Moving In

Our taxi driver (and most others in HK) didn't speak English. We had to show him a picture of our school name in Chinese characters for him to understand.The first noticeable thing about Hong Kong traffic is the fact that they drive on the opposite side of the road. It was and still is hard to get used to. Also, they don't have 4 way intersections. Instead, intersections are circular roundabout with a garden center and cuts leading off the the circle for the side roads. I was shocked when I saw a speed limit sign that said "80" until I remembered they use the metric system meaning 80 kilometers per hour. Driving through the city, the building were innumerable. If you looked out one window you see skyscrapers in a deep gorge surrounded by water, and on the other, a deserted mountain that stretched beyond sight. The streets and mountains were lined with palm trees and tropical shrubbery that contrasted sharply with the European cars and apartment buildings. It's almost like New York City (times 100) was picked up and dropped in the middle of the Amazonian rainforest--plus mountains. I could not believe the texture, depth and density of the area.

After we arrived, we unloaded our stuff and checked in. I was so thankful to be rid of my ball and chain of a duffel I dragged it to my room. My dorm, on the 5th floor of the newest building, is amazing. Myself and 3 other girls share a bathroom while each room has it's own sink. My roommate has yet to move in. I'm pretty sure she is local though. The view from my window overlooks the back of the university. As you can see online, the campus is extremely vertical with my building being closest to the water and furthest from the academic center.

After Daniel checked in (he lives in the dorm next door) we met up with a fellow Miami student who told us how to get into town in order to get our bedding and other things. We began by taking a taxi to the nearest MTR (subway) station. Hong Kong has one of the most efficient transportation infrastructures in the world with the MTR connecting everything from Hong Kong Island to the mainland. The stations are also very easy to navigate, clean and safe. We took the MTR into the middle of Kowloon (the mainland) to Kowloon Bay. There, we wandered around a mall eventually finding the "Megabus" that took us to "Megabox" where IKEA was located. Yes, I said Ikea. The store was located on the 3rd and 4th floor of what looked like an office building but was actually another mall in the bottom 20 floors. The trip took us quite a while and when we were done shopping, we re-did the entire route only taking a bus from the MTR station to HKUST instead of a taxi. My arms were so sore from carrying all my room amenities and I slept very well that night.