Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Goodbye Summer...
The summer has walked into the horizon and a new semester begins... Lets hope for the best this year!
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
Shanghai Week 1: Lenovo!
Ack! Work work work! I don't have the time to blog anymore! :( Plus Blogger is blocked in China so I can't blog regularly! But I'll still try to do one once a week! It's all good in the hood! ^^
So I got to Shanghai safely on Sunday~ This place is BEAUTIFUL (only at night). Still can't compare to HK's night view though. :) When we arrived, the program directors treated us to a BIG dinner. Omg, it was like the biggest meal I've had! Haha... It was more than a regular Chinese wedding dinner in the US. Everything was yummy, except maybe the stinky tofu. I tried stinky tofu for the first time. ^^; It wasn't as good as people said... But maybe it's because it wasn't made on the streets lol...
Monday, I finally started work at Lenovo. Lenovo buddies: Kristen, Cathy, Amanda, Salman, and Chi Yung. By now, we're like really close friends because we're spending like 15 hours a day together haha...
At first, I was pretty cranky about being placed into the Human Resource department when I first found out. I was expecting more than just sitting around doing payroll and managing Excel files of employees. I wanted to e-mail the HR department to ask if I can take on another role. But after working in the Human Resource department, I refer back to the phrase "Don't just a book by its cover." I'm actually really happy the be placed in the HR department now. :) The employees here are wonderful and really nice! My mentor is the best. Her name's Geeva or Yu Xiao. She's really nice and caring. She knows that HR might not be the only thing I want to learn, so she gave me the option to follow other employees as my mentor to teach me other things. I chose her to teach me Chinese and another employee Nick from the IT department is teaching me IT related things.
But overall, I'm really happy to be with Lenovo. Out of all the stories that I've heard from other interns, I think Lenovo, or at least for my part of the job, would be the most favorable for me. Geeva assigned a lot of projects for me so I won't just sit around and be bored. I get to plan classes to teach employees English, I get to work with other employees in the HR department to plan events and activities, etc. Overall, I think it's wonderful! Everyone's really friendly and nice. They're all willing to help us out if we have any problems. I can tell that everyone is excited to us interns there... If only the company wasn't in China, I'd definitely return if they offer me a full time job. :)
Not all things are perfect though haha... We ended up having to commute to work for 2 hours everyday. ~_~ On top of that, the trains are PACKED in the morning. Everyone's trying to get to work, so everyone's just up against each other's face when we all get squished into the train. Fortunately, it's not as bad as the YouTube video of Japan trains where the conductor pushes the people in... But it's still bad.
Besides work, I got to meet up with some UMass friends finally! :) I haven't seen them for a while, especially Lucy that went to study abroad in Switzerland during Spring 2012. Oh boy was it a good night. I got to catch up with them a lot and just talked a lot. I'm glad I got to see them again. I need to plan a day to meet up with Jason's Shanghai friends too! Maybe next weekend.
Well, this weekend went by fast haha... I got a bit sick from the rain on Friday, so I just chillaxed in my room over the weekend. I participated in Micron Toastmasters Club that was held in Lenovo! I was really excited to know that Toastmasters happen every week at Lenovo that's partnered with Micron (another tech company). On top of working, I can 提高 my presentation skills! They utilize this club to help employees of companies around the area to excel in their presentation skills and gain more confidence in presenting in English. It's a really nice approach for them. This will definitely be useful when I go back to the states to seriously look for a job! ^^; I signed up to be the Table Topic Master this coming Wednesday, so I got to prepare for it soon~ Hehe...
Well, until next week, good night! :)
So I got to Shanghai safely on Sunday~ This place is BEAUTIFUL (only at night). Still can't compare to HK's night view though. :) When we arrived, the program directors treated us to a BIG dinner. Omg, it was like the biggest meal I've had! Haha... It was more than a regular Chinese wedding dinner in the US. Everything was yummy, except maybe the stinky tofu. I tried stinky tofu for the first time. ^^; It wasn't as good as people said... But maybe it's because it wasn't made on the streets lol...
Monday, I finally started work at Lenovo. Lenovo buddies: Kristen, Cathy, Amanda, Salman, and Chi Yung. By now, we're like really close friends because we're spending like 15 hours a day together haha...
At first, I was pretty cranky about being placed into the Human Resource department when I first found out. I was expecting more than just sitting around doing payroll and managing Excel files of employees. I wanted to e-mail the HR department to ask if I can take on another role. But after working in the Human Resource department, I refer back to the phrase "Don't just a book by its cover." I'm actually really happy the be placed in the HR department now. :) The employees here are wonderful and really nice! My mentor is the best. Her name's Geeva or Yu Xiao. She's really nice and caring. She knows that HR might not be the only thing I want to learn, so she gave me the option to follow other employees as my mentor to teach me other things. I chose her to teach me Chinese and another employee Nick from the IT department is teaching me IT related things.
But overall, I'm really happy to be with Lenovo. Out of all the stories that I've heard from other interns, I think Lenovo, or at least for my part of the job, would be the most favorable for me. Geeva assigned a lot of projects for me so I won't just sit around and be bored. I get to plan classes to teach employees English, I get to work with other employees in the HR department to plan events and activities, etc. Overall, I think it's wonderful! Everyone's really friendly and nice. They're all willing to help us out if we have any problems. I can tell that everyone is excited to us interns there... If only the company wasn't in China, I'd definitely return if they offer me a full time job. :)
Not all things are perfect though haha... We ended up having to commute to work for 2 hours everyday. ~_~ On top of that, the trains are PACKED in the morning. Everyone's trying to get to work, so everyone's just up against each other's face when we all get squished into the train. Fortunately, it's not as bad as the YouTube video of Japan trains where the conductor pushes the people in... But it's still bad.
Besides work, I got to meet up with some UMass friends finally! :) I haven't seen them for a while, especially Lucy that went to study abroad in Switzerland during Spring 2012. Oh boy was it a good night. I got to catch up with them a lot and just talked a lot. I'm glad I got to see them again. I need to plan a day to meet up with Jason's Shanghai friends too! Maybe next weekend.
Well, this weekend went by fast haha... I got a bit sick from the rain on Friday, so I just chillaxed in my room over the weekend. I participated in Micron Toastmasters Club that was held in Lenovo! I was really excited to know that Toastmasters happen every week at Lenovo that's partnered with Micron (another tech company). On top of working, I can 提高 my presentation skills! They utilize this club to help employees of companies around the area to excel in their presentation skills and gain more confidence in presenting in English. It's a really nice approach for them. This will definitely be useful when I go back to the states to seriously look for a job! ^^; I signed up to be the Table Topic Master this coming Wednesday, so I got to prepare for it soon~ Hehe...
Well, until next week, good night! :)
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Day 27: Packing for Shanghai!
^^
*Editting on July 11, 2012* Awesome time with Wendy and her co-workers. :) Two of them visited Wendy just to see me before I leave for Shanghai haha... Wendy, Becky and I went out to the arcade again that Saturday night ^^ From that, I brought back a Bloody Teddy haha... I decided to bring it to Shanghai, so it's with me all the time. :) The program was supposed to go to Macau, and it was suppose to be canceled because of a typhoon, but ended up going, which I skipped because I was too lazy to wake up at 5, make it back to school by 7 and head out to Macau at 8. But it turned out all good. :)
*Editting on July 11, 2012* Awesome time with Wendy and her co-workers. :) Two of them visited Wendy just to see me before I leave for Shanghai haha... Wendy, Becky and I went out to the arcade again that Saturday night ^^ From that, I brought back a Bloody Teddy haha... I decided to bring it to Shanghai, so it's with me all the time. :) The program was supposed to go to Macau, and it was suppose to be canceled because of a typhoon, but ended up going, which I skipped because I was too lazy to wake up at 5, make it back to school by 7 and head out to Macau at 8. But it turned out all good. :)
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Day 36: Really? ._."
