Beijing and Kunming

Hey everyone! So for this semester there were two places that I had been planning to go to ever since the end of copenhagen: Beijing and the Yunnan Province (one of the most scenic spots in China). So 3 of my friends (Jamie, Weck, and David) and I set out to beijing on the 24 hour train from the Hung Hom station in Hong Kong to the Beijing West station. When we arrived on the train we definitely had thought that we reserved a 4 person sleeper....but it actually turned out that we got split up into pairs. we ended up having to sleep on the top bunks of separate 6 person sleepers. sleeping on this overnight train really wasn't that bad compared to the sleeping on the overnight train to Oktoberfest (see previous post) where we didn't even have a bed. the only downside about sleeping on the top bunk was that they turned on the lights at 7 am, the ceiling was really low so it felt like a coffin, and that the train rocked making you feel like you could roll off the top bunk. but the whole train experience was pretty cool though because it was peaceful; we saw the countryside of China, we met some pretty cool people on the way, and you got swing off the top bunk like on the monkey bars. we spent most of the time in the dining car being old chinese ladies playing mahjong, and reading some books. In anycase, when we got to the train station, we then set off to get on a bus to our hostel. A word of advice, getting on the Bus 823 from the Beijing West station is CRAZY so be prepared. I have never seen so many people pushing and getting stuck into bus doors before. The bus lady was yelling mandarin, which is not pretty when being screamed. also upon arrival at the train station, jamie and I immediately were mistaken for being Korean...this would be the first of at least 10 times. up on the "what nationality am I" list is Japanese and Vietnamese. Also, according to our cab driver in Kunming, I looked 15/16, and according a Tibetan store clerk, Jamie and I look like twins. In anycase, we made it to our hostel called "Sitting on the City Walls" which is the top ranked hostel in all of Asia and ranked number 7 on the top hostels in the world. Buying a beijing guidebook really isn't necessary if you are going to stay here because they have computers and all the lonely planet guidebooks. They also have set tours, maps, and ready information for how to get to the main sites. The hostel is also about a 5 min walk from the back gate of the forbidden city. Also, we met up with two of our other friends at the hostel, Linea and Sabrina. (We ended up meeting up with another two of our friends who were staying at a different hostel later on in Beijing) So pretty much for the next 4-5 days, we did all the major things. We went to see the forbidden city, which is breathtaking when you actually get to the middle part away from the north gate; temple of heaven; hongqiao pearl market; tiananmen square; olympic park; summer palace; GREAT WALL OF CHINA; night life in sanlitun and houhai; and using the bus system, which was extremely helpful. I don't think I will talk about all these things but just a few extensively about some of them. So a few random things about each place. Forbidden City: we came in from the north gate, which is actually quite small and VERY crowded because most people start at the south gate and end at the north gate. It's also not as spacious, but is very maze-like because it was the residential area of the palace complex. Either way, once you make it to the gates in the center of the city, we got such an beautiful breathtaking view. Great Wall: this was by far the highlight of our trip to Beijing. we decided to be adventurous and do the 10 km hike from one portion of the wall to the another portion: Jinshanling to Simatai. We chose these portions of the wall after reading a lot of reviews about which part of the wall we should go to. The hike was intense but amazing because there portions of the wall that were unrestored to the point that if you were not careful, you could fall of the side of the wall, fall backwards while climbing, or fall down steep steps. After climbing to 16 of the 30 towers we took a break in the 16^th tower with sandwiches we had packed the night before. I think that the most rewarding part of the whole hike was how challenging it was and how rewarding it was. I remember distinctly after the first 400 m that we all just looked at each other and were thinking “what have we gotten ourselves into?” but at every moment you could just look off to the side and see the amazing view. at the end of the 10 k hike, we took a zip line down the great wall, which was pretty awesome too.

