Week 2

Like I said before, I'm really bad at blogging...

...so here's a recap of what I've done my second week here:

I've made a ton of new friends. I also have 29 new facebook friends from the past week. Impressive, I know. All of the exchange students have been hanging out because there's no one else on campus. I've also met some really cool local students. I've explored a lot of HK, and done a little shopping. It's been a blast.

Chinese New Year started Monday and lasted through yesterday. I went to a new year market Sunday night, which was kind of like a fair minus the rides. There were a lot of ridiculous things you could buy, including a huge inflatable iPhone. A few of the guys with us got in a very heated argument trying to haggle for "lucky boxers." It was hilarious. There was a lot of yelling involved.

Monday, I walked around Central with a bunch of people, and we took the world's longest set of escalators. Which I've done before, but it was still fun. That night, we went to the New Year Parade, which is apparently the happiest party in the world. The sign said so. The parade was pretty cool, but I couldn't see much because I was behind a lot of people.

Tuesday, two more kids from Tech got here, so all of the Tech kids and Anastassia's roommate hung out in Tsim Sha Tsui to watch the fireworks. We ended up eating at Shakey's Pizza. It was a lot fancier than the one in Auburn. Go figure. The fireworks were probably the coolest I've ever seen. They put the 4th of July to shame. There were fireworks shaped like fans, butterflies, and yin yangs. It was amazing.

Yesterday, I just hung out on campus. I finished up all of the episodes of Smallville that have already come out for this season, and I started reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer. It's good, but not as good as Twilight.

Today, I went to the grocery store because it's been closed for the new year. So I restocked on food, and ended up finding some goldfish crackers, which was really exciting. Tomorrow, I have orientation, which is not so exciting. I'm not really excited for the vacation to end lol.

I'll try to update more often! I miss you all!

Day 7

I've officially been here for a week. It feels like I've been here a lot longer. I'm finally starting to figure out kind of where things are, so that's good.

Anastassia and I went to Central, which is the big shopping/social district. At least I think it is. I don't really know. We didn't get lost though, so that's really what counts.

Last night we met a ton of exchange students from all over. I now have friends from Illinois, California, France, Montreal, Sweden, England, Sweden, and the Netherlands. And some native HK kids too. We all hung out on campus last night, and a bunch of creepy old eMBA people bought us many rounds of drinks. Which I didn't drink, but whatever. It was at least entertaining.

I also decorated my bulletin board above my desk with pictures, so it's a little more homey. Yes, homey, not homely, like Asian people seem to think it is.

I got back pretty late last night, and discovered that people in my dorm wake up and get ready at really early hours in the morning. I saw a girl taking a hair dryer and makeup into the bathroom after 2 am. It was very strange.

It's kind of cold and gross out today. And by cold, I mean low 60s. Which is warm for home right now I guess. It will probably rain soon, but that's good because it will clear out some of the pollution lol.

That's really about all I've got. I'm running out of interesting stories for the blog already! Don't worry, I'll work on it. Skype/AIM/facebook me!

Day 6

Belated update for day 6:

Today was good. I booked a flight to Taipei in March, so that will be really fun. Anastassia and I went to H&M in Kowloon Tong, and ended up discovering a random ice skating rink. And I found out that Twilight is still playing here. I might have to see it again lol.

We met more exchange students from Illinois, and we hung out with them last night. We went to the Avenue of the Stars, which has a light show on all of the buildings, but we were too late to watch it. Then we went and hung out at the beach on campus.

I'm not really that homesick anymore. I'm still ready for the semester to start because there's still no one on campus. I'm having fun though.

I've learned one thing in my dorm so far: I hate Cantonese pop music. It may be worse than country music. I haven't decided yet. But it is not legitimate music. It kind of sounds like video game theme music. Also, the native students here have very strange sleeping habits. They're almost nocturnal. They sleep in the afternoon, and they're really loud really late at night/early in the morning. They were seriously blaring Canto pop from around 1:30 am to 5:30am. It was insane.

We only get 2 English channels here, CNN and BBC. I'm not a huge fan of either. So now I'm just watching TV on surfthechannel.com. It has American Idol. And maybe I'll finally finish all of the seasons of the OC.

I'm still working on figuring out how to put pictures up on this blog. There are some on facebook. Here's a link to the album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2167578&id=12818105 . Let me know if it doesn't work, and I'll try to fix it.

I hope everyone's having a great night! Keep in touch!

Day 5

Today was a good day. Probably because I had coffee.

We met up with Randy's cousin Vivienne today and had lunch. She's on the news in HK, and she went to British boarding school, so she speaks English really well. She's a really cool person. Afterwards she took Anastassia and me to a mall, which was a lot of fun. I ended up finding 2 game day shirts for really cheap. And I have a picture of a really funny picture that I will post soon.

