Lipscomb welcomed seniors Marco Chan and Harrison Wan from Hong Kong this semester. Both students are a part of the Inbound Exchange program.
Chan and Wan’s home school is Hang Seng Management College in Hong Kong and they both decided to come to America this semester to study and learn at Lipscomb.
Wan said he wants his travels to America to make a difference in his life while Chan is excited to explore a new culture.
“I was first taught in English in kindergarten,” Chan said. “My first language is Cantonese because that’s what everyone speaks in Hong Kong. But we are also taught English there.”
Both students arrived a week before classes started and participated in Quest Week activities. Travel time from Hong Kong to Nashville lasted roughly 20 hours. Both Chan and Wan said they calmed their nerves on the flight by watching movies and taking naps.
After arriving in the states, both students said they were surprised by several of the differences between the cultures in Hong Kong and America.
“In Hong Kong we don’t see many green, and not that many people drive in Hong Kong because the price of driving is very expensive there,” Wan said. “There is a lot more fresh air here.”
Wan also mentioned a difference in learning styles between the two countries.
“In Hong Kong I like to learn on my own because that’s how everyone learns,” he said. “But here I like listen and learn from the professor because that’s what everyone here does. Here we have more discussions in class, and the students are more engaging with the professor.”
Chan added that students in Hong Kong “don’t speak up in class as much” as the students in America.
“We don’t have as many quizzes in Hong Kong,” he said. “We have a midterm and a end of term test but that’s usually it. Here we have one like every week.”
Chan studies business and Wan studies business and art classes. Both students hope the Inbound Exchange program will earn them a few college credits that they can then take to Hong Kong and further their individual studies.
“The people are really nice here and I really like the community here,” Chan said. “I have a lot more conversations here than I do in Hong Kong.”