Yes, I know it's been 3 weeks. To be completely honest, I really haven't done anything interesting in the past 3 weeks. Here's some highlights:
-My roommate and I got harassed by a crazy person in a mall. We were just watching people ice skate, and all of a sudden, this crazy guy with sunglasses on inside walks up to us and starts talking about the universe. Apparently, he's strongly opinionated on the subject, and thinks that the Russians are the most advanced in this field. I had to apologize to my roommate, because it was all my fault. My ability to attract every crazy person in a 10 mile radius is pretty impressive.
-I saw He's Just Not That Into You. It was hilarious. I plan on reading the book.
-I got to talk to Laura, Jessica, Carlin, and Calli on skype when they were all in Nashville :). It was great!
-I got a package from my parents with more easy mac, grits, and girl scout cookies! Those samoas are a life saver.
-I survived my first two midterms. There's no telling how I did, however, because it's all based on how everyone else did. I think this is nonsense. You should get graded based on how well you score. Curves are only acceptable when they are beneficial to the students, not when the professor gives out a set number of As.
-I had my last musical theater dance class. I'm kind of sad. Soprano boy is infinitely entertaining. I am glad that I never have to hear the song "Seasons of Love" butchered so badly ever again. It was awful. "Thousand" is apparently very hard to pronounce for Chinese people.
-My roommate and I decided that we're going to splurge on American food once a week. So far this plan has been very successful. You wouldn't believe how tired you can get of noodles and rice.
-I have a very stereotypical mainland kid in one of my classes. One day, he was trying to convince the class (mainly Europeans, Americans, and HK students) that an authoritarian/totalitarian government knows what's best for its citizens, and is therefor more effective in supplying the goods and services the people need. He was also outraged when the professor explained that South Korea asked China to change their pronunciation of characters for Seoul (because the words they used meant "City of the Hans").
I'm officially halfway done with the semester, which is really exciting. Here's some observations I've made about the people and culture here:
-There's no system of order here at all. People will walk in front of you in line if you're not assertive enough. There's also no set direction you're supposed to walk on the walkways. In the US (and most of the world, including China), you walk on the right side. In England, you walk on the left. Because HK has people from so many countries, people just walk all over the place. It drives me crazy. And it leads to jammed hallways and walkways. It's very inefficient.
-Boys dress very femininely, and sometimes I can't tell if a person is a boy or a girl. It doesn't help that they all carry man purses. Man purses with girly patterns. They're also all skinnier than me. I saw a guy wearing a pleather vest the other day, by itself. No shirt underneath. Gross. Boys and girls also all have the same asian mullet haircuts. It's just confusing.
-As soon as an Asian person gets in the elevator, they jam the door close button like there's no tomorrow. It doesn't matter if they see you walking towards the elevator either. They press the button anyway, and look disgruntled if you manage to hit the up button before the door closes.
For your entertainment, here's some quotes I've heard over the past 3 weeks:
-My roommate's group for an economics project is called "Supprier." Think about it.
-"If you want to go to Singapore, what you should do is...buy a ticket." - My Sosc 187 professor
-that same professor referred to babies as an export.
-"Can you have any imaginations about..." - Sosc 187 professor
Basically, he's just a really entertaining guy.
I promise I'll try to update sooner next time. I miss you all! Skype/AIM/e-mail me!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
End Week 7 - Taipei
I know, I know, It's been a week. Sorry! Here's a recap of my weekend in Taipei:
Our plane left at 8:15 am, so we had to leave HKUST at 5:30 am. I decided that I was going to try to go to sleep because didn't want to be dead in the morning. Well, the Fourster Army made sure that didn't happen. They were still up and making noise when I woke up at 4:30. There is a girl on my hall that cackles like a hyena. I honestly thought there was a cat squealing or something.
We ended up taking a cab all the way to the airport because the buses apparently don't run that early in the morning. That was fine with me, it was much easier. I had a bottle of apple juice in my purse, and of course it opened and spilled all in my purse. That was great. We went to our terminal, which had no seats in front of it, so we sat at another terminal with people flying to London. It was the first time I've been surrounded by white people in nearly two months. They were all flying from Australia to London, and just happened to have a layover in HK. The airport made our first and final boarding call a little before 8, and we were on our way.
I forgot how much I love Taiwan. The people there are really nice, the food is awesome, and they speak Mandarin there. Unfortunately, it rained all weekend. Other than that, it was great, though. Our hostel was so much nicer than the one in Manila. Apparently this is what most hostels are actually like. Ana, Brittanie, and I had a 4 person room to ourselves the first night, which was nice.
