From Indonesia to Hong Kong

Ivan Gondoprastowo, Engineering, Year 1

Settling down was not really that hard. At first, it was quite weird, to live far away from your parents in a country that you can barely speak "Hi" to the locals. Thanks to those friendly (and helpful) seniors, and other friends, who helped me to settle down and get used to some Hong Kong local customs, foods, language, and everything. As for university life, basically, there are a lot of ways to spend your days with, you can either lock up yourself in your dorm room doing nothing but to stare at your laptop monitor or hang out with friends, do some cool stuffs, everything. You choose. I believe, HKUST gives you enough opportunity for you to develop yourself in any areas that you're interested in. I joined some organizations/societies, sport teams, competitions, workshops, discussions, and other stuffs that are enough for me to keep me away from those boring days. Furthermore, i realized that by having a lot of activities, you'll be able to communicate with a lot of people, enriching your experience, and obtain a lot of things that you can't get from your professors. (The above photo is from my travels to Inner Mongolia!) - Ivan