Hoi Yan Cheung is a third-year exchange student from Hong Kong who is majoring in Chinese. Hoi Yan did not intend to come study at VMU for a semester exchange, but the experience turned out to be amazing.
“I didn’t choose VMU or Lithuania. Originally I selected Istanbul for exchange but it was rejected due to the terrorist attack. I then changed my mind to choose a country that is not a hot tourist spot and I may not go there for traveling”, the exchange student explained.
Hoi Yan is grateful that she eventually came to VMU: it turned out that she loves this country and school. “It’s great! The city is never crowded, there aren’t many people here. However, it is far more interesting than I thought at first. The festival here is traditional and fantastic. It is the best way to experience the local living”, Hoi Yan opined. She especially enjoyed the chill and downshifting lifestyle here. Compared with the fast paced life back in Hong Kong, she has more time to relax or just sit down to have a nice coffee.
The Chinese major student had a great time here. Most importantly, she has been impressed by attitude of the students here. Calling the study atmosphere excellent, Hoi Yan claimed that students in the class will study the required reading and can discuss it during the lesson. She admires their hard-working study attitude. The Hong Kong-native also took some classes unrelated to her field at VMU: she is satisfied and appreciative that she can try on new things even when they are not related to her major and what she usually does.
Overall, Hoi Yan is grateful and enjoyed the experience that she had in Lithuania. She sees herself as a better person after the exchange program. “The most important thing that I learned is to be self-disciplined. The rules at VMU are not that strict and we should be self-disciplined if we really want to learn new things”, the student pointed out.
Hoi Yan aspires to work in a museum in the future, which is why she chose to do her summer internship at the National Gallery in Kaunas as part of the Summer Internship Program (SIP) at VMU. “I would like to work in a museum and I took a course which is related to archaeology in the museum. It broadens my horizons about the study in the museum”. The course and internship definitely help her to gain knowledge to prepare for her future career.
Although VMU was an unexpected place, Hoi Yan ended up participating in the academic exchange and gaining a lot of positive things. She confirmed that this is a great experience for her.