*Knock Knock*
*Open door*
Erin: Hey Henry, you want to go out tonight?
Me: Ehh... I think I'll stay in tonight.
Agnes: Oh, we were here to look for your roommate anyways. We know you don't go out to party.
Really? You're the assistants that were supposed to look after us for the program. You're supposed to serve as a model with leadership. I don't drink everyday of the week like you.
Is it an obligation to go to Lang Kwai Fong? Ugh...
*Open door*
Erin: Hey Henry, you want to go out tonight?
Me: Ehh... I think I'll stay in tonight.
Agnes: Oh, we were here to look for your roommate anyways. We know you don't go out to party.
Really? You're the assistants that were supposed to look after us for the program. You're supposed to serve as a model with leadership. I don't drink everyday of the week like you.
Is it an obligation to go to Lang Kwai Fong? Ugh...
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Day 35: Last Day with Dr. Luk!
Field trip early in the morning! x3 We went to TSL (Tse Sui Luen Jewellery, but no one can pronounce it, so everyone just call it TSL) main branch today. The CEO gave us a talk on the history of the company and their new innovation on their jewelry. TSL used to be a traditional goldsmith company, but with the new CEO, he wants to aim for more western and modern feel. He new innovation separated TSL from 周大福，周生生，and六福 and led the company to win many awards. They even hired a guy named Willard Wigan, a microscopic craftsman that can craft microscopic sculptures and placed it on their rings. He was awarded something by the Queen of England. Really awesome. I felt so happy when the CEO said I asked a really good question. :) Haha, I always feel that my questions are stupid and people laugh at it whenever I do ask it. But this time, it was gooood. During the presentation, the CEO said they installed WiFi in every one of their store so the guys can go online on their phone while the girl go buy jewelry haha... So I said, "Like you said, you guys installed WiFi at every store so the guy can go online while the girl buy jewelry. I've also noticed that there were no products aimed for the male population. I understand that about 90% of jewelry buyers are by the female population, but do you guys ever though of entering the male population segment?" :D But this presentation had the most Q&A because his presentation was wonderful and everyone was really interested in their innovation and great success (even though this is the only second store I've seen lol...周大福and周生生 are ALL OVER Hong Kong).
After that, we were going to head back to HKU for lunch and class at 2:30, but Mo wanted sushi really bad and we were really closed to the really cheap sushi place that Wendy brought me to. We asked for permission to go eat there and try to head back to HKU for class in time. We got the okay and went for sushi! :D It was his first time eating real sushi and first time eating sashimi! Haha... He said in UK, the sushi are EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE and he has only had 7Eleven sushi which isn't real. I see that he really enjoyed it. We ended up having 20 plates = $160 + service charge to a total of $176. $85 per person which is less than US$15! :D So cheap! We were afraid there would be traffic, so we were gonna leave early, but we were full even before the time we planned to leave. We made it back to HKU with 30 minutes to spear.
After all that with the field trip and the lunch, I was too pooped to focus in class lol... It was also the last lecture with Dr. Luk. We have one more with Dr. Leung and we'll be done --> study for exam on Friday. Overall, I really enjoyed the class and he's a really good lecturer. Now I understand why HKU is one of the top schools in the world. The professors are really that great!
After class, I was debating whether to go back to auntie's house or not. I really wanted to go to H&M and get some cheap clothing and go to Mongkok to get some cheap stuff too... I ended up not going back or to H&M or Mongkok. :< I hung out in my room until people called me for dinner. We went out for dinner at a place that didn't have English on their menu! Haha... Most of us can either speak Cantonese or Mandarin, but none of us can read! Oh man... We were deciding whether to point to other people's table to order food or make up names of dishes that we knew on the top of our heads... We ended up asking if there was an English menu and luckily they do! Haha... In Shanghai, we can't do that because the English menu has prices a lot more than the Chinese menu. Overall, good dinner, good day. Came back, Skyped with Victoria <3 and now I should go shower and head to sleep. ^^; Tomorrow one lecture again, so I'll be done at 12:30. People wanted to go to Ocean Park/ Beach/ History of HK Museum... I don't know what to do, but myah...
Until next time, good night! :)
After that, we were going to head back to HKU for lunch and class at 2:30, but Mo wanted sushi really bad and we were really closed to the really cheap sushi place that Wendy brought me to. We asked for permission to go eat there and try to head back to HKU for class in time. We got the okay and went for sushi! :D It was his first time eating real sushi and first time eating sashimi! Haha... He said in UK, the sushi are EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE and he has only had 7Eleven sushi which isn't real. I see that he really enjoyed it. We ended up having 20 plates = $160 + service charge to a total of $176. $85 per person which is less than US$15! :D So cheap! We were afraid there would be traffic, so we were gonna leave early, but we were full even before the time we planned to leave. We made it back to HKU with 30 minutes to spear.
After all that with the field trip and the lunch, I was too pooped to focus in class lol... It was also the last lecture with Dr. Luk. We have one more with Dr. Leung and we'll be done --> study for exam on Friday. Overall, I really enjoyed the class and he's a really good lecturer. Now I understand why HKU is one of the top schools in the world. The professors are really that great!
After class, I was debating whether to go back to auntie's house or not. I really wanted to go to H&M and get some cheap clothing and go to Mongkok to get some cheap stuff too... I ended up not going back or to H&M or Mongkok. :< I hung out in my room until people called me for dinner. We went out for dinner at a place that didn't have English on their menu! Haha... Most of us can either speak Cantonese or Mandarin, but none of us can read! Oh man... We were deciding whether to point to other people's table to order food or make up names of dishes that we knew on the top of our heads... We ended up asking if there was an English menu and luckily they do! Haha... In Shanghai, we can't do that because the English menu has prices a lot more than the Chinese menu. Overall, good dinner, good day. Came back, Skyped with Victoria <3 and now I should go shower and head to sleep. ^^; Tomorrow one lecture again, so I'll be done at 12:30. People wanted to go to Ocean Park/ Beach/ History of HK Museum... I don't know what to do, but myah...
Until next time, good night! :)
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| TSL, mainly focus on wedding jewelry! |
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| HK$200,000 iPad! O_O And diamond studded bluetooth headset... Haha |
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| So much gold! |
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| HK$8 per plate sushi! |
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| Mo and I after we're done x3 |
34: Field Trip x2!
Woot! ^_^ No class today! We had company visits today all day, so it was fun!
We first went to the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited. It was where people can buy and sell stocks. Too bad most of the trading are done online now a days, so people don't really come to this place. It serves more as a landmark rather than usage. The employee there gave us a tour of the place and taught us now to buy stocks in HK, but it was so different from the US and no one understood. It was so funny because he was explaining it on his own level and he kept telling us it's simple and we should understand haha... We don't even know how he got the numbers that he was speaking of. After he finished talking, we just went around and checked out the place.
After that, we headed for lunch at some random restaurant at the Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Center. I had preserved egg & pork porridge. It was okay, but not worth $38 lol...
After lunch, we had a tour around the convention center. I didn't noticed that it was such a big place until I saw the convention room empty! Last time I attended Wendy's convention, it didn't look so big because it was filled with stalls and people. The lady that presented the info to us was really bad at presenting. She basically read the PowerPoint to us. That's one thing that we were taught not to do.
