i arrived in hong kong in the early afternoon of tuesday, july 2 after a 15+ hour flight from toronto (dc --> toronto --> hong kong). kelsey (my coworker, the current director of the program) was waiting for me outside of the immigration and baggage claim area. immigration in hong kong seems to be mostly in name only - i've never seen an immigration form shorter than hong kong's and the line out of the immigration area went quickly.
once we got to the hotel and i settled in, kelsey and i walked around downtown hong kong and eventually ended up at a sushi restaurant for dinner. i love sushi, and this was particularly good sushi. the restaurant is set up so that you are sitting at a bar that has a conveyor belt of sushi passing in front of you - you simply take what you want and then they add up the cost of what you selected at the end. kelsey and i decided we were too lazy to wait for what we wanted to come around the belt (no, it wasn't slow, we were just both jet-lagged and exhausted), so we just ordered what we wanted and then shared the rolls that came. after that we went back to the hotel and i struggled to stay awake as long as i could so that i could (hopefully!!!) sleep through the night. my hard work paid off, and while i did wake up a few times during the night each time i was able to fall asleep quickly. i slept all the way until 6:15am
Hong Kong is an interesting city - I pictured it being an entirely bright, shiny, new city, and while parts of it are just that, other parts of it are just... normal. Don't know why that surprised me as much as it did. The city is also built on very steep hills which means that what looks like an easy block-long walk on a map is actually a hike up a nearly vertical cliff (at least that's how it feels once you get to the top). There are actually, in the steeper areas, escalators that people can ride up instead of walking up steps. Hills or not, though, the streets are always bustling, people (tiny people!!) are everywhere. On the whole, I like it, but it can be a little overwhelming. As for pictures, mom, go to my facebook page and you will see 2 pictures of the view from my hotel room. I'll add more pictures to that album, so just check there.
As for the program, most of the students arrived yesterday for the orientation and a handful of stragglers will be arriving in the next couple of days. Today (Saturday) we have the opening ceremony, which is apparently a lecture about HK's history and how it became this commercial hub. Tomorrow (Sunday) is the tour of Hong Kong - we'll head up to Victoria Peak (google that for pictures, the view is apparently amazing) and then take a bus tour of the city. Monday is the start of classes (dun dun dunnnnn). Tuesday is more classes, but in the afternoon/evening Kelsey, Andy (the economics professor), and I are taking Bill Hybl (big wig at TFAS, also done some other big stuff but I can't remember what at the moment) to Macau. Macau should be interesting, but from what I can gather it's just a smaller version of Las Vegas, so... Eh, we'll see, I shouldn't judge it before I go there.
once we got to the hotel and i settled in, kelsey and i walked around downtown hong kong and eventually ended up at a sushi restaurant for dinner. i love sushi, and this was particularly good sushi. the restaurant is set up so that you are sitting at a bar that has a conveyor belt of sushi passing in front of you - you simply take what you want and then they add up the cost of what you selected at the end. kelsey and i decided we were too lazy to wait for what we wanted to come around the belt (no, it wasn't slow, we were just both jet-lagged and exhausted), so we just ordered what we wanted and then shared the rolls that came. after that we went back to the hotel and i struggled to stay awake as long as i could so that i could (hopefully!!!) sleep through the night. my hard work paid off, and while i did wake up a few times during the night each time i was able to fall asleep quickly. i slept all the way until 6:15am
Hong Kong is an interesting city - I pictured it being an entirely bright, shiny, new city, and while parts of it are just that, other parts of it are just... normal. Don't know why that surprised me as much as it did. The city is also built on very steep hills which means that what looks like an easy block-long walk on a map is actually a hike up a nearly vertical cliff (at least that's how it feels once you get to the top). There are actually, in the steeper areas, escalators that people can ride up instead of walking up steps. Hills or not, though, the streets are always bustling, people (tiny people!!) are everywhere. On the whole, I like it, but it can be a little overwhelming. As for pictures, mom, go to my facebook page and you will see 2 pictures of the view from my hotel room. I'll add more pictures to that album, so just check there.
As for the program, most of the students arrived yesterday for the orientation and a handful of stragglers will be arriving in the next couple of days. Today (Saturday) we have the opening ceremony, which is apparently a lecture about HK's history and how it became this commercial hub. Tomorrow (Sunday) is the tour of Hong Kong - we'll head up to Victoria Peak (google that for pictures, the view is apparently amazing) and then take a bus tour of the city. Monday is the start of classes (dun dun dunnnnn). Tuesday is more classes, but in the afternoon/evening Kelsey, Andy (the economics professor), and I are taking Bill Hybl (big wig at TFAS, also done some other big stuff but I can't remember what at the moment) to Macau. Macau should be interesting, but from what I can gather it's just a smaller version of Las Vegas, so... Eh, we'll see, I shouldn't judge it before I go there.
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