Summer Palace: Going to the summer palace was also another day excursion out. we pretty spent all day there. aside from the marble boat and the actual palace complex, highlight of this outing was our paddle boat ride. at the very end of the day after walking around the palace, the 6 of us rented a paddle boat for about an hour and just took turns paddling around the lake enjoying hte beautiful weather.

we did a lot of other things as well and would take too long to explain! but all i can say is that traveling with the 5 ppl that i did was amazing because we all got along so well and we all wanted to see the samet hings. traveling with the right people makes a huge difference and I felt that we all got a lot closer after that. not to mention that i also got to practice my chinese and felt comfortable doing so!

So May 6, the 6 of us split up. David, Jamie, and I took an airplane to Kunming in the Yunnan Province, Weck went home, and Sabrina and Linea took their own tour of China and would meet up with us later with the rest of us in Shanghai for our GLOBE study trips. So when D, J, and I arrived in Kunming we were a little hesitant about what we should do because of all the places in the Yunnan Province (one of the most scenic spots in China) Kunming is not considered the best. but we did some research and we found a couple of things that we could do that would be fun while we were there.

So on our first day in Kunming, we decided to go to the local art district, which turned out to be one of the best things that we did. we first went to a swedish/chinese collaboration gallery and saw some beautiful artworks. and then we proceeded to walk through a number of art galleries and studios and even got to meet one of the artists. it was definitely one of those out-of-asia experiences because I felt like I could have been in the MoMA in new york. what was really cool was that there were pretty amazing pieces painted in 1949, 1950, 1951 during the civil war and those during mao's cultural revolution when artists were persecuted. So after the art gallery, we went to a restaurant called Mama Fu's and had hamburgers. Jamie and by that point had been so homesick for western food that we had to get hamburgers at a Chinese restaurant. We called it in early after that as we had woken up extremely early that morning for the flight from Beijing to Kunming.

The next two days we went to 3 really cool scenic spots. We hired a personal driver for pretty cheap who would drive us to the Dadieshui waterfall and the Stone Forest since it was a bit outside of the kunming. When we first arrived at the waterfall, we actually thought it wasn't that cool because all you could really see was the top of hte waterfall and that was it, not to mention the fact that there was basically no one there but us (which actually turned out to make the experience better). But eventually hidden behind the trees we saw a small cable car that would take us down to the bottom of the waterfall. I was really hesitant at first because the cable car looked like it hadn't been used for decades, but the man working the cable car was really nice and actually rode with us. It was only until we got to the bottom of the waterfall that we really saw how beautiful the waterfall and the area around it was. we were literally at the bottom between valleys. i can't really describe how beautiful it was, but it was just a wash of green and red earth everywhere with a cool breeze/spray from the waterfall.

After visiting the waterfall, our driver then took us to the Stone Forest. Like the waterfall, the beginning of the stone forest was a little iffy because it just seemed like a regular park with a couple of tall stones. but when we walked around more and got to the core of the stone forest, it was AMAZING. the stones were probably about an average of 10 meters high, and its something so different than i've ever seen before. there were a lot of walking paths that the park had created including one that led up to the top of the stones, which we did. you might not be able to tell how high were in the pictures, but were definitey a good 10-15 meters above the ground. it was ridiculously scary and jamie and I were hugging the stones as were climbing. but again it was challenging and rewarding at the same time.

The places we saw in Kunming was definitely one of those places where everything we did topped what we did before it. Speaking of which, the next we decided to go to the Western Hill Park, which we had heard was pretty amazing. but like the two things before it, it started off rocky because the "trail" that were walking on was really just a huge road that circled the mountain. it was only until about 2 hours into the hike that it really got amazing. for next 3 hours, we literally climbed up and up the moutain side with each spot giving a beautiful view of the city of Kunming. The first amazing spot we got to was a pavilion that overlooked hte city (see picture below of jamie and I). the breeze felt great and view was everything that we had read about it. the next spot we went to was actually called the "mini stone forest." we sort of expected it to be like stone forest we had just gone to the other day, but it was actually entirely different. we basically climbed on top of stones that were of varying height (1m to 2 m high). walking through this stone forest was challenging in a different way because 1) we were at the top of the mountain and at the edge of the mountain and 2) we had to walk on top of hte stones and had to try not to fall in the cracks. jamie and I couldn't make it to the top because were too tired, but david kept going to the top only to realize that when he reached the "top" there was a taller mountain next to him hahah. We ended our kunming trip with a lift down the moutain. the next day we caught an earlier flight back to the Hong Kong, where we would ride the last A41 bus back to Shatin from the airport and unpack and pack up for our study trips to Shanghai and Tokyo in 2 days.

