First Impression

After a minor setback when my flight was delayed flight from Washington National to JFK, I finally made it onto my 1:55 flight to Hong Kong. The first class was ridiculous. They legitimately had beds rather than the just nicer, fluffier seats. Economy class was set-up in 3 groups of 3, and I got a middle seat by the window. The 16 hours was not as excruciating as I thought it would be since the movie choices were awesome and they had 6 episodes of Desperate Housewives. The food was also better than I expected, although served at bizarre times; dinner for instance was at midnight EST. I sat next to a Steeler fan who helped direct me toward immigration and the baggage claim. Pretty sure I'd still be on the plane if it weren't for him. He gave me his business card and told me to keep in touch via email... 

I found some other CUHK international students at baggage claim and taxied with them to the university. The CUHK guy that the Notre Dame kids have been communicating with was randomly jogging on campus, and a girl in the taxi coincidentally asked him for help. If it weren't for Soma Lau, pretty sure I would've also made shelter in a ditch on campus somewhere; the likelihood of finding my dorm among the millions of buildings on this huge, mountainous campus where many people do not speak English would've been approximately zero.

I checked into my dorm which is essentially in the middle of nowhere. After unpacking my stuff. I discovered that, while it is not that cold outside, you begin to freeze with no heating when you're just sitting at your computer or not really moving around in your room. I wore an underarmour, hoodie, fleece, leggings, pajama pants, and 2 pairs of socks to bed. My sleeping experience was enchanced by the extremely comfortable pillow we were given; in fact, it was so comfortable that I decided to fold it hamburger style in order to get any sort of support. On the bright side, although previous Notre Dame students warned about the 2 inch mattress, I found it to be fine since I'm used to firm beds.

Yesterday and today have been a whole different experience so far. Yesterday, I was extremely uncomfortable and even felt like I wanted to go home. I was the only Notre Dame student to fly over by myself (one flew a little bit early, but she was with her family), and I think that a person always feels more comfortable when you're with people you know. It isn't bad if you're lost with someone else, but getting lost alone is intimidating. Moreover, all of the local Chinese students I have met so far are really nice and speak English very well, but because of cultural differences, it seems like you can't understand one another. Additionally, while all the other international kids that I met up until this morning were nice, they didn't seem to be interesting people that I could imagine myself hanging out with.

Catching up with the other Notre Dame kids and meeting other students (suprisingly kids from USC...) that seem to have common interests today has completely changed my outlook. I am now extremely excited for the semester. After getting registered, I took  a campus tour, opened a local bank account to deposit my amazing 10,000 HK dollar stipend, and enjoyed some 'Club Udon' (Udon with lettuce, ham, egg, beef, hot dog, and mystery meat) with coffee for approximately 20 HK dollars (around $3USD).

Then, all of us ND kids minus Nancy (still MIA) took the train to the local Chinese mall two stops down in Sha Tin. (Map online: http://www.mtr.com.hk/jplanner/images/maps/routemap.pdf - I'm located at University.) I got the necessary toiletry items, including toilet paper. The first restroom I used here did not have TP in the stalls. I asked a local Chinese student about it and apparently its BYOTP? Bizarrest thing I've encountered yet.

Considering the 13 hour time difference, I don't think my jetlag is too bad. I guess I'll be able to tell better tomorrow when official orientation starts.

In closing, I would like to announce another thing I learned from a purchase today. 'Health lotion' is not body lotion. In fact, it's body wash. At least that's what it felt like when I squirted some into my hands. Probably the best surprise of the day.