Hong Kong Highlights

One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain. Bob Marley The first note played and I felt myself shiver in anticipation.  My entire body relaxed and I realized that, regardless of what else happened tonight, this experience was worth it just for that one moment of relaxation.   When asked why I desire to live in a big city, I respond that I want to live in a place filled with museums and cultural events.  Having visited many of the museums in Hong Kong, I decided to begin focusing on the events offered by a city of 7 million that I cannot get in a town of 50,000.  Thus on Thursday night I found myself at the Hong Kong Cultural Center Concert Hall with a ticket to see the Philharmonic Orchestra of Seoul.  Deciding that it didn't matter where I sat provided I could hear the music, I bought a seat in the cheap section which, when added to my half-off student discount, came out to be $11USD.   From my seat I had a unique vantage point to see t

Universities are undeniably about classes, but there are other forms of learning available as well.  I decided to leave my comfort zone behind when I boarded a plane and left the country for six months; now that I am here, I don't want to spend all of my time in my room studying.  Beyond exploring my host city, I am also exploring the opportunities available at my host university.  These opportunities have included guest lecturers, workshops, art classes, and musical performances. I have gone to lectures ranging from violent political issues in southeast Asia to environmental crises in the polar regions as well as in Hong Kong to the analysis of the impact of Confucian ideas in the founding of the United States.  I have enrolled in a Chinese calligraphy course that meets every Tuesday evening and in an online month long course exploring the changing arctic due to climate change.  Deciding to try something I have never taken advantage of at ISU I chose to attend personal growth wo

Unlike most big cities, Hong Kong does not have a proper zoo.  The closest approximation is the Botanical and Zoological Garden.  At 10:00 one night I got a text from my friend Esme asking me if I wanted to go to the garden the next day, which is how I found myself experiencing something unlike anything I had seen before. The first thing to remember is that almost everything in Hong Kong will be uphill.  Every few minutes we took a pause, drank water, at one point sat down on the sidewalk to prepare ourselves for the next leg of the trek, and crisscrossed the road as needed to remain in the shade.  On the way up we passed a group of Japanese tourists trying to haul their suitcases up the same hill; it was incredible, even without understanding a word they were saying we both picked up on their sentiment and Esme and I grinned in sympathy at each other as we went by.  Twenty minutes after the start we stumbled through the gate to the gardens and both bought ice cold drinks and

Necessities for daily life in Hong Kong What I need to get through the day in Hong Kong is different from what Iowa life requires.  For the first couple of weeks, I regularly arrived at campus, rummaged through my bag, and then got to backtrack to the dorms to grab what I had left behind.  For a while there, I really longed for a rembrall to help double check that I had not left anything on my bed or by my desk.  After a month and a half of living in Hong Kong, I can now pack my bag for the day without forgetting the key items to surviving in the city. Daily checklist includes: 1) Umbrella I arrived in the rain.  I found out quickly that August and September are the wet months here.  My poor umbrella has taken a bit of a beating from being shoved into my backpack everyday, but it has saved me from being soaked many times. 2) ID, room, and MTR cards The all-important MTR card In order to function in Hong Kong City University, you need to carry all three of these cards o

When I was five, my parents took my elder sister and I to Disneyland in Orlando, Florida.  I was young enough that I remember nothing from that trip.  At age 20 I returned to Disney, this time in Hong Kong.  While perhaps not the realization of my wildest dreams, I did enjoy my experience at the park. Getting there The only way to travel in Hong Kong is via MTR (the subway system).  It is faster, easier, and more comfortable than traveling by bus.  That being said, the MTR is very popular with the locals as well as with the visitors.  Leaving at 9:00am, I entered the MTR during rush hours.  It felt somewhat like this: After transferring four times between different MTR lines I arrived at the Disney station and staggered out into the heat to meet up with my friend Sakura.  Ready, set, go! I decided to get a year-long student pass as that was considerably cheaper than paying the entrance fee twice.  After going through the process to get our passes, we were allowed to enter the

The Best Time of the Year I received an email from my ISU advisor informing me that I would be signing up for classes in two weeks.  I love planning out my new schedule each semester; there is something exciting about deciding what my life will look like and what I will learn in the upcoming term.  Rather than focus on the classes I have chosen for the spring, I thought this would be a good time to examine the differences between classes at ISU and at Hong Kong City University. Let's play a game: spot the difference   My schedule: Spring 2017 @ ISU I chose to take fewer classes this semester as I am studying abroad and want to have time to explore my new home. Each class only meets once a week. Each class meets for THREE hours at a time.   My schedule: Fall 2017 @ HK CityU Apparently people expect to have much less homework here as there is great disbelief that one of my professors routinely assigns 30 page articles as homework. The grades are mainly base