its hard to explain what those 9 days were like because it was a whirlwind of adventure. but if i had to If I have to sum up this whole travel experience i'd say, I went to amazing places and saw AMAZING things.

Here are some pictures to go along with the blogpost.











hopefully i'll get to writing about Shanghai and Tokyo in the next week or so!

~Jenny

Traveling and Studying in Asia

Hi friends!

So... I am now just updating my blog for the first time in 3 months, and am have uploaded pictures onto facebook if you want to see the more extensive collection of my photos. So i guess that this blog post will be structured by the places that I've been and what I did there since the last time I posted!

Shenzhen: I believe that this is actually the first place in mainland China that I went to. Shenzhen is a Special Administration Region just like HK, and its literally a metro ride away from HK. In fact because CUHK is pretty far into the New Territories of Hong Kong, Shenzhen is a lot closer than Central is (Shenzhen is a 20 min. metro ride away, and Central is about 40 min to an hour away). Pretty much the only thing that ppl do when they go to Shenzhen is get cheap movies that are still in theaters, go to a spa, and shop in the Lowu commericial center where you can buy cheap designer (fake and real) dresses and tailored suits! If you ever go to Shenzhen make sureee that you go to Queen's spa and veg out for a whole day.
The first time I went to Shenzhen, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the shops in the Lowu commerical center and all of the saleswomen that constantly follow you and try to sell things to you. We went to Queen's spa, where we spent about 6 hours; you can get a pedicure, foot scrub, any type of massage for about $20-$30 USD. In additon to that, Queen's spa also has an all you can eat fruit bar, ice cream, large comfy chairs, and individual tvs that is inclusive in the price. it was AMAZING. For girls, ALWAYS bring tissues/toilet paper, this is not a given in Shenzhen.
The second time I went to Shenzhen, I went to get some tailored suits, which I had to get refitted. For about $45 USD, you can get 3 business skirts, a suit pants, and a suit jacket, which is crazyyy cheap. The third time I went back I had to get the suits refitted, and then the 4th time I came back I picked them up. My friend Jamie and I also had some afternoon tea while they were putting together our orders.

Overall Shenzhen was a pretty cool place to go to because its very similar, and yet different from HK. It was great that it was so close to us, but getting through customs still took a bit. I had to get new pages added to my passport because everytime you enter HK, we have to get a student stamp that takes up half a page.
Here are some pictures of what Shenzhen is like:



Chengdu in Sichuan Province:

The next major place that I went to was the city of Chengdu, in the Sichuan Province, which is known for it's spicy spicy "Szechuan" style food (particularly the Mapo dofu) and the panda reserve. On this trip, it was me, Jamie, and Daniel, which was essentially our Italy trip all over again; we travel pretty well together because we are all good friends now and travel in the same way, that is seeing the sights and eating authentic food. I don't remember the exact order of what we did, but we visited a lot of temple and monastary complexes, dufu's cottage, and a very touristy tibetan village. But I would say that the highlights of this trip were the Sichuan food, Tibetan food, and the pandas. The three of us made sure that on almost every meal we would have the Sichuan style food, which you all may know generally know as spicy. But what is special about the Sichuan food is that the chili pepper that they actually use which is quite distinct from any flavor I have ever tasted before. It's numbing, somewhat mild spicy, and has a very piney flavor. So at the end of that food excursion, I've come to like 2 types of Sichuan food: Sichuan style food not in Sichuan, and the actual Sichuan food. We went to an authentic Tibetan restaurant that we found possibly in our lonely planet guidebook or on trip advisor? Either way we had yak-stuffed peppers, vegetable pie, yak soup, and some yak butter cookies. It was all delicious except the yak butter cookies (the smell of the butter was a little too strong for me). There were also some creepy tibetan monks that stared at us the whole night. All the chairs at their table were turned towards our table, and they just sat, smoked, and watched...luckily my back was facing them so it didn't bother me as much.

