{"id":7441,"date":"2017-09-03T01:50:51","date_gmt":"2017-09-02T17:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cusp.hk\/?p=7441"},"modified":"2017-09-06T13:07:08","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T05:07:08","slug":"integrating-the-international-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cusp.hk\/?p=7441","title":{"rendered":"Integrating the International Community"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\/We need to think more united than we actually are. \/<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

By Selena Liang<\/p>\n

It was unusual for me to chat with a non-local, such that conversing with a non-Chinese student would make a day special. Except that I wasn\u2019t conversing, I was interviewing. I started by recording and confirming his personal information\u2014Chase Trung Fortier, year 1, Sociology Major, Chung Chi College, from Florida\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy did you decide to come to Hong Kong?\u201d a real question finally, almost asked in confusion.<\/span><\/p>\n

He explained that he grew up in a small town with lots of Chinese Americans, and in particular his best friend\u2019s mum was from Hong Kong. For years he has learnt all the \u201ccool stuff\u201d there is to do in bigger cities like Hong Kong. After he arrived, well, he did experience the actual \u201ccool\u201d side of Hong Kong.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Connecting and Disconnected<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that Hong Kong houses quite a wide variety of international population. For Chase, he has formed a social circle with students from the UK, India, Indonesia, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Taiwan etc. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a good mix of people and we all speak English as our one unifying language.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, Hong Kong is seldom a second home to international students. Chase himself didn\u2019t feel integrated into the local student life. He did befriend some locals in class and in off-campus events occasionally, but other than that, he mostly felt isolated and neglected. The dorm and college events are often advertised in Chinese only, and the social disconnection is pretty common. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to have a local roommate one to get integrated more, two because I know they\u2019ll go home at the weekends, so I can kinda have my own room for the weekend\u2026\u2026but the locals already know who they\u2019re gonna live with and pick each other beforehand\u2026\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Such disconnection is not only present with the local-international boundaries, but also within the international students themselves. Recalling his experience in the ISA Ocamp, Chase felt as if he \u2018made a mistake\u2019 in befriending a number of students from ethnic groups that consist a larger population in the CUHK. Soon after orientation, many students\u00a0 <\/span>joined the association of their own nationality and formed their close and somehow closed social group. While for Chase, he can hardly feel a sense of community.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t speak for all of [the international students], cause\u2019 there are the Taiwanese and Koreans that have TSA, KSA very large groups.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As for Chase\u2019s group, there\u2019s about ten of them from different corners of the map. He expressed that it was a really good group, a \u201csmall enough group for close friendships\u201d. He also knows few other accepting groups with people of diverse cultures and personalities. The problem is, they don\u2019t have a \u201cunifying Student Union\u201d to pull a larger community together.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a joke with my British friend and one of my Kazakh friends. I\u2019m quarter Vietnamese, the British one is quarter Chinese, and the Kazakh one is quarter Korean. So we\u2019re the \u2018Quarter Asian Student Union\u2019. But of course there\u2019s only three of us, we can\u2019t actually make a student society.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Actually there\u2019s the ISA (International Student Association) acting as a common union for all non-local students. Chase acknowledged that the ISA did an effective job with orientation as, for example, providing infographics for college comparison, instructing students in course registration, guiding students through the campus etc. However, Chase felt like the social and cultural events that came afterwards (including those organized by LCES, OSA and ISA) were infrequent or the promotions were insufficient. Although Chase has met few friends in the ISA orientation, his whole friend group was only pulled together with friends of friends in private gatherings. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t really heard of [international] events. I thought the i-Lounge was just a room,\u201d says Chase. The i-Lounge is indeed a place, but one for organizing activities that facilitate cultural exposure and exchange. Another similar program is the i-Ambassador Scheme. The \u201ci\u201d stands for internationalization and possibly integration. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the \u2018i\u2019 was just to make it like i-Phone, kind of trendy sounding,\u201d Chase says, \u201cThey didn\u2019t really promote it very much.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n


\nNeglection and Representation<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Other than issues of social (dis)integration, Chase also experience inconvenience due to some inadequate policies of the student bodies and the university enlarged. For instance, the CUHK Student Union\u2014to which all local and international CUHK students pay membership dues\u2014mainly operates in Cantonese. English information is only present in the \u201clong mass mails that nobody reads\u201d, and even absent in years of Student Press publication that most international students \u201ccannot read\u201d. Another example is that Chase was forced to move out of his hostel in May last semester, as the hostel was closed down early for renovation. It was during the finals\u2019 season, and Chase was heavily disturbed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chase thought the fundamental problem is the lack of international representation, noting that a local student representative was involved in the decision of closing down the hostel early. While the locals could go home for the week or month, international students had to find housing on their own. The task was almost impossible even with refund, as Hong Kong has one of the highest rents in the world. Eventually, Chase stayed as a guest in a friend\u2019s dorm, which costs him more than the refund.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey are making these large decisions using my money\u2026\u2026but I will not be partaken because of the language barrier and the lack of international representation\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The voices and needs of international students are often unseen, or maybe partially presented by a local reporter with her small telescope. For these students to be heard, Chase thought that international representation in unions or at least a common communicative platform is essential. He himself would like to get in touch with the Student Union and express his opinions to them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n


\nVoicing and Thinking in Union<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Organizational participation is an important but not the only or daily way to be heard. Voicing and requesting in unfair encounters can be another way. For Chase, this also means considering for the whole international community. A week before the closing down of the hostel, Chase found the refrigerator cleared and the prior notice only printed in Chinese. Chase lost a rock of Himalaya black salt, which was brought to him by a friend from Nepal. He was very upset about it, and the hostel gave him a single offer of a couple hundred bucks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t want you to pay me back. I want you to make this better in the future for other international students. Advertise these things in English, advertise your events in English.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That was Chase\u2019s reply, though he admitted that the hostel\u2019s offer was appealing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut we need to think on a bigger scale, we need to think more united than we actually are.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Chase hoped that international students could become a real and more powerful community through thinking about each other as a community. This can be actualized in multiple ways, such as joining the ISA and committing oneself to event organization and social integration, contacting the Student Union and participating in policy decisions, and voicing for one another in unfair situations.<\/span><\/p>\n

To reiterate Chase\u2019s statement, through considering more for fellow and future non-local students with a macro perspective, international students can tackle the problematic measures more efficiently and integrate more effectively\u2014let it be the international or local community.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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