Tai Po Market and CUHK Welcoming Dinner

I finally went somewhere that wasn't Shatin New Town Plaza yesterday! It's funny though because my room mate, Herria, ran into someone she met the other day, and that girl invited us to go to NTP with her group. I was thinking to myself... please not again, LOL!

Anyway, it was around 12PM, and I was actually hungry (I had lost my appetite for a few days). Herria took me to Tai Po Market, which is only one stop away from CUHK. We walked around looking for a place to eat, but we couldn't decide where to go. She told me about a nearby food court, so we settled for that.

This is only a very, very small section of the food court. It's huge! There's probably like thirty stores on this one floor.

I had noodles with pork chop (上海粗麵＋雪菜＋豬扒) for $25 and a lemon tea (檸檬茶) for $11. :)

Something interesting... so this is my first time eating at a food court in HK. In the US, we usually order, pay, wait to get our food, then find a table to sit and eat. Here, we sit at a table, order, wait for the food to come to our table, pay, and then proceed to eat. Also, no one tips in HK.

On the first floor of the building with the food court is a wet market. I forgot to take a picture, but it's basically a market with different vendors that sell fresh meat, fish, etc. There are butchers waiting to meet your needs! It smells pretty bad though. We ventured outside to where there were vendors that sold fruits and vegetables.

I bought some grapes that were as big as golf balls. :O I was so excited to see big grapes, lol! I really miss eating fruits and vegetables. I've been a carnivore here. It's like they don't like to serve a lot of vegetable here... D:

I was telling Herria about these snowy moon cakes. LOL. I make them sound like they're really special, but they're really not. I think I've grown to really like eating them... that's all. But, anyway, we found a store that sold snowy moon cakes, so we had some for dessert. :)

Later that day, all the exchange students met up at Yasumoto International Academic Park (it's really a building--not a park) to take a picture. Then, we all got on a bus to go to a restaurant called Super Star Seafood Restaurant (鴻星海鮮酒家). CUHK planned a welcoming dinner for us. They served us a Chinese banquet style meal. There were seven(?) different dishes. It started off with an appetizer. Then, we had about five main dishes... and it ended with dessert. Each dish is brought out after everyone is done with the previous dish.

This was our dessert! :D

Dinner was decent. It's nothing to write home about, but it was very satisfying!

I went back to the dorms to pack everything because we were going to move into our permanent hostel the next day. It took a long time to pack actually because I had to figure out how to fit everything into my two suitcases and one duffle bag. I didn't want to have to carry everything around. Though we check-out at 8:15AM, our check-in time is at 10AM. So, I just sat around in my hostel building (Chan Chun Ha) waiting until 10AM. Other exchange students don't get to check in until 4PM!

I'm currently waiting for my luggage to come so that I could unpack. My room mate's not here yet either. :o Another post about that later!

Jenn

Exploring Shatin

Yesterday, CUHK set up a luncheon for all the exchange students that will be living in United College (my permanent hostel). It was just a small room full of people. I expected more students to be there. o_o But, anyway, I met a fellow UCR student (Rick) there. I was going to go Jusco (it's like the Dollar Tree of HK... everything costs $12 HKD!) in the Shatin Galleria to buy more things, so I invited him. I actually invited another girl that I had just met, but she was busy when I was about to leave. We took a bus there (found the directions on Google Maps). I knew that the galleria was really close by, but I wasn't sure which direction to walk. Rick was Googling it, and I tried to ask a lady. She attempted to give me directions, but she was actually totally off. LOl. But I realized that she didn't really know what she was talking about half way into the conversation. After a bit of walking, we eventually got there.

After we bought our things, we decided to go to IKEA too (actually, it was my idea because I really wanted to go and I was totally not happy that I couldn't find it the day before, LOL). Anyway, we got off at Shatin and entered the Shatin New Town Plaza (my third time -_-). Though we were lost for a while, this time I actually decided to ask for directions.. so we eventually found it! The first time I went looking for IKEA, I thought it would be super close by so I wouldn't have to venture too far away from the plaza. But... I realized that it was not as close as I expected it to be, so I decided to just go back home. I didn't want to get lost on the streets by myself. LOL. But, we found it, and I bought my pillow, blanket, etc. there. Then, we went to dinner at some porridge place in the Citylink Plaza, which is right next to the Shatin New Town Plaza. Food is so cheap here! We both got a bowl of porridge (decent sized), a plate of chow fun, and a drink for $38 each (equivalent to about $5 USD). LOL I was so thrilled.