The pandas, needless to say, were absolutely adorable. Jamie was definitely more excited to see the pandas that I was, but once I got there you can't help but get happy. Watching pandas eat bamboo was so interesting and captivating, and probably the most interesting thing....seriously. If you want video footage, let me know because I have it on my computer.

Here are some pictures of my adventures in Sichuan:


Singapore:

On this trip, Shelley and I went to visit Aparna, who is now working and living there. This trip was also amazing; Singapore is such a cool place because its just a mixture of so many cultures (but not necessarily all integrated together), and I also got to travel with Shelley which I don't think I've done before this. We had a really fun time and did so many things. We visited Chinatown, which felt so much like certain places in Hong Kong and Taiwan. We also went on the Night Safari which was a lottt of fun, Shelley got pooped on by a bat when we were in the bat mangrove (SO scary to walk through). We also went to Little India, Clark Quay, and other areas of Singapore. All in all we got a great multi-cultural experience here in this one area, as well as a really good culinary experience (CHILI CRAB!! indian food, dimsum, and thai food).

The other really cool thing about this trip (other than getting to hang out with Aparna, and Shelley) was Aparna's apartment.... it was AMAZING. if you just look at the pool, you can imagine how cool her actual apartment is. The pool is better than any pool at a hotel, its huge, has jacuzzis and jacuzzis with stone beds, and has many places to lay out. The apartment, which Aparna says was also the showroom apartment, was very stylish, and shelley and I shared a queen size bed. The apartment also has AC, which is so nice since we have to pay by the minute back at CUHK. All I can say is that Singapore was aweessomme.



So that sums up the major places that I have been to while i've been here. The traveling experience has been a whirlwind of adventure and definitely very different than traveling in Europe. In Europe, it was more about finding out about the history, seeing the sites, and a little less foreign because all of it was western. But at the same time, visiting Asia, mostly China, is more about just experiencing a completely different way of life and thinking. So even though being in Asia isn't wholly foreign to me either, its still extremely foreign in a different way than Europe was.

As for my university, I was not huge fan of CUHK itself because of the location and the classes. The GLOBE classes were not taught well, but the topics were very interesting (China Business, and Chinese Marketing). I still learned a lot, but its hard to distinguish what you can attribute to a cultural difference to what you actually just don't agree with if that makes sense... Either way, studying at CUHK has been different and in some aspects better and worse than studying at CBS. Again as I mentioned before, the location of CUHK was not ideal because it was so far from the city, and the school is on a mountain so to get anywhere on campus it is a huge trek. I also lived very far from the other exchange students, so I didn't get very close to a lot of them. Despite those things, there were so many good things about CUHK. All the exchange students were really cool, nice, and interesting people that I will try to keep in touch with. BEcause CUHK was much further away from the city, I got to explore the more local areas of HK that weren't filled with ex-pats, like Tai-Po market (which has a huge selection of fruit and great street food!). The view from CUHK was amazing, and it wasn't the typical downtown HK that I saw, but it was the more scenic side (the mountains, lakes, and clear blue sky that was occasional). I also volunteered at a primary school teaching English which was an awesome experience in and of itself. Finally, I got a lot closer with the GLOBERs, not all of them but definitely a number of them.

