HKU's Dead Month

I can't believe there's only a little less than a month left.  These last couple of months in Hong Kong has flown by so fast.  There's still so much that I want to do here.  

In terms of academics, these last few weeks have been pretty hectic.  This is the last week of classes, then we get a Revision Week and the week after that is the beginning of finals.  However, my language courses have finals early during this week (foreign language classes usually meet 2 days a week so one day is for the written exam and the other day is for the oral exam). It's not just foreign language courses, but also some lecture-based courses have finals scheduled for this week.  Some of my friends also have one or more of their final exams this week.  It depends on the professor.

After Reading Week (end of Oct.-early Nov.), there is so much schoolwork piled up waiting for me.  All the P's (Projects, Posters, Presentations, and Papers) tend to be due around this last month of classes.  Just a heads up for those who will be going on exchange at HKU in the near future: HKU really loves these, especially group projects, so be prepared.  If you want to travel around Asia, it's best to travel before Reading Week unless you are taking a light course load.  But, a lot of exchange students are cramming in last minute weekend trips to Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Japan, etc. within this month.

Even though I am super busy these days, I'm still taking time off to relax and enjoy myself in Hong Kong. Recently, I went with a few friends to OZONE, the highest bar in the world.  It was raining and we were in the clouds so there wasn't much of a view.  However, it was still awesome. I also went to Lamma Island for a day.  There were beaches, a lot of food, and a little bit of walking/light-hiking from one side of the island to the other, so it was pretty fun.  I'll get back to studying for now. I still have exams the day after tomorrow.

OZONE

OZONE

Lamma Island after getting off the ferry

Map of Lamma Island

Traveling in Asia

HKU has one week of no school in the middle of the semester to give students time to work on projects, catch up on readings and assignments, and have some fun.  Reading week for my semester was from Oct. 29^th to Nov. 2^nd.  Some students use this time to study, some go back home to visit family, and many exchange students use this time to travel to other countries in Asia.  For me, my friends and I decided to go to Taiwan, Thailand, and Singapore.  I do not have any classes on Fridays, so we left on Friday Oct. 26^th to Taiwan for 3 days.  Then we spent 4 days in Thailand and another 3 days in Singapore and finally came back on Sunday Nov. 4^th.  Although I had class the very next day, it was really fun to go and see so many places within that week.

The most I spent on that trip was buying plane tickets.  For those who plan on studying abroad and traveling, I would advise you to plan early and buy plane tickets as early as you can.  Buying plane tickets a few weeks early compared to about 2 weeks before your departure really makes a big difference.  You can save a lot of money that way.  Sometimes buying holiday packages (those that include airfare and hotel stay) is also cheaper compared to buying airfare and booking hotels separately.  It may also be nice to check travel agencies, which I did not have the time to do.  I know some students bought their packages from travel agencies and some agencies give student discounts.

It is also a good idea to plan your travels.  Plan out where you want to go in each country, and look into how you can get there.  Many countries have a subway system, which is very convenient.  In Taiwan, we mostly took the subway to our destinations in Taipei.  We also decided to visit the villages and other tourist attractions by taking the train and buses, which can be a bit difficult to use when you are in a foreign country and are not familiar with the area/geography.  In Thailand, we took the railway from the airport and got off at the last stop and then took a taxi to our hotel.  Taxis in Thailand are very cheap.  However, be careful and alert when taking them in Bangkok.  Many taxi drivers try to rip you off because you are tourists.  Also, make sure they turn their meter on when you get in so that they do not make up a random price when you get off.  Also, check the meter once in a while, especially when you are getting close to your destination.  One of our taxi drivers pressed a button and changed the numbers on the meter at the end, but we saw what it was before he changed it, and we only paid the amount before he messed with it.  When we were taking the taxi back to the airport, the taxi driver also tried to keep the meter off so we said we would get off if he does not turn it on, so in the end, he turned it on.  In Singapore, taxis are more expensive, so we only took it when we had to go back to the hotel late at night when buses stop running.  Most of the time, we took the MRT which I found to be very easy to use and is very similar to the Hong Kong version, the MTR.  We also took the buses to get to the parks (Bird Park and Night Safari).

My last bit of advice would be to travel early on in the semester or during Reading Week.  It is more difficult to travel in November and December because there are so many midterms, papers, projects, assignments, and presentations due around this last month.  HKU really likes group projects and presentations.  I have been pretty busy with them lately, but I still take some time off from school to enjoy myself here in Hong Kong. 

My First Month in HK

Time really flies fast here in Hong Kong…it’s already been a month since I came here.  An update from last time: I got approved for my last class on the very last day of the add/drop period. Yay!  Now that that’s over with, I’ll move on to share what I have been up to this month. 