The first day, we explored around our hostel and visited Taipei 101, the world's tallest building. It was really cloudy, so you couldn't see that much. You could, however, see the clouds moving under you in the observatory. That was pretty cool. After that, we went to see Longshan Temple, which I've been to before. It's a really pretty temple, with a waterfall outside. That night, we ate at this really cool American-style restaurant. The food was really good, and they played a lot of random Green Day songs. It was great. We also walked around some shops in the area, and found my favorite place in Asia: Mister Donut. For those of you who have never tried it, Mister Donut is the most amazing donut place in the world. It's a million times better than Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme combined.
The next day, we met up with a couple of people from HKUST that were staying in our hostel for lunch. We went to a restaurant called Modern Toilet. It was as interesting as it sounds. The chairs are toilets, and the tables are bathtubs with a sheet of glass over the top. They serve your food in mini toilets, and they serve drinks in urinals. There were also random faucets and shower heads on the wall. It was an experience. The food was actually really good, though. After that, we went to Shilin to see the National Palace Museum. I realized when we got there that I went there last time I was in Taiwan. They've definitely improved their supply of art since the last time I was there. After that, we went to the Shilin Market. I didn't end up buying anything, but it was still pretty cool. We got a roommate that night. He was from Australia, and was just kind of bumming around Asia for a few months. It was a little awkward, but it could've been worse.
The next morning, we caught a bus at 11 to go back to the airport. We went to our gate, and it just happened to be Hello Kitty themed, complete with statues, pink chairs, and obnoxiously happy music. It was awesome. Our flight was delayed 45 minutes (go figure), but we still made it back before 6.
The whole trip was really relaxed, and it was great. I love Taiwan, and hopefully I'll get to go back. The difference between Taipei and Hong Kong, to me, is the same kind of difference there is between Atlanta and NYC: the people are just nicer. People in Taiwan will speak Mandarin back to you, and they really try to help, even if they can't understand you. People in Hong Kong either speak English back to you, or they pretend they can't understand you. I mean, I like HK and NYC, but I prefer cities like Taipei and Atlanta.
Well, that's all I've got. I'll be updating soon on this past week. I hope everything's going better back home! I miss you all!
Our plane left at 8:15 am, so we had to leave HKUST at 5:30 am. I decided that I was going to try to go to sleep because didn't want to be dead in the morning. Well, the Fourster Army made sure that didn't happen. They were still up and making noise when I woke up at 4:30. There is a girl on my hall that cackles like a hyena. I honestly thought there was a cat squealing or something.
We ended up taking a cab all the way to the airport because the buses apparently don't run that early in the morning. That was fine with me, it was much easier. I had a bottle of apple juice in my purse, and of course it opened and spilled all in my purse. That was great. We went to our terminal, which had no seats in front of it, so we sat at another terminal with people flying to London. It was the first time I've been surrounded by white people in nearly two months. They were all flying from Australia to London, and just happened to have a layover in HK. The airport made our first and final boarding call a little before 8, and we were on our way.
I forgot how much I love Taiwan. The people there are really nice, the food is awesome, and they speak Mandarin there. Unfortunately, it rained all weekend. Other than that, it was great, though. Our hostel was so much nicer than the one in Manila. Apparently this is what most hostels are actually like. Ana, Brittanie, and I had a 4 person room to ourselves the first night, which was nice.
The first day, we explored around our hostel and visited Taipei 101, the world's tallest building. It was really cloudy, so you couldn't see that much. You could, however, see the clouds moving under you in the observatory. That was pretty cool. After that, we went to see Longshan Temple, which I've been to before. It's a really pretty temple, with a waterfall outside. That night, we ate at this really cool American-style restaurant. The food was really good, and they played a lot of random Green Day songs. It was great. We also walked around some shops in the area, and found my favorite place in Asia: Mister Donut. For those of you who have never tried it, Mister Donut is the most amazing donut place in the world. It's a million times better than Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme combined.
The next day, we met up with a couple of people from HKUST that were staying in our hostel for lunch. We went to a restaurant called Modern Toilet. It was as interesting as it sounds. The chairs are toilets, and the tables are bathtubs with a sheet of glass over the top. They serve your food in mini toilets, and they serve drinks in urinals. There were also random faucets and shower heads on the wall. It was an experience. The food was actually really good, though. After that, we went to Shilin to see the National Palace Museum. I realized when we got there that I went there last time I was in Taiwan. They've definitely improved their supply of art since the last time I was there. After that, we went to the Shilin Market. I didn't end up buying anything, but it was still pretty cool. We got a roommate that night. He was from Australia, and was just kind of bumming around Asia for a few months. It was a little awkward, but it could've been worse.
The next morning, we caught a bus at 11 to go back to the airport. We went to our gate, and it just happened to be Hello Kitty themed, complete with statues, pink chairs, and obnoxiously happy music. It was awesome. Our flight was delayed 45 minutes (go figure), but we still made it back before 6.
