Post the Tenth - First Down

I've been in Hong Kong for over a month now. It didn't strike me until now. Probably because a distraction from Physics was inevitable. But it's weird to think that it's almost the end of February. It feels like January just ended... like orientation was just two weeks ago.

A question I've gotten a lot from both people back home and here is... why Hong Kong? Why HKU? A lot of it was a suggestion from my dad, a good portion of it was the experience of being in a country that would have been nothing like the places I've been to, some of it was the chance to get away from life, and whatever percentage was left... I think it was fate. I lost a geography bee in seventh grade because the British did not leave Guatemala in the 1990's (I was guessing at this point, and what pisses me off to this day is that we'd just studied that. But that's another story in another life). Hong Kong disappeared from life until the summer of 2007. I was in India at the time, and this movie was coming out that had some of the most beautiful Hindi music i've heard... and a very beautiful skyline in the picture. When I got ahold of the CD, I flipped it open to find a form for a contest to go see Hong Kong, where the movie was shot. I didn't pay much attention to it; who wins these things anyway?

Whenever I see the skyline now, I can hear that music playing. It's haunting and beautiful, much like the city itself when it's foggy (which is more often than not).

Why HKU? At the time I was planning all this, my initial plan was to go to City University, but this place was internationally ranked and the website was all in English, which spoke volumes
to me. I was also looking to study abroad with a friend, but that fell through unfortunately.

A lot of what I've done to this point was not what I planned on doing... what I'd dreamed of doing as a kid. Am I okay with that? A good portion of it, yeah. This experience is one of them.

I have the first week of March off for what's called Reading Week. Following the week is midterms; my first exam is the first Quantum exam the Tuesday we get back, then CS that Friday. GPII is the following Thursday I believe, and Stats is yet to be announced. I'll have another Quantum exam right before classes end.

My Thursdays have turned into a living hell; I've got class from 11:40 to 6 pm with a half hour break from 1:30 to 2 since we now have labs. Each class has two labs, so I should survive... hopefully...

I'm starting to do an English Teaching Programme on Mondays too (my spelling will be forever altered by this place); I'm paired with another girl to help encourage local students to speak English. I'm also participating in a psych study this Friday, so I'm keeping fairly busy. It's a pretty good life (minus physics, but physics is always a killjoy).

So from Hong Kong, good morning.