Home away from home

I think it is safe to say that I am am finally settled in here at HKUST. Last night I finally got some good sleep, 8 1/2 hours to be exact, and I didn't wake up at all through the night (this is a big deal). On Friday I had orientation and met all of the other international exchange students that are also business students. There are 198 of us! The orientation was extremely useful but I am a little worried about how hard the classes are going to be. I think it will be a very good experience I just hope it does not crush my GPA! They use a complete curve scale here, so the top 10% get A's, next 15% get B's and so on. The problem is that all of the Asians are so darn smart that you could get like a 95% on a test and get a B or a C depending on how the other students perform... oh boy!. I have to keep in mind though that I am taking Marketing classes which is my major and the subject I really enjoy! If I work hard during the week I know I will do just fine. Just being among the caliber or students here is an honor, many of the Business exchange students from the USA are from UPenn and Boston College, needless to say I think I am among some of the brightest students!

After orientation I opened up a bank account so that I can withdraw money for the next 4 months while avoiding fees from by bank in the US. This will really add up over time. Friday night I went to downtown Hong Kong with some friends to Lang Kwai Fong which is the main club area of Hong Kong. There are so many awesome clubs and we had a blast all night and got home around 4:30. It is really nice that public transportation is very inexpensive here so we were able to take a taxi to and from the club for 200HK which is about 30 dollars! We can put 5 people in each cab so we only paid 6 dollars per person round trip! We also have to option to take the MTR which is their metro system and is very easy to use. I used it yesterday alone for the first time and didn't get lost! yay!

Saturday was my favorite day so far! All 198 Business exchange students met with their buddies for brunch at the University and then we all headed to Hong Kong by Charter buses. Every time I hang out with my Buddy Joyce, I like her more and more (I am not sure if I mentioned this but since it is an exchange program, she will be coming to OSU to study from January to June, this way I will be her buddy when she comes to the states and can help her just as she did me). We have already talked about what we want to do when she comes to the states and she is getting really excited.

We started out our trip by going to Stanley market. Everyone split up and had 4 hours to get lunch and shop at the market. We ate a traditional Hong Kong lunch and I liked everything! Even the weird pickled onion specialty that Joyce describes as having a "special taste" that I would not like haha. Regardless of what she said I told her I wanted to try it, and what do you know I ate like 4 more. The main specialty at the restaurant was a Hong Kong dumpling so we tried many variations.

Here is a picture of the group dining for lunch, everyone with their buddy.

I am starting to get better with my chopsticks and although on campus they offer forks I refuse to use them!
Also, when the waitress poured me tea, I responded mh-goi which means thank you in Cantonese, but Joyce informed me that there is a hand motion that means thank you when they pour your tea. Here it is (you just tap your middle finger by your cup).There were beautiful views from Stanley Market and it reminded me a bit of the South of France. This picture is of my friend Jona, Sonny, Joyce and Me. (Sonny is also a local student and when I said he was cute, he told me "no one has ever called me cute before" haha)

I bought an original painting at Stanley market for 500Hk which is 65 American dollars. It is an original oil based painting from a local artist and is absolutely beautiful. It is 3 X 4 and I imagine it will inspire an entire room of for decoration someday when have my own place. I wanted to wait and maybe come back another time, but I kept going back to it and fell in love the first time I saw it, and for only 65 dollars I couldn't pass it up because in the states it would have been like 1000!

After Stanley Market shopping and eating we got back on the bus and went to Victoria Peak, which has a beautiful view of Hong Kong. Victoria Peak is the view of Hong Kong saw when looking into going there, and helped make the decision for me that I had to go! I can not wait to go again at night sometime too!

This is turning into the longest blog ever and I must go, I am heading to a local beach today with some friends to enjoy the last day before our classes start (although tomorrow I only have one class and it is at 3:30pm).