish friend is very keen on. He is taking more advanced Mandarin classes, and so can actually structure a sentence. He has 3-4 people whohe meets up with once in a while, and they basically run over his homework. For them, they get to speak English with somebody fluent, and get an insight into his life (I also thought that was a skewed trade-off), but they love it. Peculiar.
I don't have the skills to converse in Mandarin (yet!), as my trip to China will demonstrate, so my exchange buddy and I bond over common interests such as food and sport: Today was a my first badminton rally for probably 3 years.
Talking of exchanges I have just said goodbye to 30 Belgian and 25 Polish students who have been here for a week. I still have 25 Germans, whose company I can enjoy until tomorrow evening. It has been a great week. I think everybody should be given the chance to get close to someone from another country ... if nothing else but to challenge prejudices and find out that perhaps one could learn something from outside one's own little bubble.
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