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Bc. Jiří Merta, University of West Bohemia,
ročník 3About the country
Location of the place
Hong Kong, city in the south of China. The currency is different than in China and you still need a visa from HK to China if you want to go there.
City
The city is big and full of skyscrapers. The traffic is quite good in my opinion, even though the city is definitely overpopulated. MTR (metro) system works perfectly and gets you almost anywhere fast and cheap.
Surroundings (possible trips, ...)
There is plenty of opportunities for hikes, varying in difficulty, both on mainland and surrounding islands. The nature here is beautiful and so are the beaches. Prepare to see huge spiders everywhere in the forests. You will get used to it.
Employer
Employer
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). One of quite a few universities in HK.
Work description
I was working at the acoustics laboratory. My work was mostly researching papers, occasionally helping someone with an experiment.
Salary (sufficient for local conditions?)
Salary is just about enough for living comfortably and exploring the city and its surroundings.
Language requirements
English - good. Lots of people speak English, quite often with strong accent though.
Accommodation (price, who provided it)
Homantin Halls, dormitory provided by PolyU, priced at 80 HKD/night.
Social life
Meeting IAESTE members (pick-up at the airport, organized events...)
IAESTE in HK works very well. Some of their members quickly became friends with our group and then went with us to trips etc. They also organized a really nice lunch for us. They will not pick you at the airport but will give you very good instructions to get to the dorms (and they are very helpful when you get lost anyways...)
Meeting other foreign students
We were a big group of ~40 people at the dorms, all doing an internship for PolyU. There is always something going on, be it a lunch, hike, party,..
Sport and culture
At the dorms you can use free gym, play table tennis. There is a swimming pool at the campus, also free. The only one sport event I went to was a horse race, it was really nice. There is plenty of cinemas and a opera house.
Food, local specialties
Food is very good and very various. Mostly asian obviously, from all parts of Asia - Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese... And for those who don't like asian food there is always some spaghetti or pizza or McDonalds nearby.
Other information
Possibilites to communicate with the Czech Republic
Internet. There is WiFi on both campus and dorms. It is also great to buy HK sim card, it costs about 80 HKD and comes with internet access.
Recommendations for students who will go to the same place
It is very hot here! And very humid too. Very different than in the middle of Europe indeed. Be prepared.
What not to forget with you
It is good to have laptop. Also umbrella.
Benefits of the internship
Improving my language skills and exploring different culture.
Cooperation with IAESTE in the foreign country
The only problem for me was that it took very long for them to approve my internship, therefore I was not sure whether to buy the flight tickets and so on. Other than the long wait time everything went smoothly.
Overall experience with IAESTE
Perfect, definitely recommend.
Student's website
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Employer's webiste
https://www.polyu.edu.hk/web/en/home/index.html
Other useful links
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/
Other comments
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