Tai O

Saturday, Sara & I took a day trip to Tai O, which is a fishing village on Lantau Island. Tai O is nicknamed "the Venice of Hong Kong", and I can understand why. All of the houses are built on stilts over the water & boats go through the water passages, plus there's a bridge that lets one cross over from one side to the other just like in Venice! We arrived to Tai O later in the afternoon as Sara had heard it was better to go a bit before the sunset. It was about a two hour trip - one hour on the MTR and another hour on a bus that made me sick with all of the severe turns & sudden stops going through the mountains, but it was well worth it!

*Me on the bridge :)

When we first arrived to the village, we walked through the market where people were selling all forms of dried fish - there were even 2 huge dried sharks, yikes!!! Then, we continued to walk around to take in the gorgeous views of the mountains and harbor & to look at all of the stilt houses. It amazes me how everyone there lives on stilts built into the water, & the houses are so, so small!!

*Sharkie!!!

*Stilt houses

There were multiple companies offering a short cruise through the village & then out into the sea to search for the rare pink dolphins in the harbor, so Sara & I decided to take a ride! I'm really glad we decided to do so as we were able to get closer to the stilt houses & see a great view of the sunset! Unfortunately, no dolphins though, but I know it's quite difficult to see them :( Our boat driver was hilarious & kept yelling out random things to us - at one point he kept saying "fire, fire!!" & we all got a little scared at first, but quickly realized that he was trying to show us a few houses that were burnt down, sad :(

*Gorgeous!

*On the boat!

I think Tai O was one of my favorite places I've been to in Hong Kong! How many fishing villages where houses are built on stilts are there in the world? Not that many I don't think, haha! Also, the mountains provide for a great contrast to the village :) Well, that's all for now, until next time, love you all!

New pictures to album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097293&id=1490346167&l=c0724639f1

Thanksgiving & Farewell Reception

Because all of us Americans were missing Thanksgiving back in our home towns, some of us decided to have a Thanksgiving dinner at Fat Angelo's, an Italian restaurant in Soho, since they were offering a special for the holiday :) We were served rolls, salad, turkey (since I'm a vegetarian, I got pasta with olive oil & garlic), mashed potatoes, yams, cranberry sauce, stuffing, vegetables, and pumpkin pie - it was delish! It was nice to have dinner together as we all were missing our families quite a bit :) 

*Anna G, Kat, and I at dinner :)

*Yummy!!!

*Lovely ladies at happy hour in Soho!

Tonight, OMIP hosted a farewell reception for the exchange students, & I (along with 3 other students) was asked to do a sharing of my time here, so I decided to put together a video of my memories! I think from all of the photos in the video, you can see how amazing my study abroad experience has been & how much I've seen here (& thank you to everyone who has contributed to it being so fantastic)! I'm really going to miss it here & all of the great friends I've made - we must all keep in touch & plan some reunions :) You can check out my video at this site: http://animoto.com/play/4j4ouEdC187xKSBWT3DwXw?autostart=true#

*Anna G, Tim, Sara, me, and Kat

*International & Mainland China exchange students!

 *Corinna (my roommate) & me :)

I have 3 weeks left in Hong Kong, which is extremely hard for me to believe! I am excited to get back to see my friends & family, but like I've mentioned before, I'm really going to miss it here! I definitely plan on coming back in the near future hopefully :) Only 2 days of classes left, 5 finals over the next 2 weeks, and then I'm packing my bags to head on back to the US of A! Can't wait to see you all!!

Gold Coast & Cheung Chau

Friday night, Kat, Anna S, Sara, Anna G, and I went to the Gold Coast Piazza & beach in Tuen Mun. This was our first time going there, & it's only about a half hour away from our campus by bus. The area is really pretty, especially at night - there are a bunch of restaurants in a square & it was very European-like. We had dinner at a Thai/Vietnamese/Indian restaurant & sat outside right by the coast, it was wonderful! I had some really spicy shrimp, which I shouldn't have ordered because I forgot they don't peel the shrimp for you, and it's really annoying when you have to do it yourself, haha! After dinner, we went inside the Gold Coast Hotel (very nice!!) and then walked along the beach, which was very relaxing & provided us with a great view. As we were walking, we saw a bunch of people gathered around barbecue pits cooking dinner, it looked like fun! I'm kind of disappointed we waited so long to go to Gold Coast because I really enjoyed it, but we'll definitely go back again soon :)

*Gold Coast Piazza

*Anna G, me, and Anna S

*Blurry, but view from piazza, lots of yachts!