I have to admit there were times during the semester when I was stuck on campus on a rainy humid day, that at that moment didn't appreciate that I was in HK. But I have to say now definitively that I am sooo happy and grateful to be here in HK, to be traveling in Asia, and to be doing the GLOBE program. This is definitely a life changing experience, and I am making long-term friendships with people all over hte world. There were times when the internship search was hard that I thought if only I had stayed in the US, it would be so much easier to find an internship. But I wouldn't have what I have today (any of it) if I didn't make the decisions I did in the past. So I guess my point is, is to not regret anything that you do because there is no way of knowing what could have been or what would have happened. Learn from mistakes, and move forward.

So as my GLOBE study abroad portion is coming to an end, I'm really sad and thinking about alot of things, but I'm also really excited about what's coming ahead. I can't wait to bring back my study abroad like and incorporate it with my life back at home. I don't know what I'm going to do when December comes... In anycase, I will be traveling pretty much all of May. I will be taking a 24-hour train with 3 of my friends to Beijing (so we can see the scenic side of China). THen we will be in Beijing for about 5 days. I am meeting up with 4 of my other friends there in Beijing. After Beijing, we all split up and me and 2 others will be going to Kunming, which is in the Yunnan Province of China. After that I will be in HK for about 2 days before our GLOBE study trips start. It's 10 days total in Shanghai and Tokyo. Then its back to HK for a few days, then Taiwan for about 5 days, then I'm home for about a week, and then going to DC for the summer.

So that's all for now!

~Jenny

Sooo

First Excursion to a familiar foreign country

Hey friends!

I've just come back from my first study abroad excursion in Asia to Taipei, and finished celebrating Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year Celebration:
The amount of effort and happiness involved in celebrating Chinese New Year definitely is a reflection of the fact that CNY is their most celebrated holiday. This year, CNY was on Monday Jan. 26 , and celebrations for the holiday go on for about a week plus or minus days depending on what nation; for example, Taiwan gets 9 days off for CNY. Also, this year is the year of the Ox, so everywhere you will see very cute ox CNY decorations, upside down "fu", and typical hopeful Chinese sayings written on red paper.

One of the first ways that I got to start off celebrating CNY was to go to Hong Kong Disneyland and celebrate it with my favoriate characters! If you don't already know, I LOVE Disney. I even have a Disney monopoly, monopoly being another game i love. While HK Disneyland compared to Disneyworld in Orlando is puny, I found the size of the park just right; not so extensive that I couldn't finish everything in one day, and not too small that I would get bored. We spent about 8 hours in the park in perfect weather getting to see Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy all in traditional Chinese garb!!! it was THE most adorable thing i've seen in my life. Granted some of the rides were pretty childish, we all knew that going into it, so we definitely appreciated tapping into our childhood memories. My friends and I decided that when we first got to the park, we'd all buy ridiculous and cute disney headgear and wear it all day in the spirit of good old fashion fun! One of the cooler things we did was actually going on "It's a small world" ride because it had always been one of my favorite rides as a kid when I went to Disneyland with my family friends. Now when i went on the ride, I was able to recognize what nationality most of the dolls were from (particularly the European ones). We also got to watch the Lion King live, Disney's philharmagic, ride on a jungle cruise, and watch a Chinese New Year parade. But I will say that the highlight of the HK Disneyland was the fireworks show, it was AMAZING. I'm not sure what it is about Disney, but it just makes me so happy and its truly magical! I tried posting the video clip, but it didn't work. it is under videos that tag me, so watch it!


(and yes that is minnie dressed up as an ox for CNY!!)

