Blog around the world

Today is my day off from class. Usually I do have class, but I start attending when the third week of classes starts. I went out to eat with some locals and then walked around the school building, managing to catch some great views and learn a bit more about the area. There seems to be a lot of churches nearby, as well as a huge soccer field (two sets of goals plus a road to jog around), some stores, and the Salvation Army, among other things. I hope to get a chance to walk around here some more because there seems to be a lot to do even outside of the university.

View from CityU

Yesterday I had only one course in the afternoon (analytical chemistry). I really liked how the professor taught. What makes me really grateful is that over here, textbooks are generally not used, and from what I hear, even in classes that require them, the textbooks are generally not too pricy either.

After having class, I went back home where I finally had a chance to eat dinner with my cousin and another guest. It was really great being able to talk and relax.

Overall, looking forward to analytical chemistry the most, followed by food chemistry, and then the social statistics and research methods course. Hopefully, my other courses will follow suit. Just dropped the Chinese course and the cultural identity course, the former because it seemed too simple, and the latter because I felt it to be too difficult. The only thing I somewhat dislike about this uni (but I can see their reasoning) is that you cannot drop after a week into classes without an extremely good reason. This limits how long I can get a feel for that course… maybe I’ve been spoiled at CUNY.

Today was a very fulfilling day despite there being no classes and the rain being in the way. I had a chance to explore the university a bit more than usual and I also learned about the piano rooms here. I was really excited to play on the pianos there. I know what I will be doing in my spare time!

I found the system for reserving venues or sports equipment to be quite handy. One can only use the facilities or equipment if that person registers beforehand via Blackboard. It seems a bit more organized in that sense…

Today marks a bit over a week of being in Hong Kong!

Day two of class today was a realization that the tutorial class was not in session. In order to understand what I mean, I should explain that there are generally three types of courses: lecture, lab (for science courses), and tutorial (which seems to be the same as recitation). I wound up waiting an extra hour until my next class, which was BCH4043 Food Chemistry. I found this course to be quite interesting, since I feel I could find a lot of practical applications.

After this course was a huge gap (a seven-hour gap), so I decided to hang around with some friends, traveling to Central (中環) to eat dim sum and later eating dinner at the Festival Walk. It was quite nice having this huge break, so I could do many things during that time period. Perhaps I will go ice-skating or watch a movie while I have this break.

Afterwards I had my Chinese course for three hours and later went back home.

I apologize in advance for the extremely short post. I was really tired especially after going through two 3-hour lectures in one day, one of which I wound up not liking too much. I hope to write more tomorrow about what happened today.

Update:

This day was my first day of classes. I found my afternoon class, SS2027 Social Statistics and Research Methods, to be quite interesting. Though it’s not directly related to my major, it will be helpful to learn some stats and research methods since they are both important. After a one-hour break in between was a cultural identity course (CTL3535 Searching for Cultural Identity: Reflections upon Cultural Politics and Policy). I found it to be quite challenging since it requires a lot of intensive reading beforehand, and it’s a lot easier when students already know how to read Chinese so I’m at a huge disadvantage. I may consider dropping this course depending on how things progress.

Woke up early in the morning to head out to church via car. After church, I went out with some friends to eat lunch and then went back to my uncle [B]’s place.

After some time staying at home, I was brought over to my maternal relative’s place to play some mahjong (not gambling, don’t worry), piano (first time playing since I got to Hong Kong), and eat dinner. Then I went back home with hopes that I will sleep earlier since school is officially starting on the 2nd.

Nothing in particular overall. Day six is done. Tomorrow, another big day awaits!

I woke up early to get to the university area to meet up with other CityU students for the city excursion. We left at around 9:15 to go via charter bus to a history museum to learn about the history of Hong Kong. Alas, the tour guide spoke really softly, so I only heard bits and pieces. I did learn a few things.

The first thing I learned was about the bun mountain (包山), which, as its namesake implies, is a mountain of buns. Its framework back then used bamboo and wood. At a festival, people would climb on these mountains in hopes of getting the highest bun. However, at some point (I believe the late 1700s), the mountain fell because so many people climbed it and people were injured. As a result, until 2005, this event was banned. After 2005, it was revived after precautions were made: the framework was instead made of metal, the people who wanted to participate had to have rock-climbing experience, and these people were also given safety gear to climb.

The second thing I learned was about the Opium Wars and British occupancy. At first, only Guangzhou (廣州) was the only port by which outside trade was allowed in China according to the rules of the emperor of that time. The British decided to smuggle in opium from India (a neighboring country) to China in exchange for silver, the currency at that time. This became a problem, so Commissioner Lin Zexu decided to take action by getting rid of the opium through water. The British became angry, so they demanded refund from the government. Since the opium was smuggled, the government refused, but offered to have China pay instead. Eventually, China lost to Britain, so China gave up two pieces of land and also had to open up 5 ports total. China also allowed Britain to lease another part of China until 1997 (Hong Kong). After 1997, Britain decided to return all three pieces of land to China.

