If you're going to study abroad for full-time study or just for an exchange program, perhaps convenience for students in that country would be one of the factors that you take into consideration in choosing your destination university or country. In my opinion, convenience for students is necessary to support student's daily activities, whether for studying purpose or for leisure. Today I'll be sharing with you the 3 benefits of being student in Hong Kong that I experienced here (which I thought are AWESOME!).

1. MTR Student Travel Scheme
With many things to do and explore in new place, transportation is indeed very important for us. It's a relief that Hong Kong has an efficient and frequent public transport systems with the MTR. There's also a convenient payment method with the Octopus Card (read it here if you don't know what Octopus Card is). When you think that things couldn't get any better, your student status give you another surprise: special price for student!

MTR fare from my campus' station to Disneyland, student fare is almost 50% less than adult fare

If your Hong Kong school or uni is participating in the MTR Student Travel Scheme, you can apply for a Personalised Octopus with "Student Status". This student status will allow you to travel with discounted price compared to the usual adult price. Whoot!

2. Student Notebook Ownership
As the price of electronic devices in Indonesia are pricier compared to the other countries, I was postponing my plan to buy laptop until I arrived in Hong Kong. Not only the retail price is cheaper, but Apple HK has the educational pricing which is not available in Indonesia (so it is way cheaper). However, it turned out that some universities (including my university) in HK has Student Notebook Ownership program that charges you with even lower price compared to Apple's educational pricing! Such a good welcome gift!😳

Offering Apple and Lenovo

Not only you get your laptop in cheaper price, but they also give you free stuff: printer, screen protector, one laptop accessories, laptop bag, free internet security subscription and coupon for next purchase. If you're purchasing a Mac, they also offer a free workshop to allow you familiarize with your new Mac. In my opinion, This kind of program shows how the university really support the students by helping them to get 'more affordable' laptop.

3. Student Special Price
Many stores in Hong Kong, especially restaurants, offer special promotions for students. Just show your student ID and voila! You got the special promotion! So far, I've used this privilege to play ice skating with my brother with the buy 1 get 1 promotion, enjoy my lunch with student price in Yoshinoya, pay $10 less for my llaollao yoghurt and sip my cup of Starbucks coffee with 30% discount (only for HKBU's student😝).

My fave sauce: cookie dough🍪

Yoshinoya HK got some cheesy menu!

People said, when you did something for the first time, there will always be the second one. So, as I had my first hiking in Hong Kong, of course I will have the second hike😉Again, the hike  I joined was organized by HKBU's International Office. I intentionally only join the hiking activities which are organized by school. The first reason is because I realized that my stamina is poor, thus I walk slower compared to the others. The second reason is because once in while I love to stop to take pictures! By joining school's hike, I know there will always be student ambassadors that will accompany me to walk slowly and wait for me to take some pictures 😂 (Thank you for all student ambassadors that accompanied me!)

This time, the destination is Tai O which is located in the Western coast of Lantau Island. When I went to the International Office to register for the monthly outing, the PIC, Juventius, told me that it's gonna be a difficult hike compared to the previous hike that I joined. However, with the motivation to see that other side of Hong Kong, I registered for the hike and found myself making my way to Tung Chung MTR station on that fourth Sunday morning of October.

Hi guys! The real Autumn (or Winter?) has finally come to Hong Kong! The weather started to be very nice lately.  It's getting colder (especially in the morning) and windy that I need to put on my scarf. Daily temperature ranges from 22-27 degrees (FYI it's 17-19 today!) and it is not too humid anymore. I really love this temperature because I don't need to break a sweat when I run from one building to other building for class💦 The changes of temperature is really significant compared to the last two weeks. Me and my room mate even already slept without turning on the AC for about a week because we can let the window open during the night.

As I do my exchange period during the fall semester, I got the privilege to experience an annual event in HKBU that only happens during the odd semester. It's International Festival! The event was held on 25-27 October 2016 and this year is the 12th year of commencement. During this three days event, HKBU had ranges of activities that showcasing cultural diversity. There were photo exhibition, seminars, study abroad fair for the local students and also international market plus variety show.

I thought it was only yesterday when I wave my hands to my parents and friends who send me to the airport for my flight to Hong Kong. However, it is not. It's been 2 months since the day I landed in Hong Kong for the first time after 6 years, met hundreds new people from many different parts of the world and slept in a shared bedroom with my lovely roommate. Believe it or not, my time to study in Hong Kong is now less than 2 months. How time flies.