• 92 • from their styles of clothing and mannerism. Last year, when I joined the program again, I noticed that the two groups of students were more and more alike in appearance. The only way to tell them apart was how they perceived things differently. This may be a sign that China is being more global, leading to the narrowing of the differences between the two cultures. Another thing that I observed was the characteristics of these delegates. In 2002, students from both institutes were eager to know their counterparts, especially for the Chinese delegates, since it was not common to have the chance to visit other places back then. I could still recall the incident that a Chung Chi student who could not make it to Zhejiang University was most enthusiastic to volunteer to receive the Zhejiang students at their arrival. Everyone tried to grasp the chance to reach out. In 2010, students from both institutions were, comparatively, less excited than before. To see it from another perspective, this perhaps suggests that these two groups of students were more at ease with each other. The tense atmosphere that the Program had initially was gone. They got to know each other right away with no barriers at all. This must be the The participants of the 2010 Program. The appearance of CC and ZJU students were much alike than that of the 2002 Program. The girl participants of the 2010 Program took a picture with interesting poses when visiting the China National Silk Museum: they were totally at ease with each other. results of more open and rapid communication, exchange of knowledge, and traffic between the Mainland and Hong Kong. I observed that given fewer hurdles to overcome, the students developed strong rapport among themselves in a short period of time. As an academic advisor, I have probably gained the most from the CC-ZJU Student Visitor Program. In 2002, I was asked to go to Zhejiang University within a short notice. It was my first official trip to China. I was inexperienced and was not prepared at all. Luckily, I had a group of forgiving students who tolerated my inadequacy. Since it was also the first CC-ZJU Student Visitor Program, I tried my best to set a good role model for the partner institute as well. Among all the activities we had, the most memorable ones were, perhaps, some of the local family dinners at the local students’ homes in Zhejiang. In 2010, I thought I was better prepared. However, to my surprise, we had a TV crew team following us most of time. Thus, for someone who was not good at facing the camera, I had a tough time with the TV crew around. Nevertheless, I definitely gained much from the seminars and discussions, plus a terrifying experience on fighting camera phobia!
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