We also made friends with 2 other exchange students. One girl is from the Netherlands, and the other is from Chicago. They met up with us at HK Times Square, and we ate dinner at a really cool Shanghai-style restaurant. I officially love vegetarian dumplings.

After that, the four of us hung out in hall 1 for a while. This is the first time since I've gotten here that I haven't taken a nap or gone to sleep really early, so hopefully this will get me on a normal schedule.

Well, it's about 1 am here, so I'm going to go to sleep. Skype/AIM/facebook me!

Day 4

Let me just start off by saying that I've had no caffeine since I left Atlanta. That was 7:30 am last Wednesday. That's 132 hours without caffeine. I'm pretty sure this is a record for me.

Yesterday, I had to pay my housing bill. Which I didn't have one of the forms for because the guy who checked me in spoke no English. It's ok though, they just gave me a new one. I also got my student ID card, which is good. We tried to go get student octopus cards (kind of like debit cards that you can pay for the metro, convenience stores, groceries, etc.), which get you 1/2 price on everything, but the lady sent us to an empty room. So we're going to try that again with someone who speaks Cantonese today.

Anastassia and I also tried to figure out how the canteen here works. We walked around for awhile looking confused, and eventually wound up eating at the Mcdonalds where people spoke English. Which was fine. I really wanted french fries anyway. We also ended up finding the supermarket on campus, which was not on the floor the sign said it was on.

I'm working on the post card thing. I just have to find some. And some stamps. I'm not really sure where to find them yet.

Thanks for all of the comments so far! I really love hearing from everyone. I hope everyone had a great MLK break! Talk to you soon!

Day 3

Here's my belated update on day 3:

Yesterday, I went to a Korean bbq place with some kids from Tech (I'm not a fan lol). One of the guys from Tech has family here, so we met his uncle and aunt there. They were really cool. His cousin is apparently on the news here, and she wants to take us out to do stuff on Tuesday, so that should be fun. His uncle found me a discounted sim card that will work with my phone as soon as T-mobile can unlock my phone. It will give me an HK number, and it will let me call the US without charging long distance. I also went to one of the many malls (there's one at nearly every metro stop) to get groceries, and Ana showed me where an book store was that sells English books. I'm pretty excited about that. I saw a Chinese Twilight book, and I almost bought it, despite the fact that I'll probably never be able to read it. I almost did the same thing with Harry Potter last time I studied abroad.

Unfortunately, the really cheap flight to Korea deal is gone now, so no more Seoul. I'm kind of sad about that. But, I did find out that Rachel and Ilana might be in Bali for spring break, and if I can afford it, I'll totally go.

I've decided that I'm going to start taking pictures of funny signs. I missed out on taking a picture of the "Homely Noodles" sign. That one was pretty funny. I did manage to get a picture of a sale sign that said "I like when you smile." Not as funny, but it still made me laugh.

Every day I think I'm over the jet lag, and then I end up falling asleep before 9:30. I took a nap at 6:30 yesterday, and didn't wake up until 11:30. Then I just decided to go back to sleep. And I can't wake up later than 8 am. Which I guess will be good when classes start up. Plus it's a good time to talk to people in America, so I'll probably stay on this schedule for a while at least. So yeah, I'm probably online by 7-8 pm eastern time ;)

Even though it's in the high 60s to mid 70s here, people are wearing sweaters and big jackets. I used to think I had no cold tolerance, but people in turtlenecks seem to think I must be freezing in a t-shirt. It's really strange.

I just realized yesterday that I'm not going to be able to drive for the next 5 months. I'm pretty sad about that. I love driving (yes, I know I'm not a wonderful driver. It doesn't mean I don't enjoy it.)

During my 5 hour nap, I'm pretty sure I heard some people speaking English on my hall. Which is good, because I've only encountered like 2 English speaking people on campus so far.

Well, I guess I should get out and start getting stuff done. I'll update again soon.

Day 2

So, it's technically already day 3, but I thought I'd give you an update on yesterday anyway.

Yesterday was good. I met up with a few kids from Tech, and we went into HK to get things we didn't bring with us. It was fun. We also visited the world's smallest Ikea. Which unfortunately had no cinnamon rolls. I forgot how weird HK smells. I'm not a big fan. Other than that, it's good.

One of the people I met up with yesterday, Anastassia, has been looking up cheap trips since September for us to go on during holidays and weekends, so that's exciting. We're potentially going to Seoul in March, maybe the Philippines for spring break, and hopefully Vietnam and Singapore. And mainland China. I'm really sad that Thailand is chaotic right now, because I would love to go there. I'm really excited about all of these trips though.