After that, we were free to do whatever we want, so we followed one of our assistant to a computer mall called Golden Computer Mall in Shum Shui Po. It was kind of like Wan Chai Computer Center, so I didn't really see the point. :s This place was more focused on games and less focused on computer and phones comparing to the Wan Chai one. I ended up buying two pen for touch screen for HK$25. I kind of find it useless since I don't play Draw Something anymore haha...
At 5:30, we decided to leave. I wanted to go to Mongkok, but I was still in my dress shirt and pants for the company visit, so I wanted to head back and change out of it. When I got back, I didn't feel like going out anymore, so I just took a nap before dinner. x3 Trying to cut back on my spending, so I just got something cheap. :) Went to Wellcome supermarket and got some breakfast.
That's all for today! ^_^ Until next time, peace!
We first went to the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited. It was where people can buy and sell stocks. Too bad most of the trading are done online now a days, so people don't really come to this place. It serves more as a landmark rather than usage. The employee there gave us a tour of the place and taught us now to buy stocks in HK, but it was so different from the US and no one understood. It was so funny because he was explaining it on his own level and he kept telling us it's simple and we should understand haha... We don't even know how he got the numbers that he was speaking of. After he finished talking, we just went around and checked out the place.
After that, we headed for lunch at some random restaurant at the Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Center. I had preserved egg & pork porridge. It was okay, but not worth $38 lol...
After lunch, we had a tour around the convention center. I didn't noticed that it was such a big place until I saw the convention room empty! Last time I attended Wendy's convention, it didn't look so big because it was filled with stalls and people. The lady that presented the info to us was really bad at presenting. She basically read the PowerPoint to us. That's one thing that we were taught not to do.
After that, we were free to do whatever we want, so we followed one of our assistant to a computer mall called Golden Computer Mall in Shum Shui Po. It was kind of like Wan Chai Computer Center, so I didn't really see the point. :s This place was more focused on games and less focused on computer and phones comparing to the Wan Chai one. I ended up buying two pen for touch screen for HK$25. I kind of find it useless since I don't play Draw Something anymore haha...
At 5:30, we decided to leave. I wanted to go to Mongkok, but I was still in my dress shirt and pants for the company visit, so I wanted to head back and change out of it. When I got back, I didn't feel like going out anymore, so I just took a nap before dinner. x3 Trying to cut back on my spending, so I just got something cheap. :) Went to Wellcome supermarket and got some breakfast.
That's all for today! ^_^ Until next time, peace!
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| Really modern look of the HKEx |
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| I'm a stock broker! |
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| I teach you how to invest! |
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| The podium where the speaker introduce us about the history of the HK stock market |
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
33: Missed a Bullet!
Today was a good day. We had class in the morning and went out with Camille for lunch. She was the one in charge of this program and arranging everything, but we never got to meet her and thank her for everything. She finally took some time out to have lunch with us.
After lunch, we had a guest speaker Derek Man from The Bank of Tokyo Mitshubishi. He talked about the economy of Japan and its history of all the things that they've been through. It was really interesting. :) Even though Japan is not doing so well now a days, it still ranked 3rd biggest market in the world so it's fine.
After the lecture, a girl Yinne was inviting everyone to her birthday party. She was going to get some alcohol and celebrate it on the fourth floor of our dorm. Bad idea... When I heard they were going to drink, I decided not to go. Instead, I went out with some friends for dinner instead. Turns a lot of people went to her birthday party, even those that were not invited. They were blasting music, yelling really loud, and got caught because some student in this dorm complained that they were making a lot of noise. They're all in trouble for having alcohol in the dorm, so I dodged a bullet from not being there! :)
My friends and I went out for dinner at misocoollll, a Japanese urban like restaurant. Haha, really creative name but semi-expensive for the amount of food we get. Oh man, if I keep going out for lunch and dinner like this, I'm gonna go poor. :((( But the food wasn't too bad. After that, we walked around Central and went to the roof of ifc? It was too low to be the roof of ifc, so I don't know what it was. We just chilled there and took some pictures of the Kowloon skyline. Of course, Kowloon skyline is not as good as Hong Kong Island. :)
Came back around 11, took a shower and now heading to sleep. Night night until next time! :D
Monday, June 25, 2012
32: Swimming Again ^^
Didn't do much today actually, so it was relaxing. Edward went out with play soccer with his friends. Auntie, Wendy and I just chilled at home. We decided on going to swimming again today, so we headed out at 5pm to grab some food before going out to swimming. I left my swimming trunk at school, so auntie got me one of Edward's swimming shorts. It was short short short. O_O Like an underwear but a bit longer. Haha... Not used to wearing those kind of shorts. All my swim wear are beach stuff, so it was kind of weird. Turns out I don't even know how to move my leg when swimming. :P Wendy had me bring a floaty board so I can practice breathing. I was still afraid I might breath in water and choke on it, so I tried my best to learn. It was fun overall. Edward showed up a bit after we got there, so that was cool too. I weighted myself afterwards. I was 135lb haha... I'm good at maintain my weight between 135~145, constantly fluctuating. I'm 165cm tall, which is 5'4.96" without shoes. :( I'm so short! T^T Oh well, that's for not liking to drink milk when I was little lol... I was going to go back to my dorm tonight, but I decided to stay another night and go back in the morning. Partly because they would worry if I go back so late.
It was a good day, so I'm going to sleep now and head back to school for class tomorrow. :) Good night until next time!
Sunday, June 24, 2012
31: Fun Fun fun @ Lantau Island!
Happy
端午節 !
Field trip weeeee~ We had to wake up at 8 to meet up at 8:45 though lol... Too early for a Saturday! >o< But the trip was fun!
We met up at the lobby and boarded a bus to Tai O, a town on the Lantau Island. It's an island off of the New Territory. The ride was an hour. They even hired a "professional" person to speak with us about Hong Kong? I don't think he was that great, but I guess it's a job after all and he did his best. :P
Tai was
Field trip weeeee~ We had to wake up at 8 to meet up at 8:45 though lol... Too early for a Saturday! >o< But the trip was fun!
We met up at the lobby and boarded a bus to Tai O, a town on the Lantau Island. It's an island off of the New Territory. The ride was an hour. They even hired a "professional" person to speak with us about Hong Kong? I don't think he was that great, but I guess it's a job after all and he did his best. :P
Tai was
Saturday, June 23, 2012
30: Myah...
Hmmm... I really wanted this blog to be a happy one and my trip to be fun and wonderful! But there's always something that bothers me. :( Maybe I'm bad with people...
We only have morning class today, so we were done at 12:30. I was talking with the assistants after class regarding the field trip tomorrow around Hong Kong. :) When I finished talking to them, I didn't know where everyone went. I walked for a while before seeing Amanda. She's also an intern at Lenovo, but I haven't really got the chance to talk with her that much. Turns out she studies Psychology and Asian Studies at Williams College and she wants to go teach English in Japan after she graduates haha... What a fun life she's going to have. :P
Amanda was with a group of people that were going to have dim sum for lunch. I couldn't find anyone else, so I went with them for dim sum. I have already settled last night on going for sushi tonight for dinner. Calvin and Mo was excited about it, so I was looking forward for it all day.
