A new student exchange program was established this
semester between the University of Macau (UMac) and
Southern Illinois University (SIU), Carbondale, in the
United States, the first such program with American
universities. 

Five students from the Faculty of Social Sciences and
Humanities (FSH) participated.  They are: Alice Lam,
Candy Lam and Cassenna Chan from General English
Program, and Agnes Vong and Gloria Si Tou from English
Communications, all are Third-Year students.  They
arrived at Carbondale in early January. 

They believed that this would be a great opportunity to have study experience in a different country.  "I feel
very honored but at the same time it is going to be a
very big challenge for me," Alice Lam exclaimed. 

"SIU Carbondale is such a campus that I can really taste
the American life," said Chan.  Since there are no
students from Hong Kong or Macau except them, they
have to struggle to integrate into the American
community.  And there is no Chinatown in Carbondale,
so they are put into a real foreign society. 

Some of them were sick at the beginning because of the
cold weather, the low humidity in the dormitory and the
"exotic" food.  Apart from that, language problems
occurred.  "We are the only students who are not
familiar with their slang and accent in class," said Chan. 
They had to pay more attention to lectures and
participate more in class discussions. 

UMac has held regular exchange programs with universities in Japan, Holland, Finland, Sweden, France,
Norway, New Zealand, and Portugal.  Every year, about
58 UMac students go to these countries while 70 foreign
students come to study at UMac. 

When asked about differences between UMac and SIU
Carbondale, Chan singled out the atmosphere in class. 
She said that students in SIU are always ready to fight
to answer lecturers' questions.  They are not shy to
give feedback and comments.  She thinks that there are
more challenges studying there. 

Lam complained that they've got a lot of assignments
every week.  "Don't think that studying abroad is a way
of getting away from college work."  She has chosen
Speech Communication as the major in SIU, and she
could only be able to take five courses because the
reading load is much heavier than at UMac. 

After class, they enjoyed all kinds of sports activities at
the campus Recreation Centre.  They also like to go
shopping or visiting friends' homes during weekends. 

All five exchange students will be back to Macau in July
and continue their last year of study in UMac. 
 
 
 

Anges Vong and Cassenna
Chan in front of the campus.

Agnes Vong, Cassenna Chan
 and Gloria Si Tou with their
 new friends.