Afterwards, we went to see some clothing designs from China within the history museum. We were allowed to look at our own pace but were not allowed to take photographs. It was ok though since I would not be able to know what exactly the outfits are. Soon after, we went back on the charter bus to head to the restaurant which is specially known for its vegetarian cuisine. Most of the food was very good. My favorite was this honeydew and milk dish heated and wrapped in some crispy bread. This dish could then be dipped in sugar before eating.

The final destination of this city excursion was the Sky 100. It claimed to have the most scenic views in the city since it is the tallest building within Hong Kong, boasting 393 meters above sea level. However, when we arrived, it was getting quite rainy so the view was very blurry. It was still good that we went on this trip because if we were to go here on our own, it would be very pricy (around the price of our whole trip [which was $180], if not, more). There were still pictures that could be taken, so it was not all for naught.

I decided afterwards to hang out with some new friends at the Festival Walk [mall] again for a while. We tried to help one of our classmates to get a SIM card for Hong Kong, but to no avail. Soon after, I had to leave to go to my other aunt [Y]’s place to eat dinner. It was very great spending some more family time, but it got late pretty soon, so we headed back home after some time. The fifth day is complete!

I guess I might still have a bit of jet lag because I woke up extra early. However, it might also be because of the thunderstorm; it was the first day it rained since I’ve arrived in Hong Kong. The weather as a result was a bit cooler. After a video chat with my family, I went to the university for the final day of orientation. Before the orientation event began, I was able to – with the help of other CityU students – register my final course (which means I will be taking 15 credits total) and also apply for the city excursion for tomorrow.

The orientation event for the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) was informative, though much of the information discussed was already previously mentioned in other talks. What was helpful was that I had a chance to finally see some of the department members in CLASS for the first time. After the CLASS information session was a police officer talk, discussing what to do in cases of emergency as well as crime rates and what are arrestable offenses.

Afterwards, I walked around the campus with my friend and found what seemed to be a team rally of student unions of sorts for “orientation camp”. From what I saw, there were four different color groups saying cheers. I was unable to fully grasp what happened, but it was very interesting to say the least. I was amazed at the energy level these students had.

Came back to the house to get some earlier shut-eye since it’s a big day tomorrow. Day four: no more!

The jet lag seems to be wearing off: even though I woke up at around 4am, I was able to fall back asleep until around 9am. I decided to head out to CityU at around 11:30. It was here that I was finally able to meet the other student from the College of Staten Island. It was nice being able to talk to someone from New York. There was not much done today at the university other than attending two talks, one on outside-of-classroom activities and the other on anti-corruption culture in Hong Kong, and receiving my student ID. The first talk was comprised of multiple people discussing various activities, including HOPE – Hong Kong and an English Mentor/Mentee Program that people can sign up to teach/learn English. The second talk focused more on ethics, specifically how one’s person’s actions can affect others, him/herself included. It also discussed how people would compromise their own integrity to get instant gratification.

After going to the university, I decided to walk with another friend to the mall that is close by. While we were there, we happened to see an ice-skating rink, a theatre, a McDonald’s, a Toys ‘R’ Us, and a food court, among other stores. We decided to get some Japanese food at the food court since it was for a pretty good price (42 for mine, 47 for my friend’s) and it looked really good. After eating at the food court, we checked out the McDonald’s and were surprised to see that macarons and macaroons, among other pastries, were available.

It was getting late, so I decided to stop by my aunt [Miriam]’s workplace to relax, and eventually, I went back to my uncle [B]’s place to prepare things for tomorrow.

Day 3: fin~

Due to the jet lag, I wound up waking up relatively early (6am). It was quite refreshing waking up this early. I decided to relax a bit before looking around my uncle [B]’s apartment. I will take pictures tomorrow of the area. There is a gym here (free of charge for people 16 years or older), a pool, and a tennis court. Additionally, there is a shuttle bus that goes directly to the MTR station to Tai Po Market.

The travel from the apartment that I’m staying at to the City University of Hong Kong (hereon in, CityU) takes about 45 minutes. When I first arrived at CityU, I saw that the place was huge. I had a chance to talk to and befriend many of the locals as well as other exchange students, some from Singapore, parts of Europe, and even the States! We also attended a campus tour and saw many of the facilities there, including the library, the pool, the gym, and the cafeterias (called canteens here). Additionally, I attended a lecture on adjustment tips in Hong Kong. I felt it was highly informative, even though much of it was a review for me.

Soon after the lecture, I met up with one of my relatives who works in the university. He showed me around Academic Building 1 more in-depth, including a library tour and a tour of the various floors there, which included seeing the labs. The library there is huge! Even though it is only one floor, it is very large and has a lot of room for seating.

Shortly after walking around the campus some more and eating some food there, I decided to go back to the apartment. Thus ends day two! =)