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...!