The whole trip was really relaxed, and it was great. I love Taiwan, and hopefully I'll get to go back. The difference between Taipei and Hong Kong, to me, is the same kind of difference there is between Atlanta and NYC: the people are just nicer. People in Taiwan will speak Mandarin back to you, and they really try to help, even if they can't understand you. People in Hong Kong either speak English back to you, or they pretend they can't understand you. I mean, I like HK and NYC, but I prefer cities like Taipei and Atlanta.
Well, that's all I've got. I'll be updating soon on this past week. I hope everything's going better back home! I miss you all!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Week 6-6.5
Not too much has happened in the past week and a half. Just classes and recuperating from the Philippines. Here's some highlights:
I don't think I mentioned it before, but there are a lot of guys in my musical theater dance class. There's as many guys as there are girls (I know, weird). Well, we have been singing the song "I Have a Dream" from Mamma Mia, and there's one boy that doesn't seem to want to sing it an octave lower like all of the other guys. Well, soprano boy can't hit those notes. It sounds awful, but it's hilarious. I just don't understand soprano boy.
All of the other hall and organization cabinets have cleared out of the atrium, except the Fourster Army (of course), the Magic Club (yes, such a thing exists), and the Accounting Club. The Fourster Army continues to march around the building chanting (which they're doing right now), and I'm pretty sure it's never going to end. The Accounting Club had a fashion show the other day, which consisted of girls in strange dresses, and hearing the song "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion on repeat. This is all just randomly going on in the atrium in the middle of the day during classes.
I had my first test. It was in Chinese, and it was pretty easy. We're not even using characters until the end of the semester. I did have to record myself speaking Chinese, and then I had to e-mail it to the professor. That was kind of weird. There's only 10 of us, so I'm pretty sure she could've just let us do it in class. Whatev.
Yesterday, my sorority sister Christina came into town on a business trip, so I got to hang out with her for a little bit. We ate at a Vietnamese place that my roommate had been to before, and then we went to the Temple Street night market. It was awesome, and it was really good to see a familiar face.
On my way back to the University, some creepy guys that were from Africa were trying to talk to me while I was on the phone, and kept asking me to hang up. I just walked away quickly.
I also got a card from Laura yesterday, which was really exciting :). I can't find the post office on campus to get stamps to mail anything home yet, or postcards. The signs on campus don't actually tell you the right way to go. There's one that's supposed to point to the supermarket, and it's on the wrong floor. It's crazy.
Well, I'm about to go to bed (yes at 9:30) because I have to leave HKUST at 5 am to get to the airport for an 8 am flight to Taipei. That means I will be MIA until Sunday. I'll try really hard to update sooner after this trip! I miss you all! Facebook/skype/AIM/e-mail me!
I don't think I mentioned it before, but there are a lot of guys in my musical theater dance class. There's as many guys as there are girls (I know, weird). Well, we have been singing the song "I Have a Dream" from Mamma Mia, and there's one boy that doesn't seem to want to sing it an octave lower like all of the other guys. Well, soprano boy can't hit those notes. It sounds awful, but it's hilarious. I just don't understand soprano boy.
All of the other hall and organization cabinets have cleared out of the atrium, except the Fourster Army (of course), the Magic Club (yes, such a thing exists), and the Accounting Club. The Fourster Army continues to march around the building chanting (which they're doing right now), and I'm pretty sure it's never going to end. The Accounting Club had a fashion show the other day, which consisted of girls in strange dresses, and hearing the song "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion on repeat. This is all just randomly going on in the atrium in the middle of the day during classes.
I had my first test. It was in Chinese, and it was pretty easy. We're not even using characters until the end of the semester. I did have to record myself speaking Chinese, and then I had to e-mail it to the professor. That was kind of weird. There's only 10 of us, so I'm pretty sure she could've just let us do it in class. Whatev.
Yesterday, my sorority sister Christina came into town on a business trip, so I got to hang out with her for a little bit. We ate at a Vietnamese place that my roommate had been to before, and then we went to the Temple Street night market. It was awesome, and it was really good to see a familiar face.
On my way back to the University, some creepy guys that were from Africa were trying to talk to me while I was on the phone, and kept asking me to hang up. I just walked away quickly.
I also got a card from Laura yesterday, which was really exciting :). I can't find the post office on campus to get stamps to mail anything home yet, or postcards. The signs on campus don't actually tell you the right way to go. There's one that's supposed to point to the supermarket, and it's on the wrong floor. It's crazy.
Well, I'm about to go to bed (yes at 9:30) because I have to leave HKUST at 5 am to get to the airport for an 8 am flight to Taipei. That means I will be MIA until Sunday. I'll try really hard to update sooner after this trip! I miss you all! Facebook/skype/AIM/e-mail me!
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