I also went to the Chinese New Year Market in Hong Kong and it was packkedd, kinda like a busy night at the night market in Taiwan. It was bizarre because they would sell the most random things, like turd stuffed animals, and really giant plastic ferrer rocher toys. One of the CUHKers said that they pretty much sell whatever they can get cheapest from Chinese factories. In fact, Junes, one of my GLOBE cuhkers friends, said that they had a booth last year at the CNY market, for which they bought the most useless stuffed coin holder thing for about 23 HKD a piece and sold it for 88HKD a piece. They would put out 10, and say that it was the last 10 left, and then put out another 10 after those 10 were sold! The CNY market this year was also selling what Junes had been selling last year and sold it for 80 HKD. That just goes to show to never feel guilty for bargaining because they are always earning a profit, and if they weren't they wouldn't sell it to you for the price you are trying to bargain down to. Also one of the cooler things at the CNY market is the flower market section which just has stalls and stalls of flowers for the new year.



The last major thing that I did for Chinese New Year was to go to the CNY parade, which was sort of a let down. I had been hearing mixed reviews from different people. But what it came down to was that the flow was "lumpy" in that the parade wasn't continuous, and that they just didn't have the budget this year (from what i've heard). there were some cool floats, the best one being the disney one of course! However, all in all I was glad that I went because even though the parade itself wasn't great it was really cool seeing many of the local families bring their kids and to see them get so excited about the parade. The parade was on a Monday, and the fireworks on the tuesday, which we missed the fireworks becauseeee.... we were in TAIWAN!!!

Taiwan:
So this trip to Taiwan was really a chance for me to bring back some of my friends to a place that I love and have really only experienced with my family and/or an organization that planned everything for me. So even though everything that I saw or went to was primarily something that I had already done, it was really good to do it with friends, and I feel that i know my way around Taipei alot more and can self navigate, which I never had to do before.

We stayed at the Caesar's Park hotel, which was a 4-star hotel. It was SOOO nice and really cheap because we did everything through a travel agent. I will say that for our airtickets to Taiwan during the CNY holiday,and 3 nights at a NICE hotel, I paid the same price as a 3 night stay in a european hostel and cheap airtickets in Europe. The hotel was located right across from the Taipei main station, so it was always a quick ride to any location we wanted to go to.

The first night we went to the Shilin Yeshi (night market), which was SOO packed. But everyone really enjoyed the food market, the O-ar-jian (oyster gooey thing), sesame noodles, baozi, and all the other cheap food. Everything was about $1 a piece. they did NOT however enjoy the stinky tofu heheh, which is more of an acquired tasted anyways. My friends and I especially enjoyed the cheaper prices and better selections at the night markets in Taiwan than the night markets in Hong Kong. After the night market we all went back to the hotel for a good nights rest, on a nice spacious bed and clean bathroom.

The next two days, we really packed it in with all sorts of things, but it was very relaxed at the same time. We ate at Din Tai Fong (famous place to get xiao long bao), then went to the top of Taipei 101, where i got to see the city on a bright day (unlike the last time i went), and then we had an unsuccessful attempt at finding a teahouse. Later that day, we split up, because that was expected since our group was so big, and my friends Simone, and Svenja, and I decided to go to a 24 hour bookstore, and wine bar for a relaxing evening since we were all so tired of walking during the day. BTW, the 24 hour bookstore was listed under the nightlife section for Taipei, and it really is packed with people at late hours.


We also went to the National Palace Museum, which was very crowded but very interesting. Just a bit of history, at the end of the civil war between the Communist and Nationalists in China in the mid 1940s, Chiang-Kai Shek fled to Taiwan, taking with him about half of the most precious Chinese artifacts and antiques that had once been part of the Imperial collection in the Forbidden City. We got to see real furniture from the last Chinese Dynasty beautiful ornate jewelry! Strangely enough, one of the most prized antiques is a jade "bai cai" (or white vegetable/romaine lettuce), which one of my friends pointed out the connection that the most prized possession is a representation of food, asTaiwan is known for its food!

