I'm finally in Hong Kong!! Super excited to start this journey and see what I will learn from it. The flight to Hong Kong was not bad at all; it actually went by pretty quickly. I had a bit of conversation with the lady who sat next to me on the flight. She went to Berkeley way back when there were riots everyday, was an Art major, and works in the entertainment industry in LA. The most interesting thing is that she is going to Thailand to teach English to monks. I wish I could do that when I get older, but probably teach English to children in China.
When I arrived in Hong Kong, my aunt and cousins came to pick me up, which was super nice since I haven't seen them in a long time. We then went out to dinner, which was delicious! Sorry there is no pictures of any of the food I ate since I didn't have my camera with me =[ After dinner, they took me to my dorm and we had the hardest time trying to figure out which building it is since it was dark and everything seemed closed. The dorm room is a lot bigger than I thought considering how small most HK's apartments are. Sadly, my roommate is not here since she is a local (I assume), so it's going to be a bit awkward when she comes and see some strange girl in her room. The one thing I'm not use to about HK dorm is that there is no toilet paper, hand towels, or seat covers in the bathroom; you have to bring those yourself (except the seat cover since you can't buy that). It's so awkward carrying around toilet paper! Also, there is a code to the girl bathroom, which is weird since at Berkeley, the bathrooms and floors are co-ed.
My desk, it's still super messy but a lot bigger than the one in Berkeley!
My bed and desk. The closet is on the other side of the bed but I couldn't fit it into the picture.
My octopus card that my aunt gave me. It's the keychain version and she made the beads to cover it.
Super cute!
I love the CUHK campus because it's on a hill so it has a gorgeous view and you feel like you are hiking in the forest. At the same time, since it is on a hill, it feels like a hike wherever I go so I got tired really quickly. I think I'm gonna be taking the bus everywhere since I hate walking to class and sweating. The campus is also super confusing since everything is so spread out. I was trying to go check-in before orientation but I had no clue where I was, so I kept asking people around campus how to go to the building. My dorm is also confusing - I spent 10 minutes and had to ask 2 people where the main entrance is since it's somewhat hidden.
Orientation was ok, but the most fun part was meeting new people. Most of the people I met are from the America but from different parts. When I was a freshman, I had the hardest time meeting new people and trying to fit in since I got so use to being around the same group of friends in high school. I felt that no matter how much I tried, I couldn't fit in to any groups. But today, it was a lot easier for me since I had to do this all the time in college. Although I'm still a little awkward, it's a lot better than freshman year. College made me a lot more outgoing and less shy. We went out to Mong Kok at night to have a real Hong Kong style dinner so we went to some random restaurant that seems local. Another girl and I could speak Cantonese so we ordered with our limited Chinese reading. The food was so good!! It was definitely a lot better than anything I ate in SF. We also ordered a big bottle of beer to split since we could all legally drink. They didn't even card us! Sorry no pictures again since I stupidly left my camera in the dorm =[ We then went to the night market to walk around. The night market has literally everything - from lingerie to fake purses to super cute pillows. I had the urge to buy stuff but I didn't buy anything since I didn't feel like bargaining until I see how my cousin does it. Sadly, by 11, most of us started to get tired because of jet lag and a full day of walking around.
Since I had such a good first day on Hong Kong, I'm super excited to see how the rest of the semester will be like.
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