Exchange

Report

School of Business Management and Economics

University of Sussex, the UK

MOK, Hing Ying

FINA & ACCT, Yr3

Fall 2018

1

Monthly Activity Log .................................................................................................. 2

General Exchange Information .................................................................................. 6

Items to Bring ...........................................................................................................10

Useful Links and Contacts .........................................................................................11

CONTENTS

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Monthly Activity Log

September

I arrived at Brighton on 16th of September, the second day of the arrival weekend. Started from the arrival weekend to the start of the semester, there were loads of welcome events and induction for freshers and exchange students, which kept me busy in the first week. After settled down, I joined a day trip to London held by International Student Support and met students all around the globe during the trip. At the end of September, I visited Seven Sister, one of the filming sites of Harry Potter in East Sussex, and Cambridge with other exchange students I met in the hotel.

3

October

October was full of travelling. While school work was still light, and the weather was the most

comfortable throughout the exchange period, I joined my friends to Prague and Munich. After that, I

also went to Dublin for a weekend. During reading week, the other exchange student and I were able

to have a longer trip to Greece. We visited Santorini, a gorgeous island, and Athens.

Monthly Activity Log

4

November

I stayed in Brighton to catch up with the school progress and prepare for the mid-term exams in mid-

November. Before the next essay due at the end of the month, I went to Budapest and Vienna. Most

Christmas markets start around mid-November, so I visited them in every place I went to. I love wurst

(German sausage) and mulled wine in the Christmas markets a lot! In addition, Black Friday comes

after Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. Make a list of winter clothes you need and

souvenirs you want to bring to your friends in Hong Kong and then go shopping!

Monthly Activity Log

5

December

The semester ended on the 15th of December. I spent these two weeks on preparing assessment and

essays due in the last week, visited London twice more and had farewell events with friends. Also, I

went on one last trip with my lovely roommate to Oxford and Bristol. During the last week, I revisited

restaurants and places I loved before leaving Brighton. There was no official farewell event led by the

university, however, a farewell night was held by our student residents in the hotel. For me, most

assessments had been done before the 15th and there was only one essay due in the beginning of

January. I took the chance to travel around the U.K. for the rest of December.

Monthly Activity Log

6

Visa Procedures

Hong Kong passport holders are allowed to apply for a short-term study visa upon arrival by simply presenting the official offer letter issued by UK universities. Besides, we do not need Schengen Visa to travel around Europe. Please note that you have to bring the offer letter with you all the times when you cross the border and you could not work in the U.K. with a short-term study visa.

Orientation Activities

There are loads of welcoming events for freshers held by the Student Union, International Student

Support and the Buddy Scheme in the week before semester starts, including walking tour, sports

events, game parties and clubbing. Some of them require tickets so you may want to prepare an

amount of cash for them.

You also need to attend 2 induction sessions, one for all exchange students and one for exchange

students in specific schools.

International Services & Activities

International Student Support unit arranges series of day trips for students and gives advice on any

matters you want to consult.

Accommodations

All autumn-term only exchange student would not be granted a place in student hall. Instead, you can

choose a twin room in a hotel located in Hove (either Langford or Imperial), a single room in a host

family, or seeking a place by yourself. I was allocated to Imperial, a hotel gathered around 50 exchange

students and required about 1-hour commute to the uni. Each one has their own pros and cons.

General Exchange

Information

7

Course Registration

Exchange students need to indicate their module preference in the application and will be contacted

by a coordinator in later stage regarding the module registration. The coordinator is the first one

whom students should contact regarding any academic issues. Students can take up to 60 credits

(equivalent to 12 credits in HKUST) in one semester.

Teaching & Assessment Methods

A module usually consists of lectures and seminar (i.e. tutorial). The lecture is typically informative,

and seminar involves more interaction, like discussion, presentation, and Q&A. Students are required

to prepare for the seminar and maintain 80% attendance rate and expected to do readings on their

own.

Assessment methods depend on modules. Personally, I had 3 exams, 1 assignment, 3 essays in total.

For exchange students in the fall term only, alternative assessments will be provided (usually essay), so

we do not need to stay until January to attend the examination in person.

Sports & Recreation Facilities

Sports centre on campus is open to registered members (fee-paying). The Student Union also organize

loads of one-off sports events, such as £1 drop-in sessions.