Anyway, that was part of my first week here in HK! I'll blog more about how I feel about it later. I just wanted to post my activities before I forget (my short-term memory is terrible...).

I've been getting sleepy around 9PM and waking up around 7AM for the past few days. lOL. It's pretty early compared to my sleeping schedule back home (3AM - 12PM).  I tried to stay up until 12AM yesterday so that maybe I would sleep in a bit more, but that didn't happen. I woke up at 7AM again. T_T

Jenn

Exploring Shatin Again / Moon Cakes

I took my Chinese placement test and got placed in level 4 Cantonese and level 3 Mandarin. I just realized that my Cantonese class has a limit of 9 people, and there are currently only 3 enrolled. LOL. I'm kind of intimidated by that. This is going to be quite interesting.

I went back to the Shatin New Town Plaza by myself because I wanted to do a little bit of exploring on my own. I also needed to buy a few more things, and I wanted to go to IKEA. It took me an hour to find the supermarket (City'super). Then, I used Google Maps on my smartphone to look for IKEA. From what I could tell, it was outside of the plaza but not super far away... so I thought I could do this on my own. I walked in circles for an hour or two before I gave up and went back to CUHK, lol!

Oh! I tried something called a snowy moon cake (冰皮月餅). It looks something like this...

And a regular moon cake looks something like this...

It's pretty cool. I heard about it in the US. I think I might have tried it once before, but I don't remember. It's almost Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節), so there are moon cakes everywhere! The snowy moon cake is just like a mochi with a slightly tougher skin and more filling. lOL. I thought it would be amazing because I always heard good things about it. I mean.. it was good but not super delicious or anything.

I've Arrived!

I arrived safe and sound. My uncle picked me up and my adventure in HK officially started. I didn't know where we were going half the time. I just followed him around. We took ones of those buses to the train station. Then, the train took us straight to the entrance of CUHK (University Station).

It was kind of a hassle getting around. We took a bus to S.H.Ho College, where I was supposed to check in. The student workers there gave me a key to my temporary room and told me to check in at the Office of Academic Links (OAL) at Lady Ho Tung Hall. After that, I walked back to the place where I first checked in and waited around for a shuttle to take my luggage to Pentecostal Mission Hall High Complex (my temporary hostel). It was actually right next to Lady Ho Tung Hall, so I could have taken the luggage there myself. -_- The student workers made it sound like it would be super far away. After that was settled, I went back to the OAL to get a short tour around the school. I didn't get much out of it because I couldn't really hear the tour guides, so I was just following the crowd. The tour ended at Pi Chiu building, which was where we get our student ID cards. The tour guides kind of just left us after that, so I had to get back to OAL on my own. I totally did not know where to go. At first I tried to figure it out on my own, but I figured that I would be better off asking for directions, lol! :p

My uncle was waiting for me at the OAL the whole time. The whole process took around 2-3 hours. I felt so bad. D: We walked to the train station and went to the Shatin New Town Plaza. It's literally two stops away from the University, and when you exit the train station, you'll be in the mall. It's huge with seven stories of shops It also connects to these other buildings with multiple stories of shops. I didn't really take pictures these few days, but I will after I move to my permanent hostel. Anyway, I went to this plaza three days in a row just shopping around for necessities.

My uncle took me to visit my grandpa after that. :) It was actually really far away from school. It was a little awkward interacting with him because... I didn't really know what to talk about. I was just watching people play mahjong until dinner time. Then, my grandpa took me back to CUHK.

View from my temporary dorm

I met my temporary room mates for the first time when I got back. I have two! One is from Switzerland (Daveline) and one is from China (Herria). We are getting along very well thus far. It's too bad that we will be parting on Saturday. D:

Jenn

Day of Departure

My silly friends made me these random patriotic-ish posters. LOL! #insidejokes

Mom & pop

My flight was at 1:30AM on Monday, September 3rd. I left to the airport around 9:30PM on Sunday. My parents like to go to the airport really early. Most of my friends went to the airport to send me off to Hong Kong. :') I entered the terminal at 12:30AM. I started crying as I hugged everyone good bye. When I hugged my mom and dad, they kept rushing me to leave. T_T

There wasn't really a line for the security check. Everything went pretty smoothly. Since I got in early, I went to take off my make up and change into more comfortable clothes. I actually ran into a friend from high school (Tony) while waiting to board the plane! I think I'm hanging out with him on Monday. Yay to more exploring!

