你好中国: August 2009

Hey Everyone! Here's my latest update. Thursday we went to Tuen Mun Shopping Center again, to look around and do some more exploring. At night we went to the "Ladies Market" located in Mong Kok. It was packed with people and there were hundreds of vendors selling their knock-off products! After walking through the "Ladies Market" we decided to take the MTR to Tsim Shia Tsui and just look around. We ended up on the Avenue of the Stars which is located on Victoria Harbour, and the view was spectacular. We got to see Hong Kong Island lit up at night! Friday, we ventured to Causeway Bay and Pacific Place and did some more shopping/ looking around. One of the girls I traveled with from Augustana has an aunt who lives in Hong Kong. So, Friday night we went to Sunny's Aunt's (Mrs. Lee) home and ate dinner. The views from her Aunt's home were amazing! Saturday, we went on a boat/yacht with Sunny's family. All Saturday we just relaxed and enjoyed the weather in Repulse Bay. Everything is so beautiful here! Some pictures may appear a little blurry, but it is due to all the smog! See the pictures below!

Ladies Market

Flowers

Hong Kong Island at night!

View from Avenue of the Stars

View cont'

Jackie Chan's Star!

Bruce Lee

Tallest building is the building Batman jumps off of in the Dark Knight

Laura and I eating at Traditional Noodle

my food...yum?

Causeway Bay Market

View of HK Island during the day

View from Mrs. Lee's home

The hole is in the building to let the dragon out from the mountains. Supposed to be good luck.

View from Repulse Bay

View of boats in Repulse Bay

View from Repulse Bay

Repulse Bay

Floating restaurant

As many of you know I recently traveled to Hong Kong for the purposes of studying at Lingnan University. The flight was over 19 hours and very boring. I tried sleeping, but found that to be impossible. We flew 15 hours to Tokyo, had a 4 hour layover and then flew another 4 hours to Hong Kong. Once we reached the Hong Kong International Airport we were greeted by a Lingnan University representative. We arrived at the University at 12:00 am. The following morning was Orientation at 8:00 am, so as you can guess I didn’t get much sleep. My jetlag has been pretty bad, but is getting better every day. Throughout Orientation I met many people from all around the world including France, Mainland China, Korea, etc. During Orientation I became the “go-to” girl for the English language. Everyone would always ask me “what’s that word in English?” or “How do you say that?” Orientation was a long three days, but definitely helped me adjust to the campus and people. One thing that I do find interesting and a little irritating is when the local students do not have to speak English, they tend to go back to their native language of Cantonese. When eating dinner with my Orientation group they would speak Cantonese the whole time, so I never knew what was going on. I traveled with four other students from Augustana and we have been quite adventurous in our first few days in Hong Kong. One night we went to Lan Kwai Fang, which is a local bar district on Hong Kong Island. (side note: People are allowed to drink in the streets). We took the MTR (subway) and it was about an hour ride to the district, but we did it all by ourselves! :D Today, we went to the Tuen Mun Towne Center which is basically a large shopping mall. A local was telling me that the designers of the mall built it like a maze on purpose so that people would get lost and have to continue shopping. And let me tell you, we got lost! In the next few days, the girls from Augie and I will be going onto Hong Kong Island for some much needed shopping. We are also going to go see a water light show which is supposed to be one of the best in the world. The food here is interesting to say the least, but hopefully I will get used to it! This coming Monday class starts so I will not have as much time to go exploring! Below, I have posted some pictures of my campus, Tuen Mun Shopping Center, and a Park/ Garden in Tuen Mun. Enjoy!