Resources
Every link and number in one place. Bookmark this station.
Emergency — save these now
English operators. SMS 992 if you cannot speak
Reports, lost property, advice
Which A&E, waiting times, general enquiries
24 hours, multilingual. Loneliness and stress count
24-hour crisis line
Visas, HKID, extensions
Any government service question, in English
Lost or faulty card, refunds
Landlord, agent, gym and retail disputes
Discrimination complaints
Means-tested legal assistance
In your student handbook and on your ID card
Register in week two and store the emergency line
With your policy number, in your phone
Dial-a-weather, typhoon and rainstorm warning signals
Immigration & visas
The universities
Transport
Banking & money
Housing
Daily life
Support & community
Sign-off
There will be a week, somewhere around the sixth, when the novelty has gone and the difficulty has not. Everyone gets it. It passes.
What comes after is the good part: knowing which MTR exit to take without looking, ordering in Cantonese and being understood, the auntie at the noodle shop starting your order before you sit down. A Saturday that begins on a ridge above the South China Sea and ends at a plastic table with a cold beer and five people you did not know in September.
You do not have to love it in the first month. You just have to keep turning up: to the societies, to the awkward mixers, to the hikes you are too tired for. Ask for help early and often, from the offices whose entire job it is. Nobody here did this alone.
Hong Kong is a city that rewards the curious and the slightly brave. You have already done the hardest part, which was deciding to come.