Hong Kong City Tour
Sorry it's been so long since my last update. You'll have to forgive the cliché--but I've been busy and exhausted. Included below is a link to some photos I took recently. The Office of Academic Links (OAL) arranged a tour of Hong Kong for the exchange students. On Saturday, September 3rd we visited The Peak, Stanley Market and the Avenue of the Stars
Photos--Hong Kong City Tour
This should tide you over until I have time and energy to sit down and write again.
P.S. Today was the first day of classes, but more about that later.
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Waiting to move in
I'm currently sitting in the lobby of Chih Hsing Hall here are CUHK waiting to move back in. This is the hall that all of the male international students stayed in during orientation. Cooincidentally, it is also the hall where I will be staying for the rest of the semester. We had to check out of our temporary rooms at 8:15 this morning and I cannot check back in until 11:30 am--about 40 minutes from now. Thankfully, there is Wi-fi, my battery is full and the view isn't bad.
The Coffee Corner is thought to be one of the better canteens on campus, and it happens to be where I had a very American breakfast this morning. Nothing says welcome to China like a fried egg, ham slices, home fries, a pancake and coffee.
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My (not so) French breakfast
Today I tried out the Coffee Corner yesterday, which the local students recommended as one of the better canteens to eat at while on campus. What you'll see above is French toast with a side of milk tea. It wasn't too bad, and you can't beat the price (roughly $2 USD).
I've heard that the food here on campus is cheap and adequate--a far cry from the food back home and at school. More reason to go off campus and try something new.
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I made it!
My flight landed at around 4:30. Luckily I was able to get some sleep--how much I'm not sure but combined it was at least 3+ hours. No matter though, because it's Wednesday morning, I'm fueled with adrenaline and ready to go. Next to me on the flight was a girl from New York on her way to Nanjing and next to her was a guy from Stamford on his way back to China. He was a twenty-something American who found his entrepreneurial spirit in China. The flight was great, the seats were comfortable, the food wasn't bad, the entertainment system was wonderful and the flight attendants--attractive, very. We also landed early, which was great.
After departing the plane into the terminal in Hong Kong, I was met with a very cool, modern airport with incredible contemporary architecture. Oh, and it was deserted. It seems that there aren't many travelers who choose to pass through HKG at 4:30 in the morning. Immigration was a breeze and as soon as I left immigration my bags were waiting for me on the carousel...
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JFK to HKG, nbd
I'm sitting here, waiting for my flight and trying to kill time. The line to check in was enormous, I should have checked in online first. However, a kindly Cathay Pacific employee allowed me to use the First Class/Business check in and saved me a bunch of time and stress. My mom and I had a tearful goodbye at security. I'm going to miss her. A lot. And I'm far from ashamed to admit it. It looks like they're going to being boarding in about an hour, so until then I'll be sure to get some reading done.
If my flight is on time, I'll get into Hong Kong at around 5:00 AM Wednesday (earlier I Tuesday by mistake but corrected myself--I've been through a lot to get on this flight). Goodbye Tuesday, August 30th, I barely knew thee. I MUST be on campus for orientation at 9:00 AM. There will probably be a cab ride somewhere between now and then.
Well, wish me luck!
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I’m going to miss you Tri-State area
Our cable is still out, but we've got power which is EXTREMELY lucky because a lot of our neighbors don't and about 57% of the town is without power. I'm listening to 106.1 right now, and instead of regular programing they're reaching out to Long Islanders to pass along information about power outages and power restoration. It's a brilliant idea. One person called in to report that she and her neighbors don't have power or access to a phone because their phone lines now rely on downed cable or fiber optic networks. I hope that power is restored as quickly as possible, it's sad to leave home while it's in such disarray.
On a related note, I'm really going to miss this place. I love listening to New Yorkers talk--it's familiar and it makes me feel at home. My grandparents took me to breakfast this morning at a local Greek diner. I love Greek diners, their menus usually have everything under the sun and are typically open 24/7. It's practically impossible to find a diner in the LA area, so I know that there's no way I'll be able to find one in Hong Kong.
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Back on schedule
It looks like JFK is reopening at noon on Monday. Now I just hope that my flight departs on time.
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Smartphone Redemption
It's about 11:00 AM here and the storm has died down for the most part. Hurricane Irene has been downgraded to a tropical storm for the Tri-State region. So far what I've seen hasn't produced that much damage in my region. Check out the image after the break. According to news on the radio, this is the worst of the storm, and it should have passed over us within 2 hours.
I say radio because our cable was knocked out, and by extension our cable modem. This post is brought to you by the fine folks at Verizon Wireless and the engineers behind the Palm Pre. Mobile Hotspot FTW!
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Delayed
My flight was canceled, big time. The earliest I could get out is Tuesday morning, so hopefully JFK will survive the storm undamaged. Assuming everything goes smoothly and there are no delays on Tuesday (and those are big assumptions), I'll land in Hong Kong only 4 hours before orientation starts.
I know there's not much I could do about this and that it's beyond my control--but I still find this whole situation incredibly annoying.
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24 Hours Untill Liftoff
It's 1:20 AM, and unless Hurricane Irene interrupts my travel plans, I'll be on a plane bound for Hong Kong exactly 24 hours from now. Being abroad for 4 months still isn't completely real, however the gadget lover in me is very excited about getting a new phone. According to Engadget, Hong Kong and southern China has a thriving second hand gadget market. Once that plane door closes, my Palm Pre Plus will officially be defunct.
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