Financial & Banking

I opened an Essential Current Account with Santander for £1 per month and received a contactless

Visa debit card. Alternatively, you can go with a Basic Current Account for free or open a UK bank

account in advance in Hong Kong with HSBC. In addition, I also applied for a master debit card with

Monzo (a digital bank) for travelling purpose.

I brought £800 in cash and for sure HK debit and credit cards with the overseas withdrawal service

activated. When I received the first overseas transfer to the local bank account, I had £300 cash left

with me.

I spent around $80,000 in which $25,000 went into air ticket (HK-London) and student

accommodation.

General Exchange

Information

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Social Clubs & Networking Opportunities

There are numerous societies registered with the Student Union (link in the last page). Alternatively,

you can go to the promotion day during the orientation week and chat with members of the societies

there.

Health & Safety

Brighton is quite safe day and night, though you can expect a lot of rough sleepers on the street. I did

not encounter anything like pickpocketing in the U.K., but I heard of that happened to my friends

during the semester in Europe. Thus, it is always important to be alert and keep an eye on your

belongings.

Bringing medicines that you are familiar with from Hong Kong is suggested, yet you can find them in

Boots or any pharmacy. There are a small clinic and a pharmacy on campus and you can also register

with GP near your accommodation.

Food

Don’t worry about food. There is a wide range of choices downtown and on campus, Fish and Chips,

Italian, Mexican, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, as you can tell. St. Peter’s Church, the North

Street, Clarence Square are places you can find whatever you want. You would not believe a bubble

tea store is on campus. Search “Chinese supermarket/restaurant” on google map whenever you want

a taste of home.

Canteens on campus are slightly cheaper, which cost around 5 per meal. Occasionally, there will be

food trucks selling street food on campus (outside Bramber house or Falmer House).

Of course, you may prefer cooking on your own as I do. There is a Tesco Superstore near the hotels

and Coop on campus. Tesco, Coop, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Mark & Spencer are the most common

supermarkets in Brighton, listed in the order of price level.

Transportation

International Student Support arranges coaches from Heathrow Airport to the university (and hotels

where exchange students stayed). Although there is no school shuttle from Gatwick Airport, it takes

only 40 minutes to Brighton by direct train and student ambassador will be in Gatwick during arrival

weekend.

General Exchange

Information

9

Autumn-term-only exchange students will normally be placed in hotels in Hove. You need to take

buses no. 25 or no. 25X from the hotel to uni. Buses ticket can be purchased on board or in an app

“B&H buses”. In the app, you can find student tickets (day, week, month, 90-days). Bus pass allows you

to take designated buses to everywhere in Brighton and Hove. I bought a 90-days NetworkSaver

student pass which costs £138.

If you are a heavy traveler (even just day trips to some of the British cities), you may want to apply for

a 16-25 youth railcard which provides you 1/3 off on train ticket.

Climate

Gloomy and sunny days are like half and half during the semester but most of the time you won’t need

an umbrella even if it rains because it is too windy to hold one. Just bring coats with hat or hoodies;).

The temperature in Brighton is around 10-20 degree Celsius throughout the period.

Communication

I received a welcome package upon check-in at student accommodation, including a free Giffgaff SIM

card with £5 credit. Most importantly, the service covers basically most of Europe and phone calls

between Giffgaff users is free.

General Exchange

Information

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Items to Bring

Items to Bring

• Passport

• Letter of Acceptance

• Sufficient Cash

• Debit/ Credit Cards

• Medicines

• EU Plug Adapter

• Hair Dryer

• Sunglasses

• Umbrella

• Slippers

Do Not Bring

• Beddings

• Kitchen Utensils

• Excessive Clothing o You would only need summer

clothing for the first two weeks and in your room with heating on probably.

o Anyways you can find any clothes you want in good price there.

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School related

Sussex Buddy Scheme (timely update on socializing and sports events) https://www.buddyscheme.com/ Module Teaching Timetable http://www.sussex.ac.uk/students/timetable/ Student Hub (access to student account, timetable, module details) https://student.sussex.ac.uk/ Student Society List https://www.sussexstudent.com/sport-societies-media/discover/ International Student Support (day trips can be found under “Trips and Events”) http://www.sussex.ac.uk/internationalsupport/tripsandevents

Travel

Momondo (cheap flight finder) https://www.momondo.co.uk/ National Rail (cheaper than trainline which usually occurs transaction fee) http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ Flixbus https://www.flixbus.co.uk/ National Express https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

Useful Links and

Contacts