Hong Kong

I had planned on writing in this before now certainly, but the last few days have been the busiest of my life. Vera, the resident director for Tufts-in-HK, has been running us around quite literally every minute of every day. The purpose of our packed orientation is two-fold: it introduces us to many aspects of Hong Kong while helping us to beat the jet lag. We have been meeting around 8-9 every morning and getting back to the dorms between 12-1. I'm literally tired all the time, so I guess jet lag per say isn't really an issue. 

So far this has been the most incredible experience I've ever had. Easily. Having a wonderful director to show us around and guide us through the jungle of university paperwork  has taken all of the stress off of us. Really I feel badly for everyone who doesn't have a Vera, as the  paper work isn't at all straightforward and the buildings are rather difficult to locate. To make it even more difficult, the english speaking capabilities of most of these people are...well... lacking. Even though it's one of the two official languages (along with Cantonese), since Hong Kong was returned to China the people's linguistic focus has shifted from English to Mandarin. 

I've only been here a few days so far, but I could easily see myself living here. It's so different in so many ways, but the biggest difference for me so far is the amount of respect people here have for each other. When someone feels sick, they slap on face mask to prevent others from getting sick. In America, no one gives a damn about getting random strangers sick. My dorm common room is packed full of people's food and has a playstation with a stack of games sitting there. At Tufts, no one leaves food in the common refrigerators because drunk kids come back and eat it. And the playstation would be gone within a week.  It's refreshing to see, honestly.

Classes start tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.