First Impressions

My plane arrived in Hong Kong airport at 8 pm.  I traveled with Maria, another exchange student from Lehigh.  Luckily, Maria's exchange buddy, a full time HKUST student picked us up from the airport and we took a taxi to the campus.  It was dark and rainy, and the air was very hot and humid.
When I arrived at my residence hall, UG Hall V, I was greeted by 4 local attendants.  One of them could understand English, and I was able to check into my room on the third floor.  The room was tiny, appearing as small as a train cabin with a bunk bed.  I couldn't imagine sharing this space with another student.  Also there was no way to use the air conditioning because it required an ID, and I wouldn't be able to get mine until the next morning.  I tried plugging in a few things, made the noob mistake of not checking the voltage of my american devices.  Voltage in Hong Kong is 220 VAC, and this destroyed my alarm clock, meant for the 110 VAC back home.  Without any bedding, except the blanket from the plane, I passed out on the tiny hard mattress provided.
The next morning I awoke early, a little after sunrise since my body clock was thrown off by being 12 hours ahead.  Despite the uncomfortableness of the night before, I was able to appreciate the beautiful window view of the Clear Water Bay.  It was now time to explore the campus.

Morning Window View

My residence hall UG Hall V

 I eventually found my way to the main academic building.  My first step was to get my ID.  Navigating this building was difficult with so many elevators leading to many different places.  I eventually found the registration office.  Here I met 5 more exchange students.  3 students from Denmark, a student from Germany, and a student from Texas.  We all got breakfast and exchanged information.  A few of us agreed to meet up to go into the city later.

My first bus ride

After setting up the AC in my room, (making it 20x better),  I set out to the city with my new friends.  My main goal was to get some bedding.   We took a bus to Heng Hao, and shopped around for a bit.  I also got my octopus card,  which  is essential as it allows you to add money to use for public transportation and convenient stores.  Its very efficient, and you don't even have to take it out of your wallet to use it.


I then left the group to go to Ikea located at a big super mall called MegaBox, taking the MTR train for the first time.  It was an interesting adventure finding my way there being the only white guy on the train.  I got lost a few times and had to ask a few english speaking locals for help.  I spent a lot of time there, and took public transportation back to campus, pretty much ending my first day.  My roomate moved in that night. He's from DC.

Apartment buildings in Kowloon Bay