After dim sum for lunch, we headed out to go to a temple. Apparently, some of the people in this group was a bit religious~ I told them my mom pray to the Gods every 1st and 15th of the month but that's about it lol... I went along with it. I prayed to the Gods there to protect me family and wish us all good health for the coming year, etc. etc. It was my first time getting my fortune told from shaking a cup of sticks and getting a fortune number lol... HK$30 -- I asked about family and it was actually not a lucky one. The translator said there's much argument in the family and my family should be careful about stomach and respiratory system as it might be a problem. I honestly don't believe that because there were over 20 stores of fortune readers and I'd bet everyone one of them would give a different answer. Though I could see how the argument is a bit accurate, but I doubt whatever she said was real. The rest of the group said their fortune was a bit irrelevant. One of the girl ask about love and the lady said she'll find love in mid-August lolol... After the lady told me fortune, she tried to get me into getting my life thingie "xi sun bat zhi." At first, I was like okay! Sounds fun! But when she told me it was HK$600, I was like O_O hahahaha.... No thanks! Then she tried getting me to do a cheaper one for $300 lol... But some of the people in the group really did it (as they were pretty religious). Anyways, we were getting kicked out because it was 5pm and they're trying to close.
After leaving, we went to Mongkok! This is where all the streets with the fake stuff where you can haggle price (Lady's Market/女人街)! The rest of the group was getting all these fried fish balls, chinese sausage, meat balls, seafood on stick and stuff like that, but I wanted to save my stomach for sushi!
My friends and I were planning on meeting up at 6 for sushi. One of them decided to follow an assistant to go for Korean BBQ... Turned out most of my group went with the assistant too. I was really annoyed, but I was like whatever, lets just go for Korean BBQ then... At this point, I was a bit hungry and agitated. I split up with my current group and try to find a place to meet them up. In the whole process, there was a lot of confusion and we could not get a hold of the assistant that's bringing people to the Korean BBQ place and the people that were meeting up with me didn't know how to get there either. After much complications, we finally found each other at 8pm... By this time, I just wanted to walk around Mongkok and buy food along the way as dinner. But no, Josh wants to find a restaurant to sit down and eat since we couldn't meet up with the assistant and the people with her. So I continue to go along with it. We walked for a good 30 minutes trying to find the place while I was tired, hungry, and kind of annoyed how my plans always get interrupted and never go the way that it should go (Partly because Josh acts like he's a know it all and thinks he know what he's doing).
We couldn't find the place, so we just sat down at a random restaurant to get some food because they felt bad for me for waiting for them all day and not go for sushi. By this time, I have lost all appetite for anything, so I just got plain congee and a dish of 菜心 for HK$22. The menu really didn't have any good places for congee.
We only have morning class today, so we were done at 12:30. I was talking with the assistants after class regarding the field trip tomorrow around Hong Kong. :) When I finished talking to them, I didn't know where everyone went. I walked for a while before seeing Amanda. She's also an intern at Lenovo, but I haven't really got the chance to talk with her that much. Turns out she studies Psychology and Asian Studies at Williams College and she wants to go teach English in Japan after she graduates haha... What a fun life she's going to have. :P
Amanda was with a group of people that were going to have dim sum for lunch. I couldn't find anyone else, so I went with them for dim sum. I have already settled last night on going for sushi tonight for dinner. Calvin and Mo was excited about it, so I was looking forward for it all day.
After dim sum for lunch, we headed out to go to a temple. Apparently, some of the people in this group was a bit religious~ I told them my mom pray to the Gods every 1st and 15th of the month but that's about it lol... I went along with it. I prayed to the Gods there to protect me family and wish us all good health for the coming year, etc. etc. It was my first time getting my fortune told from shaking a cup of sticks and getting a fortune number lol... HK$30 -- I asked about family and it was actually not a lucky one. The translator said there's much argument in the family and my family should be careful about stomach and respiratory system as it might be a problem. I honestly don't believe that because there were over 20 stores of fortune readers and I'd bet everyone one of them would give a different answer. Though I could see how the argument is a bit accurate, but I doubt whatever she said was real. The rest of the group said their fortune was a bit irrelevant. One of the girl ask about love and the lady said she'll find love in mid-August lolol... After the lady told me fortune, she tried to get me into getting my life thingie "xi sun bat zhi." At first, I was like okay! Sounds fun! But when she told me it was HK$600, I was like O_O hahahaha.... No thanks! Then she tried getting me to do a cheaper one for $300 lol... But some of the people in the group really did it (as they were pretty religious). Anyways, we were getting kicked out because it was 5pm and they're trying to close.
After leaving, we went to Mongkok! This is where all the streets with the fake stuff where you can haggle price (Lady's Market/女人街)! The rest of the group was getting all these fried fish balls, chinese sausage, meat balls, seafood on stick and stuff like that, but I wanted to save my stomach for sushi!
My friends and I were planning on meeting up at 6 for sushi. One of them decided to follow an assistant to go for Korean BBQ... Turned out most of my group went with the assistant too. I was really annoyed, but I was like whatever, lets just go for Korean BBQ then... At this point, I was a bit hungry and agitated. I split up with my current group and try to find a place to meet them up. In the whole process, there was a lot of confusion and we could not get a hold of the assistant that's bringing people to the Korean BBQ place and the people that were meeting up with me didn't know how to get there either. After much complications, we finally found each other at 8pm... By this time, I just wanted to walk around Mongkok and buy food along the way as dinner. But no, Josh wants to find a restaurant to sit down and eat since we couldn't meet up with the assistant and the people with her. So I continue to go along with it. We walked for a good 30 minutes trying to find the place while I was tired, hungry, and kind of annoyed how my plans always get interrupted and never go the way that it should go (Partly because Josh acts like he's a know it all and thinks he know what he's doing).
We couldn't find the place, so we just sat down at a random restaurant to get some food because they felt bad for me for waiting for them all day and not go for sushi. By this time, I have lost all appetite for anything, so I just got plain congee and a dish of 菜心 for HK$22. The menu really didn't have any good places for congee.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Day 29: ...
Haha, I totally forgot to blog on this day and forgot what happened (on July 11, 2012). So lets just pretend it was a brilliant day! :) Everyday here in HK is wonderful! I'm gonna move here with Victoria and start a life here! Maybe. :P
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Day 28: Worst Night Ever!
So today, we didn't have a second part of lecture, so we finished our day at 12:30pm. My visa finally arrived, so I told auntie that I'll go back today, pick it up and have dinner with her. When I got back to Causeway Bay, I noticed that I forgot to bring my keys and when I called auntie, she was at the hospital picking up some medication. So I decided to go eat lunch. I ended up going to Yoshinoya and ordered a mix vege beef rice bowl. The total came up to be $33 and I tried paying with my Octopus card but they don't accept it! :((( I only had $20 in my wallet, so the cashier suggested that I can get the smaller version of it. She was really nice and I think if it was someone else, they'd act like I'm wasting their time lol... So the smaller version was $15 and I added a lemon ice tea for a total of $17. It was filling nonetheless.
After I finished eating, I called auntie and she has returned back to her house. I quickly went up to meet her up because bank and post office closes at 5pm and it was already 3:45. Apparently, HKU mailed my visa with a verification required so I had to go to the postal office.
Turns out we don't even need our visa because we're not officially HKU students. We don't get our own HKU ID or anything. When I got my visa, it was valid for one entry until 06/07/2012. The fee to get the visa was printed on the ticket to be HK$160...... The freakin school charged me HK$800 to apply for me! T^T We had the option to pay HK$300 to get the HKU acceptance letter and apply for our own student visa or pay HK$800 to have them apply for us. I thought I'd be a hassle to have to go to New York, so I decided to have them do it for me. Man, they charged 2x the amount needed AND we don't need it. :( The assistants kept saying we have to enter HK with it. To be honest, if they don't say anything, I'm not going to do anything. It's another HK$400 to take the ferry to Macau and back. ._." Screw that!
After I picked it up, I had my auntie bring me to the bank again to exchange for money. I thought HK$500 would last me a whole week lololol... It lasted me 5 days before I had no money left in my wallet and $60 in my Octopus card. I was pulling it, but I made it through haha... I exchanged US$400 for HKD. The rate dropped by 0.01 so I lost $40. :( That could of gotten me a whole meal!