Saturday, Sara & I took a day trip to Cheung Chau, which is a smaller island off Hong Kong Island known for its hiking & of course seafood restaurants. As soon as we got off the ferry, we decided to find the hiking trail, but the signage at the island wasn't very good, so we just kind of ended up exploring on our own. We first ran into the Pak Tei Temple, which was nice, but just like any other temple I've seen here. Then, we saw the Tung Wan beach & Windsurfing Center. *Fun fact: The Windsurfing Center is owned by the uncle of the only person from Hong Kong to ever win a gold medal at the Olympics! She won the gold in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta for windsurfing!

*Entrance to Pak Tei Temple

 *View of Cheung Chau from mountain lookout

Finally, we located the trail and started walking - there were lots of hills & steps & I quickly regretted my choice of sweatshirt & jean attire :( There was a "Mini Great Wall" once you hit one point of the trail, which I thought was funny because it was quite small! There were also these stick things every so often for you to use if a forest fire started - kind of scary, haha! We spent awhile trying to find signs to get to the Cheung Po-tsai Cave (he was a pirate that supposedly lived on Cheung Chau), but there were no signs anywhere & no one around to ask (they probably wouldn't have understood us anyways), so we just gave up. So weird that there were no signs for the main attraction on the island! Actually, in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, the Asian pirate is supposed to represent Cheung Po-tsai! I heard the cave was very small & dirty anyways, so it's no big deal that we couldn't find it. Finally, we went back to the main strip of restaurants & shops & found this amazing stick filled with fruit - I think I could have ate 10 of them, haha!! I really liked Cheung Chau - it was an interesting hike & a nice getaway from HK island. Although we saw quite a few tourists, the island was definitely less touristy as almost nothing was in English & the signage on the hiking trails was lacking.

*Mini Great Wall

*Heaven on a stick :)

I officially have seven days of class left + 5  finals! Today, I had two presentations in History Through Film & Organizational Behavior, which both went exceptionally well! I had a little scare last night/cultural experience when my group & I were supposed to meet to rehearse my History Through Film presentation. It was like 10 minutes past when we had decided to meet and no one was showing up. So, I called one group member, and she told me that her & another group member wouldn't be coming. I was just like "well, you know we present tomorrow morning, right?", and she said "yeah, it'll be fine, we'll rehearse tonight." Then, I automatically thought they weren't going to know what they were doing & our whole presentation would be ruined :( However, they both knew their parts perfectly today, thank goodness, but apparently being late/not showing up for meetings happens a lot around Lingnan's campus. I told them presentations were usually a big deal in the US, but I don't think some students take things too seriously here! I'm just glad those two presentations are over & everything worked out for the best :) One more presentation to go on Friday! Well, that's about all for now, until next time, love you all!

New pictures added to album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097293&id=1490346167&l=c0724639f1



5 Weeks Left in HK

Because most of my weekend was spent working on projects & reports, I figured I'd do a little reflection on the past 3 months. First off, I can't believe that I have 5 weeks left in Hong Kong! I don't know how to feel about that because I'm really going to miss it here & all of the fantastic people I've met, but I'm quite excited to get back to my family & friends as this is the longest I've gone without seeing many of them! I know these next 5 weeks are going to fly by so I want to make sure I take advantage of everything else HK has to offer :)

I've grown to love Hong Kong & I now understand why so many people rave about this city since there's so much to do & see :) Plus, the views here of the harbor don't get much better! Obviously there were some challenges that I had to overcome, such as the language barrier, the constant staring, and the food, but those things don't bother me at all anymore besides the fact that I probably won't want to eat rice for at least a year when I return to the states, haha! I don't think I could ever get used to the mass amount of people here though. I'm also happy that Lingnan is outside of the center of the city because then I'm able to experience some of the Cantonese culture. If I was going to school in Central, I'd probably never know anything about the local culture since everything there is Westernized. Being here has also really made me want to travel more. I've always loved travelling, but there's so many places that I never even thought of visiting that are closer to Hong Kong such as Vietnam, Thailand, Bali, India, and the Phillipines. I wish I had more time to visit all of those places, but seeing as there's so much to do here, it's okay :) 

My classes are going okay. I enjoy my Chinese, Film, and Organizational Behavior classes, but my Operations Management (basically advanced statistics) & Intermediate Macroeconomics are probably the worst classes I've ever taken :( This is probably because I despise Econ & Stats, but at least my grades here are pass/fail because I have a hard time concentrating here! They really stress group work here as I have 3 group presentations next week, blahhh :( At least we all work well together in all of my groups! Classes here definitely make me appreciate my classes at Butler as well!

