Expanding Cultural Horizons

Welcome to the Chinese University of Hong Kong!

Studying here is an exciting adventure as well as a major life transition for all freshmen. For a non-local student, entering university and living in a different cultural environment also entails a process of dual adjustment. You may feel excited, but also apprehensive about the new experiences, changes, and uncertainties.

When you first arrive, senior students are hospitable and will invite you to many welcoming and orientation activities. Life can be busy but novel and interesting. However, as time goes on and everyone settles into one’s daily routine, the honeymoon will come to an end and you may begin to feel uneasy coping with the changes and cultural diversities.

What Changes and New Challenges Non-local Students may Encounter?

As a non-local student, you may experience the following challenges:

• When you were living at home, you may have wished to be more independent of your family. Now perhaps you find that you are left too much on your own
• You may have felt your life to be too confined and restricted back home, but now you may be faced with too many choices, too much freedom but too little direction and guidance
• You may find learning and communicating in a foreign language to be difficult and inconvenient
• You may find your local roommate to be difficult to understand and get along with
• You may worry about how to spend your free time especially during weekends and holidays
• You may miss your favourite food, comforts, and pastime
• You may wonder how you should interact with others and how to make new friends
• You may feel lonely as you feel different and isolated
• You may be afraid that you will disappoint your family and friends if you do not do well here
• You may feel homesick and start to worry about your parents, siblings and friends back home
• You may experience culture shock and find the local values, habits and customs confusing and incomprehensible

What can you do to Help yourself Adjust and Fit In?

Living in a foreign country on your own and experiencing cultural shock might affect our……

• Mood (E.g., feeling irritable, anxious, depressed, unmotivated)
• Physical health (E.g., headache, stomach problems)
• Efficiency in work and study

However, most of your reactions are normal and transient. The duration of such reactions will vary from person to person but generally will not extend beyond the first term.

It is important to be patient and give yourself time to get over the initial stress and confusion. The followings are ways to ease the stress and help you gradually adjust and integrate into your new community at your pace:

• Acknowledge the initial stress induced by change and understand that your reactions are common but temporary
• Establish a daily routine that can adequately attend to your physical and psychological needs (eat, work, rest, play….); taking proper care of yourself can make your life more manageable and stable, which could foster a greater sense of control to cope with external changes
• Actively explore and learn about the campus environment as well as the local culture and community; your sense of security and efficacy will increase as you become more familiar with your new surroundings, facilities and resources
• Develop social networks and friendships with other peers and senior students from your hometown; share and learn from their experiences and reactions, this can provide mutual support and security in adjusting to a foreign place
• Interact with local students who can become your cultural informants; try to understand the local culture through them
• Allow yourself to make mistakes; be patient in learning to overcome language and communication barriers
• Proactively learn about and accept cultural differences, and also communicate with local students to dispel any confusion
• Develop stress-management strategies that are appropriate and effective for you, such as exercise, social gatherings, art, music, etc.
• Actively participate in student groups and community activities to become a member of the community.
• Be informed of the support services available to you in the University as well as local community and actively seek help when necessary.

It is hoped that apart from academic pursuits and cross-cultural learning, studying here will enable you to achieve self-understanding and self-enhancement, acquire new perspectives, define life goals, establish treasured relationships as well as enjoy one of the most memorable and rewarding periods in your lives.

If you feel overwhelmed by adjustment issues, you are welcome to make an appointment at the Wellness and Counselling Centre or sign up for Multicultural Psychological Support Service to talk with counsellors from similar cultural background.