Milly Hu

My name is Yan Hu, Milly and I studied in the Spanish program at HKU from 2009-2012. I completed a Master at the Center for Monetary and Financial Studies in Madrid. During my studies, in the summer, I did an internship at Bank of Spain (Banco de España, Spain’s national central bank) as a research assistant. Although my master course was in English, my knowledge of Spanish language and culture certainly helped me to accommodate to life in Madrid. Many of the situations resembled the things we once learned at HKU such as ordering food, going to the doctor, booking tickets, etc. For the internship, my knowledge of Spanish helped me to do a better job as my work required reading government reports in Spanish and dealing with Spanish datasets.

In addition to its practical value, more importantly, the Spanish program opened up a brand new world to me that has become a life-time treasure. When I travelled around Spain, the mysterious stories of the Alhambra Palace came to life and the olive trees in Garcia Lorca’s poems were no longer part of my imagination. Thanks to my studies at HKU, I can better appreciate all of the Spanish arts that Madrid generously offers with its magnificent art museums. I get to celebrate the festivals I once learned about in class and share the happiness with Spanish people.