A list of "firsts"

Hong Kong has taken so many of my "firsts"

... the first city I've lived in.

... the first time I've had dim sum. 

... the first time I've watched Grease.

... the first time I've felt so homesick.

... the first time I've tried Subway food.

... the first time I've seen street markets.

... the first time I've ridden a metro/subway.

... the first time I've encountered urban smog.

... the first place I had to apply for a visa to enter.

... the first time I've had a severe allergic reaction. 

... the first non-English speaking place I've lived in.

... the first time I've been considered 'tall' in a decade.

... the first time I've had so many international friends.


Good or bad, I've experienced so much thanks to my decision to study here.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mistakes to expect when learning about a place

Image
"Welcome to Hong Kong, your new home for the next four months and a place beyond your wildest dreams."  I mean that quite literally as I was apparently imagining a completely different city, a fact that became clear within my first few days in Hong Kong.  Growing up in the US, when I think of cities I automatically picture New York City.  Hearing that Hong Kong had over 8 million people in a very small area I figured that it would look much like Manhattan - dense with lots of high-rises.  And looking at pictures of the two, I unconsciously decided that they must be very similar, at least in layout. New York Apparent Similarities: 1) Concrete masses 2) Skyscrapers 3) Lovely city night lights 4) Large populations and thus many things to do Hong Kong Differences upon arrival : 1) Hong Kong is tropical (which i knew) and thus is part jungle (which was completely unexpected). Note: New York = concrete mass + Central Park 2) Hong Kong is built on hills.
Read more

Amazing

Image
"The summer weather here is amazing!" - Finnish girl in my class  Class eyed her in disbelief as the average day here is 90 °F with a humidity level  ranging between 70 - 90%.  But it got me thinking...       I concur
Read more

Class schedule

Image
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
Read more