'Variety is the spice of life’. We all have experienced this 'spice' while living in
the Student Residence at CityU. The Student Residence of City U shelters not
only local students from Hong Kong but also students from Mainland China and a varied bunch of non-local students who hail from different countries.

As a non-local student, I have learnt a range of new things about different places through interacting with my floor-mates and hall-mates. The interaction amongst student residents of different places has enabled me to gain insights into different cultures and values. For instance, did you know that the Polish crack each other's boiled eggs before commencing the celebration of the spring festival? Or that the Spanish spoken by the Mexicans is very different from the Spanish spoken in Spain, due to the wide range of slang that has been coined by the youth in Mexico? This is just the tip of the iceberg.

I have realised that the ‘taste’ of Chinese culture can be experienced through their mouth-watering cuisine or the polite Japanese culture by observing the manner of speech of the Japanese students or the open American culture by chit-chatting with the Americans. All this exposure gained by living here has aided me to become an open-minded worldly citizen and broadened my horizons by giving me a fresh perspective in looking at different things. I believe that the same is true for all of you! Even the random rants by friends somehow help us to acquire itsy-bitsy knowledge that is difficult to achieve!