The first week was awesome

Let’s begin this one with a disclaimer. I’m quite hungover from going to Mr. Wong’s yesterday evening and then a slumberparty with Elise, Augi and Alicia. I’m sorry if this reads weirdly because of that.

I’ve been here one week now and apart from a few small heat-related hiccups I’m having the time of my life. I’ve met great people and we’ve even formed a crew to go out with and later go on trips with. At first I was worried about this but once I found these guys everything has been a breeze. Of course I still miss my family and other people I love back home at times, but having people to turn to here is awesome.

Since my last entry, I’ve moved into my new home. Starr Hall room 2108B, which I share with a freshman from Hong Kong. The room’s alright. There’s lots of storage space and the view is amazing. The only bad part about it is that it gets fucking hot in the afternoon (the room faces west) and we have to pay 2 HKD for every hour of A/C. Luckily a fan helps out a lot as well. Also we’re not allowed to drink or have friends over after 11 pm.

I don’t remember exactly when we did what so I’m just gonna write about stuff I do remember. On Sunday we went to Lantau Island to look at nature, a temple and Tian Tian Buddha, which is the largest outdoor bronze Buddha in the world. Afterwards we took a cable cart back to the MTR station at which point I ditched because I felt horrible. The heat was crazy on Lantau and I was really tired. The others went to Tai O, a fishing village on stilts. Except there’s no water, just boats in mud. You can’t really fish here anyways because there’s all kinds of shit in the water. Literally everything is imported. Except pushcarts. Anyways, I felt really bad but then I Skyped some people after which I joined the others again. We got food at Tasty Congee which is incredibly overhyped, and then went for drinks. I think. It’s all kind of a blur.

Apart from sleeping a lot during the day here (to avoid the heat, of course) I also went to the campus to get registration sorted, and went on 2 tours (shoutout to our awesome tourguide) and went to see Kowloon and stuff.

I’m just gonna ramble from here on forth until I get to the sentimental closer.

Tasty Congee sucks.

Tim Ho Wan is a 1 Michelin star Dim Sum place where we ate for 60 HKD a piece (that’s 6 euro). The BBQ pork buns are amazing.

Mr. Wong’s is a 60 HKD all-you-can-eat all-you-can-drink diner in the shabbiest part of Mongkok. There’s no English menus but Mr. Wong just asks you if you like certain kinds of food and brings it to you. To illustrate how good the food is; we joke about Alicia’s screaming foodgasm over the fish. Also he has no liquor license so he gives you money to buy beer at a local supermarket. No joke.

Tasty Congee sucks.

The lightshow is underwhelming but nice to see once. The view, however, is a-fucking-mazing. See below.

LKF (district to go out in) is fun but really expensive. Luckily I’ve met someone who’s from here and will hopefully take us to a warehouse club.
For now we’re sticking to 7-eleven beers (a liter of Tsing Tao for 12.50 HKD) and free entry. The only problem is that on Friday and Saturday they make you get a drink which is like 50 HKD a piece.

The student union has a lot of fun clubs and I’m considering joining a few. Rugby, kendo, dragonboating, rowing, magic and photography are all really.

Enrolling for classes is a bitch. Basically none of the cool classes we were promised we could take are available. Also, most of the courses about China are taught in Chinese. That’s a problem in general. The people at Starr’s reception desk barely speak english and the same goes for many people in the faculties. It almost seem that the older the person, the better their English because chances are they studied in the UK or were there for a long part of their life.

Yesterday in Elise’s room we talked about children’s books and in particular about Dr. Seuss, who’s ‘Oh, the places you’ll go’ she had with her. Today I looked at some quotes and now I can’t wait to read it. I’m having an awesome time in an amazing city here, and I’m sharing it with amazing people. I do miss my friends and family from home but I would rather show them all the great stuff that’s here then go back to Holland. I don’t feel like I’m torn between two worlds but rather like I’m enriching my own world and myself. I suppose reality is quite a subjective thing; I’m not too sure about that but I do know that mine is the best there fucking is.

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading ☺

P.S. If you want to know how it feels, this song times a million captures it pretty well for me: