Aren’t we supposed to experience culture shock when we leave our own culture? Why is it that one would feel more at home in a country outside the one we have been raised in? Explain to me then, why is it that coming to Hong Kong we have felt nothing, even you who has no ties of any sort to this place, but that we automatically know that life will be changed as we know it when we return home.

“It wasn’t what we ordered. What do you mean you can’t change it? Can’t you just replace it with what I want?” Ten minutes of ranting brings me straight back to home. But it seems so foreign and shocking, leaving us uncomfortable. Such a common occurrence among the affluent Asians that surround me at home is now so out of place in the overwhelmingly Asian country I am abroad in.

I’ve told myself, people don’t change because you want them to, but because they want to. So I find myself realizing that coming to Hong Kong has changed me. For better or for worse I’m not sure. Probably a bit of both. I’m likely less interested in being polite (due to the lack of the importance of personal space here) but at the same time, I’ve learned to be aware of my actions and presentation, have finally gained study habits, and have become so much more knowledgeable and accepting of the various people and cultures I have met. I have discovered a fascination with the Jewish culture, rediscovered the wonders of running, become more independent, and traveled to so many new countries among others. But what I value the most is all the wonderful friends I have acquired and all that I’ve learned from them; from politics to Judaism to cultural differences.  

I am so glad of my decision to study in Hong Kong, and I am impossibly grateful to all the wonderful people I’ve met and befriended. I have learned a great deal and I hope I have also been able to share something of my own. The decision to study abroad is irrevocably changed my life and  that has helped shape me and prepare me for the imminent future.