Disneyland :)

This past Saturday, I ventured off to Hong Kong Disneyland. I was so excited to see how it compared to both of the parks in the states, however, the one in HK is very, very small in size, especially the castle. Everything else was basically the same except the food was obviously Asian. I immediately felt like my 10 year old self again when we pulled into the park & could not wait to explore :) Unfortunately, it rained basically the entire day & my favorite ride Space Mountain was closed, which always seems to be the case in the states as well. Luckily, the majority of the rides are in a building or are covered, so the rain didn't cause any problems. In fact, the rain ended up being a good thing because the park wasn't very crowded at all, and we only had to wait at most 15 minutes for a ride.

*The castle (it's so little in real life)!

While at the park, I went on all the rides: It's A Small World, Mad Hatter Tea Cups, Astroblasters, Winnie the Pooh, and the Jungle Safari. Yes, you counted right, there's only 5 rides there (well, 6 if you count the closed Space Mountain)! They also have a 3-D show & 3 live shows, which we all really good, especially the Lion King one! There was also a parade and firework/light show when the park closed at night. We were at the park for 9 hours (we had to stay that long because it was a tour with the school), and it was very difficult to find things to do for this long, but we obviously managed. Because the park is quite small, I'd imagine them having some serious problems with very long lines and overcrowding during the summer holiday. Going to Disneyland in HK really made me miss the Disneyworld/Disneyland in the US - maybe I'll go to one of them during the summer (hint hint: Mom or Dad)! Even though I've been to both multiple times, I still can't get enough & it's always fun going with my young siblings because they get so excited :)

*Mickey and Minnie :)

Today, I went to the Festival Walk mall in Kowloon. It was HUGE and very high-end (like all the other malls here)! I went into Marc Jacobs hoping it would be cheaper here, but was disappointed when it was about 50% more. I thought stuff in China was cheaper!! I guess Hong Kong is an exception to that! I was also surprised to find an ice rink in the middle of the mall. There were a bunch of little kids ice-skating, and it was nice to stop and watch for a few minutes.

There was also a very nice department store in the mall that had school supplies, grocceries, luggage, you name it & I found pretzals (rare here) & Aranciata (a Sanpellegrino Italian soda), which was only $1.50/can - a great deal as it's about $3 in the US!!! Finding these things basically made my day & I guess I'll have to take the MTR for an hour each time I want pretzals & Aranciata unless I find another place that's closer, haha!

*Yayyy!!!

Classes have been going well & I'm starting to get more and more assignments :( I just can't seem to get into the swing of homework because it still seems like I'm on a four month vacation!! I also experienced my first major thunderstorm here & of course was out & forgot my umbrella. I was completely drenched when I got back to my hostel! Now, I have learned to never forget an umbrella! Oh & very exciting news: at the beginning of this week, I booked a trip to Beijing for the first weekend in October! I'm so excited to see the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, and all the other great tourist attractions!

Check out my new pictures on Facebook! Here's the link as well: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075815&id=1490346167&l=f6f64036b8

Until next time - love you all!