<p>I currently go to an international school in Norway, being a native myself. I've always lived here.</p>
<p>I'm considering going to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, or possibly the National University of Singapore, studying engineering - maybe mechanical.</p>
<p>However, I have a slight concern. I don't mean to sound rude or racist; I'm truly not, and several of my best friends are from East Asia, but I'm slightly concerned about getting to a new culture and standing out or feeling as if I'm the only "westerner" there.</p>
<p>So I'm looking for experience from others who have knowledge about this. I think it sounds extremely fun, and I'm planning to take my entire undergraduate and possibly graduate course there, so I want it to be a place I'd enjoy. Would I meet many other people from Europe/America etc. there?</p>
<p>Again, please don't take this question offensively; I mean no harm by it and find that Asians are usually the kindest people around.</p>
<p>Hi! I’m hopefully heading out to HKU this September and I had the same concern as you - I’m British with American roots. I can’t give you a definitive answer but maybe this will help:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>My friends currently at hku say to expect to be just about the only westerner -for every 20 Asian people there is about 1 westerner (if that). </p></li>
<li><p>This isn’t necessarily a problem. As you said, Asian people are great! Also, I did a uni summer course in HK over the summer and I was far from the only westerner. I found loads of people and other students. </p></li>
<li><p>It’s worth considering that HK is a balance of east and west. Finding western stores or food or anything is seriously no problem. It’s almost too easy because it makes it harder to immerse yourself in eastern culture…</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks! Good luck with going to HKU, that’s a great uni for sure!</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear that there are quite a few westerners, 1:20 isn’t a lot, but it’s plenty for me to not feel like the only one.</p>
<p>I’m considering just jumping head-first into this. If it doesn’t work out, I guess I can always quit and come back to Norway. However, it seems like all the students who have gone there have truly loved the place, so I hope I’ll do the same!</p>
<p>Haha negotiation that’s exactly what I was planning - jump in and keep in mind that it’s possible to jump out if I really don’t like it! </p>
<p>I probably should have mentioned this in my ladt post but the Norwegian guy on the course that I did over the summer said that lots of businesses in Norway suddenly REALLY wanted to sponsor him/employ him because he was going to study in China, due to all the cobtacts he was likely to form…He was doing some kind of engineering and went on from HK to Beijing…</p>
<p>Great idea! I should talk to some businesses in the area and see if they have any offers.</p>
<p>I’m sort of hesitating though seeing the poor student:faculty ratio of HKUST compared to e.g. HKU. Right now I’m just attempting to find a good uni with a fair tuition and living cost. We’ll see what happens.</p>