FRIENDS, FUN AND FREE FOOD

Pretty much all exchange students have arrived by now which is all fun and games! It's so easy to get to know people – just go and say hello to any slightly confused looking Caucasian person and you're quite likely to make a new friend. I'm very happy that it's not like Fresher's week where you meet hundreds of people and never see 97% them again; the exchange student community is after all quite small and tight and you'll be guaranteed to meet the people again soon.

For those who don't already know, shopping in Hong Kong is great! The city centre can be pretty expensive with fancy malls and designer shops, but there also lots of great markets filled with student-budget friendly bargains. It's pretty much hit and miss whether you'll find something of reasonable quality (my new wallet broke after 3 days) but it's fun to wonder around anyway. One thing I really like about Hong Kong is that the sellers are not too pushy at all; very different from example Turkey and Thailand.

It's funny to notice that because everything is so cheap, the definition of 'expensive' has radically changed. Here, paying 100 HK$ for a meal seems sooooo expensive, even though it's only about 10 euros (£7) which in European standards really isn't a lot. On the other hand, on a couple of my shopping trips I've ended up spending loads, just because 'everything is so cheap',but in the end of the day I'd spent something like 50 euros on stuff I didn't actually need or want...

I've been out partying a couple of times now, nothing hard-core yet, just to see what sort of places there are. I had heard about 'club 7-11' which is not really an actual club but a chain of convenience stores (called 7-11) from where you can buy alcohol and drink it on the street. Very fun, very studenty, very cheap! And when wandering in the middle of the road with a can of beer, you'll inevitably bumb into people you know (or sort of recognise from some event earlier but at 1 a.m. it doesn't make any difference). The most famous/popular party areas are Lan Kwai Fong (LKF) and Wan Chai, anyone visiting Hong Kong will most likely spend an evening or two there. It's very turisty though, the local students don't really go clubbing so it's mostly local businessmen, expats, exchange students and tourists who fill up the places.

There was an orientation for international students earlier today, which mostly included talks about cultural adjustement and stuff. And we got free lunch which is always good! Oh and the FBE (Faculty of Business and economics) also hosted a welcome talk, which was all about 'you are in one of the best Business Schools in the world, you are so lucky to be here, this is the right place at the right time'. But there was free lunch again so can't complain...

I'm really starting to find my way around the city already. Hong Kong is very compact; and the city centre is quite narrow, located between the sea and mountains, making it easy to figure out where you are. Also because of the compactness, it doesn't take very long to go anywhere. Apparently a 40-minute commute is considered long!

So far my time here has felt like a vacation. It's been great, but I'm sort of looking forward to classes starting on Monday and really getting into the life here. It hasn't hit me yet that I'm actually going to be LIVING here, not just visiting. I'm very glad I'm staying here for a whole year! Seems that most exchange students are here only for a semester which is a bit of a shame.