First Few Days in Hong Kong

The screen on my flight mapping our path from NYC to HK!

After months of anticipation and excitement, I finally arrived at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) this past Monday night at around 7:30 pm. The 16 hour flight wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. I had a bit of trouble falling asleep and there were many movie options both in English and Chinese. I opted to watch several episodes of 30 Rock and a few movies. Finally got around to watching Going the Distance, The Social Network, most of Dinner for Schmucks (didn't get to see the last 10 minutes because the plane was landing), a documentary on skin bleaching in India, and rewatched Despicable Me. The plot of Going the Distance was very interesting and I've noticed a lot of the other exchange students I've met here have a significant other back at their home institution, so they'll all be doing the whole long distance relationship thing this semester. The movie also reminded me of something else, but I can't quite place what.

During the flight, I sat next to another college student who attends Columbia University who was headed to Hong Kong to visit his relatives for the last two weeks of his school winter break. He actually lived in HK for a few years when he was younger and visits frequently so he was telling me about specific places I should visit and things that would be fun to see. I was asking him about HK Disneyland and he said locals don't really go there anymore because it's kind of small and lame. :( I think I'm going to go at least once anyway, so I hope he's wrong haha But before we departed ways at customs, he gave me his email and number in case I needed anything, which was nice since I don't know a single person here. 

So after getting off the plane, I met up with Ainhi, who is another exchange student from Penn State that I actually met back at baggage check in NY. We realized we were both headed to CUHK and on the same flight, so I told her I'd find her after we landed so we can take the taxi to campus together. After I found her, we realized there were several other exchange students who were also on our flight. After exchanging currency and exclaiming about how we are actually in Hong Kong, we split up into groups that would fit into a cab with our luggage and we were on our way. So we arrived on campus in the evening and the campus turned out to be a lot larger than any of us were expecting. The taxi driver got lost, but fortunately we happened to run into Soma (the student advisor for the Americas from the CUHK exchange office) who directed our taxis to the right direction. When I got to my hostel room, I found out this was the view:

The view from my hostel (dormitory) window.

 WOW right? It is nothing like my view back at Rice. It was around 9 pm by the time I put bedsheets on my mattress, took a shower and was semi-settled in. Even though my body thought it was 8 am due to jetlag & the time difference, I had about an hour of sleep on the plane, so I was basically knocked out the moment I got into bed. I wasn't even sure how I managed to fall asleep because I was still bursting with energy from being so excited about actually being in Hong Kong. So I woke up the next morning at around 7 am super hungry. Realized I got an email from Ainhi, saying she was also ready to go find out where we could get some food, so we agreed to meet at the OAL Exchange office to complete registration, go for a tour and get some brunch!

View from my window during the daytime.

Another view from my window.

The Pavilion of Harmony at New Asia College, where I live. I pass by this everyday when leaving my building

Mountains yonder everywhere you look!

I had a map and the Exchange office seemed fairly close. But maps are deceiving and don't account for the hundreds of feet in difference in elevation between buildings that seemingly look like they should be right next to each other. After getting lost for 50 minutes, and getting even more lost after asking people where to go, I finally found the building and was so tired, relieved and happy. Turns out, not many local students recognize the building name or even know where it is because it literally just serves exchange students. But I met some more of the other exchange students during the tour and it seemed like there were a lot of students from France, Germany, Australia and of course the U.S.  It was so exciting to see that everyone else seemed as excited as I was about being here!

 The MTR! (Mass Transit Railway)

So there are several things I've noticed so far after a few days here. There are mountains yonder everywhere you look, the campus is also very hilly and very different from Rice. Everywhere I look into the distance on campus, there are outlines of mountains and the backdrop actually looks a lot like Binghamton University. 

So even after meeting all these people, almost nobody had mobile phones yet, so we had to exchange emails. We were all commenting on how naked we felt without phones, so getting a cellular phone was one of the first things we all had on our agenda. Stacey, another exchange student from Carnegie Mellon, arrived a bit earlier than all of us, and she already bought a phone and explored Shatin Plaza the day before with her parents. So she took a group of us to Shatin, which was two train stops away from campus with three large shopping plazas and an Ikea to get all the necessities we needed such as a phone, alarm clock, more blankets, etc.  

Very few people drive because it's so impractical and expensive, so the MTR is usually crowded. The Octopus card is what we use to pay for train fare and it acts as a debit card as well. Many other places such as 7/11, Watsons (HK version of CVS), Park and Shop (a popular supermarket chain in HK) and all the canteens(serveries) on campus accept it, along with many other stores. The Octopus Card has been really convenient and students get a 50% discount on the MTR, so getting around is extremely affordable. 

There are residential highrises clustered around almost every MTR station I've been to. Space is at a premium so everyone lives very close together and residential highrises are a very prominent part of the Hong Kong urban landscape. Everywhere I've been to in Hong Kong so far has a cluster of high rises within view. Which is very interesting because I try to imagine myself living in one of them, and while it must be convenient to live so close to a MTR station and the view must be amazing, it must suck sometimes to be so high up. What happens in case the elevators are in repair for the day and after you finally get to the lobby after walking down from you 47th floor flat, you realize you forgot something?