After exchanging, we went back home. I chilled at home while auntie went out for food. She made so much food tonight! Both Wendy and Edward came home, so we got to eat together again. :) It was so nice.
After dinner, I was getting ready to go back to my dorm. I packed everything and made sure I got my key and my dorm ID to check in. I left and caught the bus just in time when everyone was boarding. By now, it's 10:40pm... On the bus ride, I decided to take my phone out and put some music on. When I was about to get to HKU, I was going through all my pockets looking for my dorm ID and keys. I got my keys, but I couldn't find my card! O_O;; My first thought was that maybe I left it back at auntie's house, so I quickly got off the bus and called Wendy. I was afraid that if I don't catch the bus back to Causeway Bay, I'd be too late to take the bus back to HKU. Wendy said she'd call me back when she find my card, but in the end she couldn't find it even when I got back to their house. I was so upset. I even looked through the whole living room to see if I can find it. It was then my mind sparked. I took out a card from my wallet, put it against my phone and put it in my pocket. When I pulled out my phone from my pocket, my card fell out. It was then that I knew it must of fell out when I took my phone out. -_-; I tried contacting the bus office, but they were all off... Wendy just told me to sleep over and don't worry about it too much... I was really upset. If this happens in Shanghai, I'd have no where to go... I guess I can stay with Jason's friends, but that'd be weird considering that I don't even know them now. But yeah, going to sleep now... Good night until next time. :(
After I finished eating, I called auntie and she has returned back to her house. I quickly went up to meet her up because bank and post office closes at 5pm and it was already 3:45. Apparently, HKU mailed my visa with a verification required so I had to go to the postal office.
Turns out we don't even need our visa because we're not officially HKU students. We don't get our own HKU ID or anything. When I got my visa, it was valid for one entry until 06/07/2012. The fee to get the visa was printed on the ticket to be HK$160...... The freakin school charged me HK$800 to apply for me! T^T We had the option to pay HK$300 to get the HKU acceptance letter and apply for our own student visa or pay HK$800 to have them apply for us. I thought I'd be a hassle to have to go to New York, so I decided to have them do it for me. Man, they charged 2x the amount needed AND we don't need it. :( The assistants kept saying we have to enter HK with it. To be honest, if they don't say anything, I'm not going to do anything. It's another HK$400 to take the ferry to Macau and back. ._." Screw that!
After I picked it up, I had my auntie bring me to the bank again to exchange for money. I thought HK$500 would last me a whole week lololol... It lasted me 5 days before I had no money left in my wallet and $60 in my Octopus card. I was pulling it, but I made it through haha... I exchanged US$400 for HKD. The rate dropped by 0.01 so I lost $40. :( That could of gotten me a whole meal!
After exchanging, we went back home. I chilled at home while auntie went out for food. She made so much food tonight! Both Wendy and Edward came home, so we got to eat together again. :) It was so nice.
After dinner, I was getting ready to go back to my dorm. I packed everything and made sure I got my key and my dorm ID to check in. I left and caught the bus just in time when everyone was boarding. By now, it's 10:40pm... On the bus ride, I decided to take my phone out and put some music on. When I was about to get to HKU, I was going through all my pockets looking for my dorm ID and keys. I got my keys, but I couldn't find my card! O_O;; My first thought was that maybe I left it back at auntie's house, so I quickly got off the bus and called Wendy. I was afraid that if I don't catch the bus back to Causeway Bay, I'd be too late to take the bus back to HKU. Wendy said she'd call me back when she find my card, but in the end she couldn't find it even when I got back to their house. I was so upset. I even looked through the whole living room to see if I can find it. It was then my mind sparked. I took out a card from my wallet, put it against my phone and put it in my pocket. When I pulled out my phone from my pocket, my card fell out. It was then that I knew it must of fell out when I took my phone out. -_-; I tried contacting the bus office, but they were all off... Wendy just told me to sleep over and don't worry about it too much... I was really upset. If this happens in Shanghai, I'd have no where to go... I guess I can stay with Jason's friends, but that'd be weird considering that I don't even know them now. But yeah, going to sleep now... Good night until next time. :(
 |
| R.I.P. card. :( |
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Day 27: Nice Second Day of Class :)
*Editing on July 11, 2012* Bwahahaa... I forgot what happened, but it was a good day. :) Dr. Baniel Cheung was an awesome person! I'm gonna miss him. His teaching style is like no other. ^_^ I hope I can keep in contact with him.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Day 26: First Day Of Class!
Weather: Icky... Heavy rain from time to time that last for about 2minutes in 5minute intervals lol...
Yucky, we had to wake up at early today so the assistants can bring us to get breakfast and then to the auditorium where we have our opening ceremony. We had to dress formal today, but turns out it was only for taking a group picture. We had a keynote speaker for the opening ceremony Professor Edward Chen, Former Vice-Chancellor of Lingnan University. He talked about the Changing Role of Asia in the Global Economy. His talk was interesting, but he kind of bashed on the European a lot. :| He talked about the development of Asia and its rapid growth. He talked about the how China and Hong Kong grew so much in the last few years. Overall, it was really interesting lol. Choosing Accounting as my major really changed me in a whole new way. When I was little, I hated everything that had to do with business or politics related. But now, I love learning about the globalization and the impact of one country can affect the whole world. How did China and Hong Kong survive the 2008 financial crisis etc. etc. The talk was also on that as well as our lecture in the afternoon.
The program provided really fancy lunch for us, but the steak I got was half perfectly cooked and the other half completely raw on the inside haha...
After lunch, we had our first class of the program! China Economy 1, though we were just learning about Hong Kong first. I also found this really interesting! :D The macroeconomics of Hong Kong, hehe. Like I always say, I liked macro over micro, so it's all good! We see a huge trend of success and downturn of Hong Kong and how Hong Kong survived with nothing (no natural resources, no raw materials, no nothing)! Hong Kong sustained from import and export and becoming a service center for the international trading hub between Southern China and the rest of the world! :)
After class, the assistants took us around campus, but I was completely lost because we were using all these shortcuts around the school to get to the main locations. We were zigging zagging around, so I completely lost track of directions. lol... Most of the students didn't even pay attention, so myah.
After the tour, we all headed back to our dorms. The assistants wanted to go out even though it's a Monday night. ._." I guess it's normal. They're just university students like us. But it's so bad because they like to drink and shisha... Ugh, it's gonna be so bad because they're into things that I'm not a fan of. A lot of the students in this program are like trying new things to fit in lol... It's so bad... I ended up just hanging out in my room for the rest of the night. They went our to shisha. I guess I can still connect with students before and after class. I don't necessarily have to meet them all. I already met a good amount of them and they're all really awesome from all over the world. :)
I'm glad that most of the students have the mindset to save money and eat cheaper, lol. My mom was afraid that if I hold on to my money, people would say that I'm a cheapskate, but I think we're all just trying to save money. We ended up eating dinner at the school canteen (cafeteria). Pretty nice price for fried rice and noodles. HK$25~$35 per plate of food. :]
Until then, good night!
Yucky, we had to wake up at early today so the assistants can bring us to get breakfast and then to the auditorium where we have our opening ceremony. We had to dress formal today, but turns out it was only for taking a group picture. We had a keynote speaker for the opening ceremony Professor Edward Chen, Former Vice-Chancellor of Lingnan University. He talked about the Changing Role of Asia in the Global Economy. His talk was interesting, but he kind of bashed on the European a lot. :| He talked about the development of Asia and its rapid growth. He talked about the how China and Hong Kong grew so much in the last few years. Overall, it was really interesting lol. Choosing Accounting as my major really changed me in a whole new way. When I was little, I hated everything that had to do with business or politics related. But now, I love learning about the globalization and the impact of one country can affect the whole world. How did China and Hong Kong survive the 2008 financial crisis etc. etc. The talk was also on that as well as our lecture in the afternoon.