During this month, I’ve mostly been exploring Hong Kong.  For my first few days in Hong Kong, I explored the city with some of the other UC students.  The city is so beautiful during the night when all the lights are lit up.  I also went to the Symphony of Lights Show which begins every night at 8pm.  It’s a light show that is best viewed at the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront.  The buildings participating are located in Central Hong Kong so we view it from across the harbor.  The lights from the buildings would light up to the music playing and there would be laser beams shooting out from the buildings.  It was amazing.  I also went to the Peak.  I took the Peak Tram from Central to the top.  The waiting time for the ride was super long…maybe an hour and a half.  I paid with my Octopus Card.  When I got to the Peak, I went to Sky Terrace 428, which is the highest 360° viewing platform in Hong Kong.  The view of the entire Hong Kong city was amazing as well.

Symphony of Lights

View of Hong Kong from the Peak

I spent the Mid-Autumn festival and National Day Holiday long weekend in Hong Kong.  My friends and I went to Causeway Bay to see the Lee Kum Kee Lantern Wonderland.  They built a giant lantern where we could walk in and every fifteen minutes or so, there would be a light show accompanied by music within the lantern.  I also went to see the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance.  It was very crowded as many people were waiting to see the dragon.  The dragon wasn’t an ordinary dragon, it was a dragon made out of lit incense.  This was the first time I saw this kind of dragon, so waiting for almost 2 hours was worth it.  On National Day, I also went to Tsim Sha Tsui to see 23 minutes of fireworks.  Chinese songs were played throughout the show and it was wonderful!

Lee Kum Kee Lantern Wonderland

Waiting to get into the lantern

Inside the Lantern

Tai Hang Dragon Dance - The large crowd

The Tai Hang Dragon

23 Minutes of Fireworks on National Day

I also hiked in the New Territories, watched the horse races in Happy Valley, went to Stanley Beach, went to Kowloon Park, ate street food in Mongkok, visited temples, and did many other things that I will update later.

Happy Valley Racecourse

Stanley Beach

Wong Tai Sin Temple

Street food in Mongkok

Street food in Mongkok

Hi HKU!

I arrived in Hong Kong two weeks ago and have settled in already.  I was assigned to live at the brand new HKU dorms called the Residential Colleges on Lung Wah Street.  However, when I arrived at the Residential Colleges, they told me that I would be placed into a hotel for a few days because the air quality did not pass the government standards.  I thought they had already taken care of that because they emailed me before I left the U.S. saying that I would be able to move straight into the Residential Colleges.  HKU prepared shuttle buses and took us to Ibis Hotel, which was pretty nice and new.  So I stayed there for three days before I moved back.  I was assigned to a double on Floor 13.  It’s a corner room so it’s actually bigger than what I expected.  My floor is an all female floor with many international and exchange students and a few locals.  It definitely feels different from my co-ed floor that I was used to at UC Berkeley.  My floor is very international with students from the U.S., Europe, Korea, Indonesia, mainland China, and Hong Kong. There is a small lounge with a TV, refrigerator, and kitchen.  There is also a laundry room at the very top floor of the building (Floor 29). 

After moving in, I went to campus and checked in at the Global Lounge where they gave me a packet of information, and then I checked in at the Faculty of Arts office, which was the faculty that I was admitted into.  I turned in a student ID card form to my faculty and also picked up a student octopus card form from the faculty office.  The student octopus card gives us discounts when taking the MTR.  However, the card won’t be available until November, so I will have to get a temporary one for now.

Exchange students can only sign up for courses during the two week add/drop period, starting at 12pm on the very first day of class.  HKU’s course enrollment process was very frustrating to me.  I am required to take 5 courses and 3 have to be from the Faculty of Arts.  In UC Berkeley, we use Telebears to enroll in courses, which I learned to love now that I experienced HKU’s system. At UCB, once we enroll into a course, we are officially enrolled.  However, at HKU, when we enroll into a course, there is a pending and approval process.  All the courses that I added will have a pending status until they get approved.  What I didn’t like was that they would randomly disapprove my courses and drop me from them during this period.  This was a somewhat stressful time because I got disapproved for 4 out of my 5 courses.  Even after I signed up for a Common Core class which the professor said had 6 more seats left on the first day, I got dropped when other students signed up for it because it seems that exchange students have the lowest priority here. For my foreign language course, I added it on the very first day of class.  My full-time friend here added it a few days after me, but she got approved and I’m still pending.  I even talked to the professors here, but they said that they cannot do anything about it because they cannot manually add students in.  A local student told me to just keep trying and that’s what I did.  I finally got approved for 4 courses after getting rejected many times and am still waiting for the last course.  Exchange students who are in different faculties already got some of their courses approved before they came.  Exchange students I met who were also admitted into the Faculty of Arts didn’t get any courses approved beforehand, so maybe it was just my faculty.  Hopefully, I’ll get approved for my 5^th course.