Many of our blog posts have been about trips, outings and special events that we've experienced during our exchange term. Those were indeed awesome, but I also wanted to share how a regular, normal day would be for us as exchange students at HKUST. There were days where we didn't go out because, yes, we had to study! Although I may have complained and grumbled about being stuck in the library, I still view every part of my experience as a luxury. We were able to travel halfway across the world to attend a great university, continue to learn and expand our knowledge base, meet new friends, experience Hong Kong culture, eat such delicious foods and see beautiful sights. So I would like to share, from my point of view, what a normal day would be like for an exchange student experiencing student life at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology :) I hope you read on and enjoy!
7:30am was still too early...in any time zone. But, I made a vow to myself to not sleep in and skip classes during my time here. After all, the grades I achieve here at HKUST still counts towards my GPA for graduate admission committees...
The room was dark; I would have love to throw the curtains wide open but I didn't want to wake my sleeping roommate. I sneakily took my toiletries and proceeded out of our room door.
I would say that my roommate and I probably have one of the best rooms on the floor. It was far away from the washroom so we don't get disturbed by students walking past our bedroom, slamming doors and showering at ungodly hours. In addition, instead of having a room directly across from us, we have a balcony that displayed crisp Clear Water Bay scenery and beautiful mountains. There would be times where, if I woke up early enough in the morning, I would enjoy a few moments out on the balcony, taking in the glorious view and feeling the morning breeze.
It seems that foam ear plugs are a rare commodity in Hong Kong. My supply of ear plugs for sleeping are running out, and I first thought that I could simply get some at our Park n Shop convenience store on campus, or at a Watson's (similar to London Drugs and Shoppers') here. But nope - at a majority of the places I have been to, they only sell silicon ear plugs. I suppose those would work, but none of the packaging says how many decibels it blocks out, and I'd like to know that before I spent $5 CAD on a pair of ear plugs. So if anyone knows a place that sells regular foam ear plugs for a decent, expected price, please let me know...:P
This is a quick, real time update from HONG KONG! We still have a lot to write and post about Taiwan and HK, but just wanted to drop in a quick note. We have been getting settled in for the last few days - buying our sheets, shampoo, fruit, Metro pass etc to make our living here more comfortable, less cold and more awesome! School is finally (I must say finally because it is so late into the year) starting tomorrow, which is exciting but also scary! We met lots of people these past few days; there are many MANY exchange students from all over the world. We have probably met people from at least 15 different countries. Most of them are enrolled in the Business program here, but we have also met some Engineers and Science peeps.
Anyways, we'll post once things slow down a bit...if they ever do. Even if they don't, we'll be posting anyways :P
We are nearly ready! We have our money exchanged (from Canadian to Taiwan dollars and Hong Kong dollars), our HK Visa label attached to our passports, our boarding passes printed out...so we are SET TO GO!
Our last night in Vancouver involved having an awesome dinner with my family at East Side Mario's (on the West side! Wooo). And now, there is less than 12 hours before we set in motion our ASIA TRIP!! So exciting! My brother suggested us to not sleep tonight, so we snooze on the plane ride instead. This would help us adjust to our jet lag but I really think I cannot do it. Hopefully the plane ride will be alright...I am slightly nervous because I get motion sickness easily but there are lots of things to keep my preoccupied and also Gravol for when I really cannot stand it. My mom suggested that we play mahjong throughout the night to keep us up but I think she was kidding...or maybe only half kidding hehe :P
Until next post, which will either be from the YVR airport, or from Taiwan!! Woooo!
