Patrick Manson Hall At HKU
January 14, 2010 § 3 Comments
Don't leave me here...
My residence hall is not an actual dorm, and it is not one that I had even heard of before getting my housing assignment. Its name is Patrick Manson [we call it PM for short], and is pretty much the farthest residence hall from campus that I know of. Indeed, it would take me more than 30 minutes to walk to campus, so I have to take a bus to and fro. The closest facilities are a 7-11, the hospital, and a canteen [cafeteria] that most people denounce as gross.
Yet, they filled this hall with female exchange students. We don’t even have a front desk, much less the hall life that is touted in HKU brochures. That means no hall activities, no hall sports teams, no hall spirit — only the security guard that comes at night. If we need maintenance or a piano room [things normally available on a hall’s first floor], we have to walk over to the building next door.
The hallways are narrow and dim, as if one is in a warehouse rather than college student residence. The laundry room only has four machines, so it’s amazing to me that it would be able to handle the laundry of 100 girls. The building has no heaters, which makes the place feel damp and chilly even in this relatively mild HK winter. Our “mailboxes” are more like cubbyholes — no security at all. When my new debit card arrives in the mail, anybody would be able to just take it.
What are the advantages of living here?
Well, nobody plays soccer/hockey in the hallways at night [apparently this is a habit of guys in certain other halls]. Because we don’t have a front desk, security is very lax, and we don’t need to sign in our guests or worry too much about possession of alcohol [curfew and prohibition are stated but not exactly enforced], not that the latter applies to me. The only other one I can think of is that the toilet paper is of a remarkable caliber. Even the Scott tissues that I bought were of lower quality.
Roommates AT HKU
January 14, 2010 § 1 Comment
To make blogging more manageable, I’ve decided to do shorter, topical posts instead of lengthy ramblings. Here goes!
For the past year & a half, I’ve been living with two roommates while at school, though off-campus. This, however, is my first time in a dorm with two roommates. I believe ours is the only triple on the floor, and thus our room is significantly larger than the others that I’ve seen.
Because I was the last one to move in, I was stuck with the middle bed, which is a strange situation for me because I always sleep by a wall. So far it’s been good, though three girls with long dark hair tend to shed a lot.
One of my roommates, Rosaline, is from California, and she’s been here since last semester; she enjoyed HKU so much that she extended her stay when she was supposed to graduate a semester early. She also speaks Cantonese, which allows her to be doubly helpful whenever we go out. Although she seems to be a rather unassuming person, she’s gone out almost every single night since I’ve gotten here, so she’s quite the social butterfly. Rosaline likes Kpop, which is always a plus, though her tastes are more akin to LC’s: Big Bang, Siwan/Kyuhyun/Donghae, Taecyeon & dramas.
My other roommate, Nadia, is from Denmark, where their education system differs vastly; she’s a college senior at the age of 27, which is apparently normal over there. Danish is her first language, but I didn’t even know because her English is quite good. Nadia is half Danish and half Thai, and she’s had a lot of experience traveling to different places, so she’s good to go out with as well. Her boyfriend, who is apparently coming to visit during Easter, is Irish [I think she told me he’s 12 years her senior?], so I’ll hopefully get to meet him sometime.
Both of my roommates are open and easy to get along with, so I don’t think we’ll have any troubles this semester. They also have a good balance between talking and sleeping, which I appreciate.
Malady
January 11, 2010 § 1 Comment
This is what I felt like when I was sick during badminton season away games — I’d step outside after school and it would be cheerfully sunny, but I’d feel too crappy to appreciate it, and I’d still have to play whatever school we were scheduled to beat that day.
Anyway, I had more I wanted to write but it’ll have to wait until I get healthy.
Notes From Home To Here
January 6, 2010 § Leave a comment
Boohoohoo...
Before leaving, I told myself I wouldn’t cry — I’m normally a very dry-eyed person. But when my brother walked out the door to go catch the school bus, I started tearing up. And even though mother was in a terribly grouchy mood early in the morning, I couldn’t even say anything as we hugged goodbye for fear of starting to cry.
As the car pulled out of the driveway, I looked out the window and tried to hold back my tears. Maybe I just need to go somewhere and have a god cry, I thought, but couldn’t understand why I felt that way. In hindsight, I think it was because my parents were banking on me to be successful in my endeavors in Hong Kong, but I felt like such a disappointment to them. What have I ever done that was worth being proud of? Thankfully, the sadness gave way to sheer exhaustion and I slept the whole way to the airport.
Upon arriving at O’Hare, nervousness mingled with excitement. Father, who had to catch his own flight to Boston, seemed reluctant to part ways.
On the plane, I watched Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs — I was exhausted but it was one of my favorite childhood books, so I forced myself awake. It was nothing like the picture book, but I actually cried at the end of the movie when Flint’s father tells him what he had been waiting his whole life to hear.
The stars look amazing from above the clouds — it’s like being on the same level instead of billions of miles away. We flew over some mountains, which were absolutely breathtaking. I rarely get a window seat, so I spent a lot of time staring out at the landscape. [I also only went to the bathroom once because the middle-aged couple next to me spent the whole trip sleeping and barely spoke English.] The skies were mostly clear of any clouds, and I could see the jagged peaks lightly coated in a layer of mist, as if they had risen out of some fantasy novel.
When in-flight TVs are finished playing their movies, they usually show maps of the plane’s progress. Instead of showing us where we were, the maps on teh screen displayed four different angles of the plane leaving from Chicago, in case we would forget or something.
My first thought upon laying eyes on HK: It has mountains! How new and exciting!
My second impression, once I stepped into the airport, was that it smelled like China. Good to be in the motherland again, I suppose.
My third thought, as I was traveling through the terminal, was that I was happy to be in a place full of Asians again. Oh how I missed it!
I don’t think it’s possible for me to acquire an accent, and I don’t even know what to call the way people speak English here. My first instinct is “fob accent,” but these people are not fobs. I suppose it would be called a Hong Kong accent? I met a girl from Australia yesterday and it seems more likely for me to pick up her accent than an HK one.
auradis 