“If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?”
My answer was always Hong Kong. I wanted my study abroad experience to have the biggest impactful on my life as possible. I knew I wanted to go outside my comfort zone and experience some culture shock. I also knew that I came here for more than just sightseeing. Coming to Hong Kong meant discovering something in my inner unconscious through connecting with distant relatives, finding where my parents grew up, learning how to blend in with the locals, and learning more about my family’s cultural heritage.
My family is awesome. The day I arrived at the Hong Kong International Airport, I met my maternal grandfather’s brother Albert and his wife Han Yin for the first time. They were instantly familiar. Their humor reminded me of my grandfather (who’s visiting Hong Kong with my grandmother in a couple months!). My great-uncle and great-aunt drove me all the way to CUHK, waited as I checked-in on main campus, and then drove me to my hostel and helped me get settled in.
I also met my grandfather’s sister Cindy and her husband Siu Hoi, who later took me out for hiking and dim sum! We took the ferry to Lai Chi Chong (Hong Kong UNESCO Geopark) and spent the morning exploring the unique rocky beach and hiking through the peaceful forest. Just west of the pier was the rare volcanic sedimentary rock that was unlike anything I’d ever seen.
Also, my great-uncle Albert, my great-aunt Cindy, and I recreated a photo of them and my mother taken in the 70s.
To kick off the start of Chinese New Year, I had a steamboat dinner with my mother’s relatives in their home in Tai Wo, just two train stations away from CUHK. They live in a 25(ish?) story apartment building in a quiet neighborhood next to a secondary school and a park. At dinner, I met their son, my “uncle” Jeffrey, who is currently a medical student at HKU. We learned there are many differences between pre-med students in America and Hong Kong!
ABC in HK 
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