The airplane left on time. Cathay actually served pretty decent food. I didn't eat any snacks because I had no appetite. I was awake for about three hours. I slept for about six and stayed up for the remainder of the flight. It was really hard finding a comfortable position to sleep, but that was expected. I sat on the right side of the airplane near the aisle. The person in the middle didn't show up, so there was actually a little bit more room. :) I landed at 6:30AM (HK time), which was about 30 minutes earlier than expect.

Jenn

Countdown

Less than 10 days until I leave California!

I just received my dorm assignment about an hour ago. I'll be in United College, Chan Chun Ha Hostel. Apparently, it's one of the newer dorms (built in 2004). It's also kind of close to the heart of the campus. I guess I'll find out more when I get there. D:

Anyway, I've been buying a bunch of last minute things via Amazon Prime...

1. Adapter (US electric plugs are different from HK electric plugs. I also got a power strip because I don't know how many outlets I have in the dorm and individual adapters to carry around.)

2. Converter (for electronics that aren't dual voltage)

3. Travel/dual voltage blow dryer (You most likely cannot use a blow dryer from home; it'll probably blow a fuse, lol. I rarely use it anyway, so I figured it would be more useful to buy a compact blow dryer. That way, I could still use it after I leave HK.)

4. Mosquito repellent(s) (I have one with natural ingredients and one with DEET... just in case the natural one is useless. I'm prone to getting bug bites, so better safe than sorry! I hope I don't run out. Actually, I hope I don't have to use it at all.)

5. A (smart)phone (I have a CDMA phone because of I'm with Verizon, which means it will not work overseas. -_- You will need an unlocked GSM phone. I bought a LG Optimus Chic through Amazon. I'm going to root it and put Android 4.0 on it. That way, it'll kind of be sort of be a replacement for my Galaxy Nexus. I'm really going to miss my phone. T_T Anyway, as long as you have wi-fi, you could connect with family and friends back home for free using certain apps!)

6. Medication (Obviously, bring prescribed meds if you have any. I also heard that the HK medicine isn't as potent as US medicine, even if they're the same brand. Might be a myth, but I'm packing it anyway. If you have a weak stomach like me, you'll probably want to bring a lot of Pepto-Bismol.)

7. MP3 player (I have a very, very old iPod Mini sitting in my drawer. The battery died a long time ago. I'm going to try to fix it by myself with a battery kit, lol! I don't really want to spend money on an MP3 player, so this is my best alternative. I figured it would come in handy since I'd either be waiting for a bus/train, riding the bus/train or walking a lot.)

My 25 inch suitcase is already filled with clothes. I still have a 21 inch carry on, which I'm going to fill up with more clothes and electronic things, and a duffle bag another 25 inch suitcase (mom decided against the duffle bag), which will probably be filled with a few pair of shoes and miscellaneous items. I wasn't going to bring the duffle bag another suitcase, but after packing my big suitcase, I realized that I need more space! I know I'm supposed to pack light, but it's kind of hard since I'm staying there for nine months.

I don't really know if all my luggage will fit in my dorm room. HK is notorious for having very compact living spaces, so that and the fact that I'm living in a dorm is a recipe for disaster. I think I might be able to drop off one of my suitcases with my grandpa though. We shall see...

By the way, with Verizon, I could suspend my phone for 90 days twice a year without being charged. The downside is that every day I suspend my phone is an additional day that gets added on to my contract. For example, if I'm due for an upgrade in December, I won't be able to do so until March if I choose to suspend my phone for 90 days. Thankfully, I actually like my phone, so having a later upgrade doesn't bother me too much.

Anyway, I'm actually very excited to go to CUHK now! I hope the plane ride won't be too bad. I'm going to download a bunch of e-books onto my tablet and catch up on some reading. I'm also going to pack a bunch of snacks, haha!

Until next time...

Jenn

Last Month in America

I'm not really excited to go to Hong Kong yet. I think that it's because I've been so busy with taking summer school and making time to hang out with friends that I haven't really had time to think about it.

Part of me wants to just stay here. I feel like I have gotten more attached to my family and friends over the summer. I don't want to leave them for nine months. :(

Jenn