Some of the things I've noticed here that are rather interesting: they put sugar in lemon water (it's actually not bad); when everyone gets off the MTR, they sprint to the escalator (probably so they don't have to deal with all the other people); a lot of people aren't afraid to burp in public; there's always something to shout about on Lingnan's campus whether it be to vote for someone for a position or to express how their organization is the best; noodles are the preferred meal for breakfast, although they do have eggs at the canteen (what the cafeteria is called); when you go to the movies, you pick your seats beforehand instead of just randomly sitting anywhere; and geez I know there's so many more, but I can't think right now! These aren't negative things whatsoever, just things that I'm not used to.

I also can't believe I havn't mentioned my roomie yet, shame on me, but her name is Corinna & she is in her last year at Lingnan studying English! I'm so lucky that I have her as a roommate as she's super nice & we both love music & movies :) She only stays in the hostel 2-3 nights a week because she has two jobs - one job is teaching art to children because she's REALLY good at drawing! I'll be sad to leave her in 5 weeks, but she better come visit me if she ever comes to the states, haha!! We'll have to take a roomie picture soon so everyone can see her :)

One more thing to mention: if you are reading this & are thinking of studying abroad in the future - DO IT!!! It's one of the most amazing experiences you will ever have & it will open your eyes to so many new things. I know some people don't have the best time abroad, but it's up to you to take advantage of everything a place has to offer. I'm SO glad I decided to come & I know I've said it millions of times before, but I'm very lucky to be here & to have family & friends that have supported me every step of the way, love you guys :)

Sorry if this post was more boring than the others, but next time I promise to have pretty pictures & sightseeing activites :) Until next time!!

The Jade Market

Yesterday, Kat, Sara, and I headed to the Jade Market in Mongkok. There are two buildings full of vendors selling jade Buddhas, earrings, bracelets, rings, pendants, necklaces, belts, etc. that are so pretty & unique! It was quite an overwhelming site because I didn't know where to look first, but I wanted to check out some gifts to bring back for family & friends.

*Entrance to the Jade Market

 *Example of a booth

We first checked out the many vendors & then decided to buy from an older lady, which was such a fun experience because she loved the 3 of us & kept laughing & joking around - she was very surprised at how tall Sara was too! After haggling with her for a little (I think I get this from my Dad & Grandpa, haha), I bought a few gifts & got an even better deal when I whipped out my Lingnan ID :) We then went to a different booth for another special gift (can't give away what it was!!) & the guy would not budge until the 3 of us pretended to be family & sadly said, "but it's for my Dadddd" & that did the trick, hahaha!!


*Me testing my bargaining skills :)


*So pretty!!

Some of the vendors were really annoying because they would keep repeating "come look, you want a bracelet, some earrings maybe?" I tended to stray away from those people, but they have to be like that since everyone sells a lot of similar things. I got sick of haggling after the first few purchases, so I'll go back again soon before I head back to the states - you can only handle so much at one time, haha!

*All of the vendors in rows



Sleeping Beauty Ballet & Hiking

Friday night, Anna S., and I went to see the Sleeping Beauty ballet at the Hong Kong Cultural Center. We had bought our tickets about a month & a half ago, and couldn't believe that the show came upon us so quickly! It was a GREAT ballet - the dancing, music (all Tchaikovsky), costumes, and setting were fabulous & the show was 3 hours long, but it went by so quickly! The story was the same as the Sleeping Beauty we are used to in the states, but at the end, a few random characters such as Red Riding Hood & Puss-n-boots showed up, which we found to be a little weird. We figured it was because Sleeping Beauty is a fairy tale, and they needed to add more solos to the show :) I'm really glad we decided to get tickets as it was well worth it!

*Me with one of the costumes :)

*Ending scene where Sleeping Beauty & the prince get married!

Yesterday, OMIP (the study abroad office at Lingnan) organized a hiking trip in Tsim Bei Tsui, which is a marsh-type area where one can see many forms of wildlife. Unfortuntely, it was a rainy & foggy day, so we weren't able to see anything besides one pelican! It was still interesting because I was able to see another side of Hong Kong that is more quiet & not full of people! After our hike, we ventured off to Lau Fau Shan where there is a market full of many forms of dried seafood such as octopus, sea horses, squid, clams, & I even saw a two-headed fish!!! It smelled really bad!! I bought some sesame honey cashews - so yummy that I ate all of them in 1 day, haha!! Seafood is quite popular here because of HK's island status, but most of the seafood I've had here, especially squid, is really chewy & I don't understand why, hmmm!

*Anna S., me, and Natalie on our hiking tour

 *Dried seafood at Lau Fau Shan market

The next few weeks are going to be super busy since I'm getting to the end of the term - only 8 classes left of each course, so crazy! I have multiple presentations & papers due soon, yuckkkk!! Next weekend, I'm unfortunately probably going to have to take a break from sightseeing & get down to school business :( But, I think that's about it for now - until next time, love you all!!

New pictures added to album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097293&id=1490346167&l=c0724639f1