The weather here is really amazing. The high is 74, and it's sunny. I am sad that I missed the snow in Atlanta. I love snow. But it's probably worth missing the 19 degree weather.

There are some things i definitely miss about America though. Like TV. Especially since I'll be missing out on American Idol. Someone's going to need to keep me updated on that. And someone's going to have to tell me if the Secret Life of the American Teenager girl ever has her baby. I also miss watching OC reruns with my roommates. I'm starting to miss American food too. Not that I can't find it, I just haven't tried yet. I really miss my bed. As soon as I get some pictures up, you'll see why. I miss having my own shower. I'm not such a big fan of community showers. And having a kitchen.

I miss the Valley, Atlanta, and everyone back home the most. And Belle. I probably miss Belle the most ;).

For some reason, I can't seem to wake up later than 8 am, which is 7 pm Atlanta time, and 6 pm central time, so feel free to skype/AIM/facebook me! I miss you guys!

address

My address is:

Room 429R

Undergraduate Hall IV

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Clearwater Bay, Kowloon

Hong Kong 999077

I <3 snail mail :)

Day 1

So, I'm in Hong Kong...

I probably should've remembered before I signed up for this how much I hate planes. I mean, an hour or 2 is okay, but 16 hours is a little intense. Especially when there are babies on the plane. Airports are also really confusing. Not so much the Atlanta airport, because I've been there enough to basically know where things are, but JFK is ridiculous. I got pretty lost trying to find my gate. Interestingly enough, the McDonalds there has sweet tea. I didn't think sweet tea existed outside of the south (though I plan on introducing it to HK soon lol). But yeah, back to planes, I can't sit still that long. Even with movies. I fell asleep halfway through Eagle Eye and Wall-E, but I couldn't stay asleep because babies start crying, or the plane starts shaking, etc. And every time the plane hits the smallest bit of turbulence, I freak out. I can't help it. I think the plane is going down. Also, as i was flipping through the music on the plane, "Sheena  is a Punk Rocker" was on the list. I knew the mock rock girls would appreciate that. So, after 3 movies, 4 cds, 2 episodes of House, 1 episode of friends,  and a 400 page book, my plane finally lands. 

My plane landed at 7:05 pm, but I wasn't checked into my dorm until about 1 am. For some reason, even though I slept maybe an hour before I left for the airport (at 5 am :p), and got around 3 hours of sleep on the plane, I still woke up before 8 am. Maybe because that's 7 pm home time. I don't know. 

I met my buddy, Christy. She's really nice. Her English is pretty good. She had to help me check in because the manager of my building doesn't speak English. Go figure. According to the student handbook they gave me, my building also has a warden. I'm not really sure how I feel about that. The rooms are smaller than Tech's freshman dorms. The beds are really short. Good thing I am too. They're about as comfortable as sleeping on the floor too. And there's no heat, which probably won't matter in a month or so. On the plus side, my roommate isn't here yet, so I have the whole room to myself for a few days. 

Contrary to what I was told, hardly anyone here speaks English. I tried to ask the security guard how to get somewhere, and he just walked away. I've seen 2 other Americans from Illinois who were also lost. But thankfully I found the building to get my internet password, and now I can update my blog.

Campus is virtually dead right now. Classes don't start back until Feb. 2, and orientation isn't until Jan. 30. I totally could've just gotten here next week. I'm already a little homesick, but I think it's because there's nothing going on yet. And because I'm halfway around the world. Finally having the internet helps.

Anyways, my internet is all set up so skype/AIM/facebook/email me! I'll probably be updating a lot for the next couple of weeks since no one's here yet. I miss you guys already!

T-2.5 days

So, I've got approximately 2.5 days until I leave for Hong Kong, and starting a blog seemed like a good idea. Because I know you'll all miss me terribly, and want to keep up with my adventures. And maybe because I'll miss you guys a little too...

Anyways, if any of you guys have skype, my user name is paradigmjnw, and I would love to talk to you. I even added an HK clock to this blog so you can see what time it is there. I wouldn't recommend skype-ing me at 8 am. I probably won't answer. I also have AIM (jnw121987). And there's always facebook, of course.

I'm pretty terrible about updating blogs (which is why I ultimately failed at livejournal), but I'll try really hard to update it frequently. 

Also, if you e-mail or facebook message me your address,  I will totally send you a post card. I'll have a lot of time to write them, because I'll have 2 free weeks before classes start. I'll post my HK address as soon as I find out what it is for those of you who like to snail-mail (which is awesome!). 

I'll miss you all a lot! Please feel free to skype/AIM/facebook/etc.! I can't wait to see you when I get back!