The program provided really fancy lunch for us, but the steak I got was half perfectly cooked and the other half completely raw on the inside haha...
After lunch, we had our first class of the program! China Economy 1, though we were just learning about Hong Kong first. I also found this really interesting! :D The macroeconomics of Hong Kong, hehe. Like I always say, I liked macro over micro, so it's all good! We see a huge trend of success and downturn of Hong Kong and how Hong Kong survived with nothing (no natural resources, no raw materials, no nothing)! Hong Kong sustained from import and export and becoming a service center for the international trading hub between Southern China and the rest of the world! :)
After class, the assistants took us around campus, but I was completely lost because we were using all these shortcuts around the school to get to the main locations. We were zigging zagging around, so I completely lost track of directions. lol... Most of the students didn't even pay attention, so myah.
After the tour, we all headed back to our dorms. The assistants wanted to go out even though it's a Monday night. ._." I guess it's normal. They're just university students like us. But it's so bad because they like to drink and shisha... Ugh, it's gonna be so bad because they're into things that I'm not a fan of. A lot of the students in this program are like trying new things to fit in lol... It's so bad... I ended up just hanging out in my room for the rest of the night. They went our to shisha. I guess I can still connect with students before and after class. I don't necessarily have to meet them all. I already met a good amount of them and they're all really awesome from all over the world. :)
I'm glad that most of the students have the mindset to save money and eat cheaper, lol. My mom was afraid that if I hold on to my money, people would say that I'm a cheapskate, but I think we're all just trying to save money. We ended up eating dinner at the school canteen (cafeteria). Pretty nice price for fried rice and noodles. HK$25~$35 per plate of food. :]
Until then, good night!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Day 25: Fun Always Come To An End QQ
Even though the rain was on and off all day, I had a blast with my new friends! I've met a couple more new people today. Josh, Cathy, Stefano, and my roommate Rodrigo arrived. I had a hard time sleeping last night. Maybe it's the lemon ice tea that I had for dinner last night and the cappuccino that I had for lunch lol... I ended up waking up at 7am partly because my roommate woke up really early and just started messing around and unpacking. But I also wasn't really in a sleeping mood.
Jarred, Calvin, Sixing, Stefano, Rodrigo, and I went out for breakfast. I had Chinese cabbage spare rib congee for HK$13! So cheap cheap cheap! But I think they forgot the spare rib haha... There wasn't any in the congee. Afterwards, we went to a 7Eleven and some people got their SIM cards for their phone. We then returned back to our dorm to get the rest of the girls because they were all still sleeping when we headed out for breakfast.
We headed back out after 30minutes and went to Central to get money exchange because Josh said they had the best exchange rate there. It was so funny because it's Sunday! Sunday is when all the filipino nannies get their day off so all of them meet up at Central to hang out with each other. Legit, it was PACKED with filipino women. No guys. Just women. We got lost a couple of times, but we found each other because we were all taller than them by a little HAHAHA... Or we look for the blonde hair (Kristen) hehe. After that, we went to Wan Chai Computer Center to get US->HK adapters because a lot of them didn't bring one. Only then that we remembered we totally forgot Stefano and Sixing when we went back to the dorm and left again! We felt so bad, but turns out they took a really long nap, so it was okay.
I wanted to explore the computer center some more, but Josh wanted to go to Pacific Place shopping center... On our way there, we got boba tea! ^^ A couple of them haven't tried taro before, so I got taro and they loved it when they tried it lol. The Pacific Place turned out to be a high class mall with everything really expensive. We just window shopped for a bit. Jarred had to go meet up with the HKU students to play Ultimate (disc) <-- Cannot say "frisbee" because frisbee is trademarked, so they have to call it disc lol.. Kind of like Keenex. Cathy had to go back to the airport to pick up her luggage because she took the wrong one with the same looking luggage case. That poor girl had to go all the way back to the dorm to pick up the case, and go all the way to the airport (about 2 1/2 hour ride from HKU to airport) and make it all the way back to HKU for orientation by 6pm.
Then mall was okay; fancy but nothing we can afford. They didn't know where to go, so Kristen was like lets go to that place that you said online! On Facebook, I recommended going to Chungking Mansion in Kowloon for exchange because I heard they had the best rate. We ended up going there and it's the sketchiest place on Earth! Haha... Everything there was fake products. It was like a whole new world where all the Mexicans, Middle Eastern, and Africans hang out... Kristen stayed here before because it's also a hostel upstairs. She stayed for a night and got scared and left because it's just that dirty and scary. Everything was extra cheap and everything was extra fake. But the currency exchange rate was really good. Kristen said lets go upstairs and try to check out a room to show us how it was like when she was staying here. The elevators had camera and they were being show on the first floor and all of us cracked up from watching people in the elevator hahahaha... When the elevator got to us, we had 6 people and another person got in. The elevator specifically said 7 people max, but I guess we were overweight. The elevator had a flashing sign saying overweight. None of us wanted to get out so Josh got into an argument with the other person that got on to get off. He was like, "Well, we were waiting at this elevator first, so you should get off." The person got really heated and said, "Well, if you want to talk that way, then I can't help you! Not all of you were in front of this elevator! I don't have to get off. You get off!" The argument went on for like a good minute before Calvin and I got off. The rest of the party got off and just went on the other elevator that went to the odd floors (we wanted to go to the 8th floor where Kristen lived). Lets just say it's the creepiest place ever and I would never live there even for a night.
We left after a little bit because we couldn't stand the place anymore. We headed to the Intercontinental Hotel which was gorgeous inside... That is where I saw the first Aston Martin ever in real life! Haha... Never seen this luxury European car ever. It cost over $200k US and it was sick looking. After that, we headed for the Kowloon harbor to get back to our dorm. When we got to the harbor, we kind of split up. Calvin and Josh went straight for the ferry terminal while Kristen, Sam, Rodrigo and I went to the bridge where it had a perfect view of the Hong Kong skyline. We were taking pictures until Josh called asking where we were. I told them we were taking pictures and will be coming over right away. I didn't want to ask him to come over because he scares me a little bit.
We took the ferry back to Central and took the bus back to HKU. Rest for a little bit and headed out to the orientation. Turns out the class that we're taking at HKU is with another summer program. We are going to take a two week class with the Global Business in Asia HKU summer program. They are then go to Shanghai to do another two week of group project and lecture taking for a total of HK$5500. We on the other hand will be doing a seven week internship instead of that 2nd half of lectures and project. I'd say our program is more awesome because we don't have to pay for living or classes or the ticket to Shanghai haha.
This is when my fun day went downhill. After the orientation, people were asking question and I got the courage to ask if we were allowed to record (voice) the lectures. All my life, people tell me, "There's no such thing as stupid questions. If you have a question, then another person probably have the same question." I never believed that bullshit but I asked it anyways. You know what the lecturer/director of Global Business in Asia said when answering me? "Well... If you went to class and paid attention, then you don't need to record it. You can record it with your brain." At first, I didn't really noticed how bad that sounds until people started giggling at his stupid response and I started to feel really bad... I don't know if he was being serious or not, but it made me felt uncomfortable. It's these kind of things that makes me shy and not ask questions. I don't like to put myself onto the spot where people would look at me and think, "Dam, what kind of question is that? That sounds stupid." because I do that to a lot of people too and I know how it feels (Sometimes, you do want to question why people ask such terrible questions, but I didn't think my question was half that bad).
