Boiling water tank in my hostel kitchen 
After running around and getting acclimated, I finally have time to blog! I’ve done so much in the last week that it feels like I’ve been in Hong Kong for a month. So far, I’ve figured out the shuttle routes, what’s good and not so good to eat at the canteen on the first level of my hostel (what CUHK calls the dorms), found the gym on the lower level of my hostel, and found a source of cold and filtered drinking water. Up to that point, I had been drinking boiled water, which consistently burned my tongue. The boiled water also tasted weird on its own. So I had even bought an 800g container of Horlicks
(I have gone metrics!), which is a malted milk powder to flavor it. So when I saw the electronic filtered water dispenser, I did a double-take, went upstairs to wash out the remnants of hot malted milk from my bottle, and returned for the cool refreshing H2O.
Day One: After the tour, I joined a group of exchange students and walked over to the MTR station on campus. Public transportation in Hong Kong is so much cleaner than in the US. There’s no eating or drinking allowed in the cars or on the platforms. We went to the nearest IKEA (Hong Kong has 4 IKEAs!) to get some supplies. After we were done, we ran back down to the MTR to catch our train and I barely got in before the doors chopped me in half. (see previous post.) Although I saved all my limbs, my bag got stuck between the doors. Fortunately, one student who was a few steps behind me was able to secure my bag, and we all eventually made it back to the university with our quilts and mattress pads. Despite all the traveling, we met back at the MTR station to explore Tsim Sha Tsui and Victoria Harbour, which had an awesome Hong Kong skyline view.
The orientation for international exchange students was on the second day. After four hours of that, I made my way to the other side of campus for the Cantonese Survival Class. (Can you find me in the Instagram photo?) I was pleased to find that I knew most of the words the instructor introduced, except for “sorry.” It’s not a word I regularly use in English either, so I wasn’t surprised. Jokes aside, my Cantonese is still terrible. At the end of class, I exchanged numbers with exchange students, then left to explore more of the campus and to find the room where I would have my advising session later that afternoon. Ten minutes later, I found a beautiful terrace with plush grass, marble benches, a couple making out hard, and an unobscured view of the mountains. I also met two girls from UNC-G there and one of them is even from Greenville. Small world!
On day three I met with a group of exchange students and mapped out our classes on campus. While searching for specific buildings, we found some neat trails and bridges in the forest. Not all of us were hikers though, so the forest exploration was short-lived. We did find a “Learning Garden” on the lower ground floor of the University Library. It has floor-to-ceiling whiteboards, is open 24/7, and has skylights with water flowing across them. That night, I went out with two friends to Temple Street Night Market, ate street food, tried egg waffle for the first time, and walked through the dozens of market vendors.
ABC in HK 