England

My study tour to England

Children granted with a wish would often want to visit a faraway country due to various reasons. For Sze-ting’s wish, it is not just about eating good food and having fun; she wants to have an opportunity to learn and improve herself while attaining the wish. In fact, because of the health condition Sze-ting was in, her wish journey was not as smooth as she hoped. However, it is also the reason that made Sze-ting treasure every moment during her study tour in England more. 

Sze-ting used her own words to share bits of her journey to England...

After overcoming one obstacle followed by another, my wish had finally come true. The issuance of doctor's confirmation letter and the study tour selection procedure had delayed my trip twice. Nonetheless, I think the delays had demonstrated that achieving my wish was not easy, this made me value the opportunity to travel more.  

The application and departure of this journey happened within a week. I was excited and nervous at the same time, since I had to visit a foreign country by myself. There were many new things I had to adapt to, and I had to learn to take care of myself; fortunately, I returned to Hong Kong safely in the end. During the three-week study tour, I was living in the university dormitory. Every morning after breakfast, I would walk to lecture halls for classes or gather on one of the fields for outdoor activities. My classmates and I had a routine and disciplined schedule on weekdays, and on weekends, we would leave Oxford to stroll in other cities. Although I was spending most of my time in the dormitory, cafeteria and classroom, but since England is not as small and crowded as Hong Kong, I had to walk a much longer distance than I normally do in Hong Kong. I was very not used to walking so much at the beginning; my legs were very painful. Fortunately, I had gotten a lot better after a few days of training. 

The major characteristic of a study tour is that apart from sight-seeing, we had to attend classes as well. We took a placement test on the first day, then joined the classes according to our level. There were 12 students in the class I was placed in, and they were all from Italy and Spain. Through communicating with each other in English, not only did I learn the differences among various cultures, I had become close friends with my classmates, adding variety to my circle of friends.

How could a mere couple hundreds of words be enough to describe my 3-week study tour? There is just so much that I hope to express. Overall, I had an exceptional summer when I got to experience the western culture and the learning atmosphere in England, broadening my horizon. I believe this trip would become a wonderful memory that would make me smile just by thinking of it in the future. I want to extend my sincere thank you to Make-A-Wish^® Hong Kong for giving me an opportunity to step outside of Hong Kong.