Whatever. After the talk and question was over, I finally met the 4th Lenovo intern Amanda. We talked quite a bit along with a Global Business in Asia student that just graduated from high school. She's going to attend Williams College and Amanda is currently attending Williams College. They asked what I was up to tonight. I told them that my group of friends were planning to go to Lan Kwai Fong, but I don't know if I really wanted to go because I'm not really into clubbing and drinking kind of thing. I knew Josh was talking about this all day and how he wants to get some alcohol back to his dorm to get wasted sometime during this program, but I didn't know he was spreading this "activity" to everyone. Apparently, most of the people in both program ended up going. I originally didn't want to go, but after some peer pressuring, I wanted to just go check out the place and not go in any club. I changed and went down to the lobby, but I forgot my check out ID (we have to check out and check in every time we leave the dorm). I went back to and went back down as quick as possible, but I eventually missed the bus by like a split second. I watched it drive away. :| I was thinking, maybe I can meet them there at Central Station. So I took the next bus that went to Central but when I got there, everyone was gone. I walked around Central and started feeling really lonely. I was thinking "Oh, my friends in the US would never ditch me like that..." I started to miss home and miss Victoria. I looked out into the sea across to Kowloon for a bit and went back to the bus stop to take the bus back to HKU.
I got back and still had some time to burn before going to sleep, so I Skyped with my mom for a little bit and told my dad Happy Father's Day. Then I start to think to myself, maybe my grandma is protecting me. Maybe I was meant not to go to LKF. Either way, I was kind of glad I didn't really go. Even though I missed out on meeting the rest of the students, I saved some money! Haha... Most of them drank and smoked hookah (they call it shisha here).
Good night until next time! :)
Jarred, Calvin, Sixing, Stefano, Rodrigo, and I went out for breakfast. I had Chinese cabbage spare rib congee for HK$13! So cheap cheap cheap! But I think they forgot the spare rib haha... There wasn't any in the congee. Afterwards, we went to a 7Eleven and some people got their SIM cards for their phone. We then returned back to our dorm to get the rest of the girls because they were all still sleeping when we headed out for breakfast.
We headed back out after 30minutes and went to Central to get money exchange because Josh said they had the best exchange rate there. It was so funny because it's Sunday! Sunday is when all the filipino nannies get their day off so all of them meet up at Central to hang out with each other. Legit, it was PACKED with filipino women. No guys. Just women. We got lost a couple of times, but we found each other because we were all taller than them by a little HAHAHA... Or we look for the blonde hair (Kristen) hehe. After that, we went to Wan Chai Computer Center to get US->HK adapters because a lot of them didn't bring one. Only then that we remembered we totally forgot Stefano and Sixing when we went back to the dorm and left again! We felt so bad, but turns out they took a really long nap, so it was okay.
I wanted to explore the computer center some more, but Josh wanted to go to Pacific Place shopping center... On our way there, we got boba tea! ^^ A couple of them haven't tried taro before, so I got taro and they loved it when they tried it lol. The Pacific Place turned out to be a high class mall with everything really expensive. We just window shopped for a bit. Jarred had to go meet up with the HKU students to play Ultimate (disc) <-- Cannot say "frisbee" because frisbee is trademarked, so they have to call it disc lol.. Kind of like Keenex. Cathy had to go back to the airport to pick up her luggage because she took the wrong one with the same looking luggage case. That poor girl had to go all the way back to the dorm to pick up the case, and go all the way to the airport (about 2 1/2 hour ride from HKU to airport) and make it all the way back to HKU for orientation by 6pm.
Then mall was okay; fancy but nothing we can afford. They didn't know where to go, so Kristen was like lets go to that place that you said online! On Facebook, I recommended going to Chungking Mansion in Kowloon for exchange because I heard they had the best rate. We ended up going there and it's the sketchiest place on Earth! Haha... Everything there was fake products. It was like a whole new world where all the Mexicans, Middle Eastern, and Africans hang out... Kristen stayed here before because it's also a hostel upstairs. She stayed for a night and got scared and left because it's just that dirty and scary. Everything was extra cheap and everything was extra fake. But the currency exchange rate was really good. Kristen said lets go upstairs and try to check out a room to show us how it was like when she was staying here. The elevators had camera and they were being show on the first floor and all of us cracked up from watching people in the elevator hahahaha... When the elevator got to us, we had 6 people and another person got in. The elevator specifically said 7 people max, but I guess we were overweight. The elevator had a flashing sign saying overweight. None of us wanted to get out so Josh got into an argument with the other person that got on to get off. He was like, "Well, we were waiting at this elevator first, so you should get off." The person got really heated and said, "Well, if you want to talk that way, then I can't help you! Not all of you were in front of this elevator! I don't have to get off. You get off!" The argument went on for like a good minute before Calvin and I got off. The rest of the party got off and just went on the other elevator that went to the odd floors (we wanted to go to the 8th floor where Kristen lived). Lets just say it's the creepiest place ever and I would never live there even for a night.
We left after a little bit because we couldn't stand the place anymore. We headed to the Intercontinental Hotel which was gorgeous inside... That is where I saw the first Aston Martin ever in real life! Haha... Never seen this luxury European car ever. It cost over $200k US and it was sick looking. After that, we headed for the Kowloon harbor to get back to our dorm. When we got to the harbor, we kind of split up. Calvin and Josh went straight for the ferry terminal while Kristen, Sam, Rodrigo and I went to the bridge where it had a perfect view of the Hong Kong skyline. We were taking pictures until Josh called asking where we were. I told them we were taking pictures and will be coming over right away. I didn't want to ask him to come over because he scares me a little bit.
We took the ferry back to Central and took the bus back to HKU. Rest for a little bit and headed out to the orientation. Turns out the class that we're taking at HKU is with another summer program. We are going to take a two week class with the Global Business in Asia HKU summer program. They are then go to Shanghai to do another two week of group project and lecture taking for a total of HK$5500. We on the other hand will be doing a seven week internship instead of that 2nd half of lectures and project. I'd say our program is more awesome because we don't have to pay for living or classes or the ticket to Shanghai haha.
This is when my fun day went downhill. After the orientation, people were asking question and I got the courage to ask if we were allowed to record (voice) the lectures. All my life, people tell me, "There's no such thing as stupid questions. If you have a question, then another person probably have the same question." I never believed that bullshit but I asked it anyways. You know what the lecturer/director of Global Business in Asia said when answering me? "Well... If you went to class and paid attention, then you don't need to record it. You can record it with your brain." At first, I didn't really noticed how bad that sounds until people started giggling at his stupid response and I started to feel really bad... I don't know if he was being serious or not, but it made me felt uncomfortable. It's these kind of things that makes me shy and not ask questions. I don't like to put myself onto the spot where people would look at me and think, "Dam, what kind of question is that? That sounds stupid." because I do that to a lot of people too and I know how it feels (Sometimes, you do want to question why people ask such terrible questions, but I didn't think my question was half that bad).