After a long morning at the museume, we went to a hotspring resort in Beitou, which is on the outskirts of Taipei. It was probably one of the best value experiences i've had in Taiwan. for an hour in the hotspring (which is enough considering how hot it was), and for afternoon tea, which included quality tea, delicious salad, and quesadillas, we paid about 20 american. Not to mention that the service and the hotspring itself was top notch. Also, the hotspring was a nude one, which apparently all quality hotsprings are. The nude part was a surprise for us because none of the guidebooks said it was, but it was just us girls so it was all fine! After that we ate dinner at a japanese restaurant and then went shopping at Ximending which is so lively at night. We called it a night after that, and again went back to our nice, cheap, and luxurious hotel.


(the first 3 pictures are from the hotspring, and the last one is of Ximengding)

On the last day, Friday, our flight was at 7:30 pm so we were able to do a lot of cool stuff before then. We went to the Bao An Temple as well as the Confucious temple, which was really cool for me to see because I'm currently studying Confucious philosophy in my Chinese Philosophy class. Compared to the Bao An Temple, the Confucious temple was so quiet and peaceful, and really the only way I could imagine a Confucious temple. I also met the nicest old lady who volunteers there! After that, we all went back to Ximending to shop more. Everyone ended up splitting off again, and my friend Linea and I found a really cheap clothing shop. we also came upon a small sorta sketchy chua bing (shaved ice) place and had some REALLY good passion fruit chua bing. after that we all met back up at the hotel and headed back to HK.




Overall the trip was awesome, and the reason why I haven't mentioned a highlight of the trip is because most of everything that we did was so good that there wasn't a single highlight! Jamie and I put in a lot of effort to planning out what to do in Taiwan because it was more like we were hosting them rather than just a "discover the city on your own" trip. everyone was so happy and appreciative about the trip, that it made all the planning worth it :)

so that's what i've been doing for the past week. just some lasting thoughts...study abroad this semester is VERY different from last! its actually quite interesting and a challenge to try to accept this experience for what it is and try and not compare it to last semester.

but this post has been entirely too long....soo until next time!

~Jenny

The 2nd time around

Hey friends,
i've been in hong kong for about 3 weeks now, and its been so different than i expected in more ways than one. even though i really tried not to have expectations before coming, it was inevitable since this is not only my second time in hong kong, but this is also the second and last study abroad portion of GLOBE. so NOW i've gotten really adjusted to life here in hong kong and i truly enjoy the company that i am around. and here's how i got to this place the "second time around."

i arrived in hong kong on the 30th of December, right before new years (as our school required) and stayed with my family friends for the first couple of days. as i mentioned in my previous post, my mom came with me to hong kong to help me move in. it was great to see my family friends (Ruby and Tiffany, and their parents) because we got along really well the last time i was in hong kong, and this time i had my mom with me to help me move in. their parents brought my mom and i out to eat AMAZING chinese and cantonese food, and i would run all my errands i.e. going ikea to get room stuff, grocery shopping, getting a sim card, etc. The plan was always that on new year's eve, I was going to meet up with the other GLOBERS in lan kwai fong (the bar district in hong kong) and crash in their hotel room for the night. the next day i would then stay another night at my family friends, and then the day after (jan. 2) i would move into my dorm to get settled before classes started on the 5th. The plan was perfect because not only did i get to hang out with my family friends and my mom some more, but i would also get to see the GLOBERS again which i hadn't seen or talked to since copenhagen. so even though the plan more or less went as planned, i guess i didn't foresee how the fast-paced nature of the first couple of days in HK throw a screwball in all the heightened emotions i was going through. So to try to briefly sum up but the next week, i got really sick after new years(throwing up and losing my appetite), however, it wasn't from alcohol! it was most likely a bug. a day later i moved into my dorm on the 2nd even though my mom wasn't leaving until the 3rd and wanted to spend more time with her. i was just so overwhelmed by all the things that the school wanted me to do before classes started on the 5th that i needed to prepare even though i was still feeling really sick and my mom was leaving HK on the 3rd. but the moment that my mom left, i just brokedown. i still wanted to spend time with her, but i needed to get all of my school things settled. eventually i ended up calling her back and spent the rest of the day with her before she left the next day. The next couple of days were pretty hard because my appetite hadn't completely come back, and i was incredibly homesick for my friends and feeling a lot of other emotions. but mostly, i missed my family.

