So, I arrive at my room and I must say I was surprised. This university isn't very old and was built in the last 15 years or so, and as a result I pictured myself in a nice dorm room similar to a room in Parkside or equivalent accommodations. My dorm actually looks more like North or Pardee Tower instead, being somewhat spartan. The first thing i noticed was the bed. When I think of an unpadded bed I think of a bed that might be 8-12 inches thick. Well, my bed here is a grand total of 2-3 inches. So, my buddy then took me around campus and showed me where everything is. We then went to the business office to check in and met two other international students from Canada (although one was actually from France) and they invited me to go with them downtown that afternoon. My buddy (his name is Tommy if i hadn't mentioned that yet) had something he had to do that afternoon so it worked out.
I forgot to mention earlier that another thing that I was pleasantly surprised at is how well developed the public transportation is in HK. I can get essentially anywhere just by public transportation for very cheap and it's also very fast. So to get to downtown I just have to take a minibus to the MTR station, which is basically the city subway network (again I cannot express how amazingly well the public transportation here works) and then tried to find a few stores to go shopping at. So, we get off at one of the stops we think is correct and discover that we have no idea where we are. So it's me, a Canadian guy, a French guy, and a Swede. At this point i decided that we're going to look like tourists no matter what we do so i might as well get out my camera and start taking pictures like a tourist. Basically we just walked around at various places downtown before getting lunch at a pizza hut and then finding an Ikea. Yes, Pizzahut and Ikea. See me be international. I feel compelled to explain this further now that I sound like an idiot. We went to Pizzahut because the Canadian guy wanted to and we had to go to Ikea for bedsheets and pillows and such things because it was so much cheaper than the other places. Below are some of the pictures of places we saw.
So we wondered around and ended up getting lost trying to find the minibus to get back to UST (the college I'm at) and overall it was a fun experience. My favorite part was the architecture of the city and how beautiful the buildings were. So, I got back and after the relative lack of sleep on the plane the previous night, coupled with the time difference here meant I was tired. So I came back and unpacked before going to sleep. Although, when i checked in they neglected to mention that the door has a key code to get into the building. So to get in I had to stand outside for half an hour and wait for someone to go in.So, I got back and slept. Not very well, due to the screaming students running up and down the hall until 5AM, but I did manage to get some sleep.
2 comments:
So... The Ikea in Hong KOng is cheaper than Other international stores or local stores? if so you should buy me some stuff too! :P
Awesome pixes!
You know, you'd be surprised how quickly buildings go downhill after a few years. Of course, spartan's a whole other thing. At least there aren't tatamis?
So one name down, one picture to go.
Public transportation works just about anywhere except Los Angeles :P
Whoa, where'd the Swede come from? Are Swedes just so unimportant you don't need to mention their appearance? Like the obligatory minority character in horror films who shows up only to get killed---lost? I mean, we don't even know if it's a guy or a gal.
That's a lot of identical-looking high rises.
PS: OK, do the word verifications get LONGER and more convoluted if you post too many comments within a short span of time? Because seriously, if these are Pokemon names, we must be into the twelfth generation or something.
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