Whatever. After the talk and question was over, I finally met the 4th Lenovo intern Amanda. We talked quite a bit along with a Global Business in Asia student that just graduated from high school. She's going to attend Williams College and Amanda is currently attending Williams College. They asked what I was up to tonight. I told them that my group of friends were planning to go to Lan Kwai Fong, but I don't know if I really wanted to go because I'm not really into clubbing and drinking kind of thing. I knew Josh was talking about this all day and how he wants to get some alcohol back to his dorm to get wasted sometime during this program, but I didn't know he was spreading this "activity" to everyone. Apparently, most of the people in both program ended up going. I originally didn't want to go, but after some peer pressuring, I wanted to just go check out the place and not go in any club. I changed and went down to the lobby, but I forgot my check out ID (we have to check out and check in every time we leave the dorm). I went back to and went back down as quick as possible, but I eventually missed the bus by like a split second. I watched it drive away. :| I was thinking, maybe I can meet them there at Central Station. So I took the next bus that went to Central but when I got there, everyone was gone. I walked around Central and started feeling really lonely. I was thinking "Oh, my friends in the US would never ditch me like that..." I started to miss home and miss Victoria. I looked out into the sea across to Kowloon for a bit and went back to the bus stop to take the bus back to HKU.
I got back and still had some time to burn before going to sleep, so I Skyped with my mom for a little bit and told my dad Happy Father's Day. Then I start to think to myself, maybe my grandma is protecting me. Maybe I was meant not to go to LKF. Either way, I was kind of glad I didn't really go. Even though I missed out on meeting the rest of the students, I saved some money! Haha... Most of them drank and smoked hookah (they call it shisha here).
Good night until next time! :)
Day 23 & 24: Moved into HKU!
Haha, I totally forgot to blog on Friday, the 15th. But I really didn't do much that day. I bought new Chucks for HK$260 (US$34). I got a haircut at a place that brags about HK$50, 10minute haircut. Really quick service for those on the go. Their cut was pretty good too! So angry at American barber shops. :( Always! Always mess up! I guess they only know how to just shave it all off and keep like an inch of hair.
Saturday, it was pouring. Wendy has to attention an convention because she's in charge of promoting her Airline company. I really wanted to go check it out because I was wondering what it was that's making Wendy so tired every night afterwards haha. So auntie brought me over to the Hong Kong Convention Center. It was awesome! So much bigger and prettier than Hynes Convention Center! Turns out it was a convention on promoting all kinds of airlines, hotels, traveling agencies, etc. Wendy got us VIP passes to get in for free (HKU$20 ticket)! There were a lot of companies there! Auntie and I just walked around and collected pamphlets from every stall! Haha... There's a lot of cheap deals going all around the world; US, Africa, Guam, Korea, China, Europe, India, etc. There was also a lot of free stuff too. I played a target throwing game at a Japan stall and won a pair of wooden chopsticks (I think it's a one use one) and a phone charm. There was a stall that sold exclusive Pokemon plush from Japan! I wanted it, but they were pretty expensive for a mini plush. We were waiting for Cherry to come by but she was late because she wanted to wait for her little sisters before going. So we left early because auntie thought I have to get to school before 5pm or else people will get off work (That's what it said on the welcoming packet. Check-in between 12-5). We were in such a rush to eat lunch, go back and pack the rest of my stuff. Edward fell asleep waiting for us to get back. Auntie wanted him to help me get to HKU so I don't get lost.
We didn't leave the house until 4:15, so instead of taking the 31 minibus, we took the train and taxi. It was still pouring outside, so there's heavy traffic and I would not be able to make it there before 5. We took the train to Central and took a taxi. We were half way there on the taxi when it turned 5 and Edward was a bit freaking out. Auntie was freaking out back home to get Edward to get ready and bring me or else I'll be late. She freaks out really easily when it comes to these things when time matters. We finally found our way to my dorm by 5:15. Turns out there were still students sitting at the door signing in students in for the program. I knew they would not be leaving at 5 because there are people with different flight schedules. Auntie wouldn't believe me that we don't have to rush, so whatever ya'know lol... I got to my room and I was surprised! The rooms are huge! O_O Not as huge as my Thatcher room, but it's definitely bigger than my Van Meter room... The view is awesome too! Full view of the ocean! :] Pix at the end... I settled down, Edward went back home, and I got my courage to meet people. I knocked on the door of my neighbor and met them.
New friends: Calvin, Jarred, Stefano, Sixing, Sam, Kristen.
Kristen, Sam, Sixing, Calvin and I went out for dinner and walked around Wellcome to see if we needed anything. I got some fruits for after dinner snack. We headed back to our dorm by 10.
Turns out HKU public wifi is really slow! T_T I couldn't download anything! Dropbox is taking 1500days to sync! I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow's orientation to see if we get student login infos.
That's my night. :) I love my dorm. My roommate is Rodrigo. He's from Brazil and he's pretty cool. I can't wait until tomorrow to meet more people and go have fun!
I miss you, Victoria. <3 I wish you were here with me but I think this is a great thing for me. I need to put myself out there on my own and survive on my own. I can't just rely on friends and parents where ever I go. I love you. ^_^ I'll see you soon~
Saturday, it was pouring. Wendy has to attention an convention because she's in charge of promoting her Airline company. I really wanted to go check it out because I was wondering what it was that's making Wendy so tired every night afterwards haha. So auntie brought me over to the Hong Kong Convention Center. It was awesome! So much bigger and prettier than Hynes Convention Center! Turns out it was a convention on promoting all kinds of airlines, hotels, traveling agencies, etc. Wendy got us VIP passes to get in for free (HKU$20 ticket)! There were a lot of companies there! Auntie and I just walked around and collected pamphlets from every stall! Haha... There's a lot of cheap deals going all around the world; US, Africa, Guam, Korea, China, Europe, India, etc. There was also a lot of free stuff too. I played a target throwing game at a Japan stall and won a pair of wooden chopsticks (I think it's a one use one) and a phone charm. There was a stall that sold exclusive Pokemon plush from Japan! I wanted it, but they were pretty expensive for a mini plush. We were waiting for Cherry to come by but she was late because she wanted to wait for her little sisters before going. So we left early because auntie thought I have to get to school before 5pm or else people will get off work (That's what it said on the welcoming packet. Check-in between 12-5). We were in such a rush to eat lunch, go back and pack the rest of my stuff. Edward fell asleep waiting for us to get back. Auntie wanted him to help me get to HKU so I don't get lost.
We didn't leave the house until 4:15, so instead of taking the 31 minibus, we took the train and taxi. It was still pouring outside, so there's heavy traffic and I would not be able to make it there before 5. We took the train to Central and took a taxi. We were half way there on the taxi when it turned 5 and Edward was a bit freaking out. Auntie was freaking out back home to get Edward to get ready and bring me or else I'll be late. She freaks out really easily when it comes to these things when time matters. We finally found our way to my dorm by 5:15. Turns out there were still students sitting at the door signing in students in for the program. I knew they would not be leaving at 5 because there are people with different flight schedules. Auntie wouldn't believe me that we don't have to rush, so whatever ya'know lol... I got to my room and I was surprised! The rooms are huge! O_O Not as huge as my Thatcher room, but it's definitely bigger than my Van Meter room... The view is awesome too! Full view of the ocean! :] Pix at the end... I settled down, Edward went back home, and I got my courage to meet people. I knocked on the door of my neighbor and met them.
New friends: Calvin, Jarred, Stefano, Sixing, Sam, Kristen.
Kristen, Sam, Sixing, Calvin and I went out for dinner and walked around Wellcome to see if we needed anything. I got some fruits for after dinner snack. We headed back to our dorm by 10.
Turns out HKU public wifi is really slow! T_T I couldn't download anything! Dropbox is taking 1500days to sync! I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow's orientation to see if we get student login infos.
That's my night. :) I love my dorm. My roommate is Rodrigo. He's from Brazil and he's pretty cool. I can't wait until tomorrow to meet more people and go have fun!
I miss you, Victoria. <3 I wish you were here with me but I think this is a great thing for me. I need to put myself out there on my own and survive on my own. I can't just rely on friends and parents where ever I go. I love you. ^_^ I'll see you soon~
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