in retrospect, i think that reason i had such a hard time adjusting here the first week or two was that
1) i'm always with my family when i'm in asia, and it just made me more homesick that they weren't here because i am ALWAYS with family in asia. i also had expected HK to be very familiar to me since i had been here before and many things in HK are like things in taiwan. however, being in hk just reminded me of how much i missed my family
2)i think it is harder to be left than to be the one leaving. leaving for copenhagen was hard, but i was ready for the challenge ahead and i had been preparing to leave for a long time. when my mom left, it was much harder because i hadn't really ever prepared mentally to be left. while i knew there was still so much ahead in hong kong, the only thing i could think about was that my mom wasn't here in HK with me anymore.
3)i never really processed leaving copenhagen and europe. as one of my good friends Naudereh mentioned( who also studied abroad in Spain this past semester), it all just seemed like a dream. the moment that i got back to raleigh, i was so excited to see my family and friends, and at the same time was so busy preparing to go to Hong Kong that i never really got to think about what happened in the previous semester. i thot about it here and there, but i never went thru a withdrawal which always happens after i experience something big like that. when i got to taiwan, i visited so much family; and when i was in hong kong i ran even more errands than back in raleigh.
4) finally, i think that i was just so rushed to do everything: packing, unpacking, packing, and then unpacking again, buying stuff for my dorm, saying hi and bye to relatives and family friends, figuring out classes, running around the city, and trying to catch up with people, that when i actually slowed down, i just became overwhelmed by all of my thoughts.

so with all that stuff, and missing the stuff i've always been missing like my friends, i think that pretty much what weighed on my mind alot for about the first two weeks i was in hk. but that makes it sound like i wasn't happy at all, which was not the case! i loved seeing all my favorite ppl in GLOBE.

so now for what is actually going on now and after getting adjusted to hk.

The food: cheap! not just even compared to Denmark prices, which everything compared to it is cheap, but even by American standards, the food at the campus canteens is cheap. but realistically, there are definitely places on HK island and certain items on the menu that are not as cheap, but atleast priced normally.


the campus: CUHK is basically on a mountain, and my dorm has its own gym and trackfield right outside it. so after pretty much hibernating in copenhagen for a whole semester, i will definitely be enjoying the sun, the workout, and the fresh air on campus. while CUHK is located in the more naturally scenic New Territories of HK, it is quite a hassle to get to HK island, so i haven't been going out to bars as much here, however, there is quite alot more to do at night (such as the night markets, and the malls that close late)



The classes: all the topics have been quite interesting (china business, chinese marketing, chinese philosophy, music in film, and financial managment). i feel much more well-rounded and knowledgeable about two major continents especially after learning a lot about the EU and now about the awakening of the "sleeping dragon." while the topics are pretty interesting, the professors have been a little lackluster. one is very charistmatic, entertaining, and very sure of himself, another knows alot but is teaching a hard subject to make lively. my philosphy professor is by far my favorite as he not only says Confucious sayings so eloquently, but is also up there on my list of the nicest professors i've met so far in life.

the people: this semester i have definitely made it more of a priority to meet other international students since it became difficult to balance GLOBE and just regular study abroad life in copenhagen. in copenhagen, everyone was so concentrated on making GLOBE work that we only hung out with each other, but now that we are all comfortable with each other, i think that many of us, altho not all, are starting to branch out. we've all been thru so much together as a group, and this semester i'm definitely getting closer to the globers. so far we've gone to see the 10,000 Buddhas temple, and have made it a plan to hike every sunday to some exotic place in the area, and its been a different group each time. my best friend shelley is also studying abroad in HK, but at a different univeristy so its nices to have her here and have someone from home here.



until next time...!