Ni hao from Hong Kong!

Hi Wharton Women!

It's a little late for my first post, as I am now half way through my time in Hong Kong, but I figured I would start from the beginning (this is taken from bits from my personal blog).

I've been busy getting myself acquainted with Hong Kong and the University. HKUST is located in Kowloon, which is about 40 minutes away from the city of Hong Kong. Kowloon and Hong Kong are actually on separate islands. You can travel to Hong Kong Island by way of ferry or through the MTR -- the Mass Transit Railway -- which is one of the best subway systems in the world. And it definitely it is. It's ridiculously clean and very safe. Hong Kong, the city, in general, is extremely safe and has a very low crime rate. I've already gotten pretty accustom to the MTR and it's pretty easy to navigate in and out of Kowloon and HK. Here's a little video of the MTR for your amusement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrucnP1NPFc

Everyone gets by using an Octopus card which is pretty much all you need to survive in the city. You just scan it to pay for fare on any bus, van, subway, and most vendors, restaurants, vending machines, and photocopy/printing machines accept it as well. It's all you really need.

HKUST is breathtaking. The room reminds me of Hill but we have AC and that's all that really matters. It's EXTREMELY hot and humid here, for now. Temps in the high 90s. I got to my room late on Thursday night and couldn't see anything around but woke up around 5AM from jetlag and opened the blinds and was AMAZED by the view. We can see the school's turf/track right in front of us, the Olympic sized pool, and best of all the water and mountains are gorgeous. The campus is built on a hill, so everything is really steep and you take an elevator to get from one area of campus to another. Hall IV is at the bottom of the hill and we take 3 long elevator rides to get up to the academic area of campus. The campus is really open and kinda has a resort-like feel. When you walk on the bridges that connect all the elevators you actually feel like you're walking on air because all you see are the mountains and water around you and because of the hill, it feels like there's nothing past the building. I honestly can't believe the scenery around me. So while being outside the city is a pain, the breathtaking view is well worth it.

We took the MTR to Central (Hong Kong) the other day and explored around the city. We went to the financial district and went into the huge HSBC building, and saw the skyscraper that's in Dark Knight, which looks sweet.

Besides all that, the Cantonese people here are sooo nice. Honestly, everyone here is soo friendly and says hello and everyone is really helpful. It's not like a lot of countries we've been to. Everyone says hi in the hallways. More than once I've asked the stupidest questions about where to find things and what to order and how to order and people just go ahead and do it for you. Our host buddies are really nice too.

There's 186 exchange students in the business school and 50-60 Engineering. About half are from the U.S. but a HUGE amount of kids are from Europe--particularly areas like Germany, Norway, Spain, and Sweden.

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Since this was written nearly 2 months ago, things have changed quite a lot. I've grown to love Hong Kong and Kowloon and am not at all eager to leave. I have been doing a lot of traveling: Philippines, Vietnam, China, Macau, Thailand, with more trips on the way.

If you're reading this and thinking of going abroad to Hong Kong (or anywhere in Asia!) I'd be happy to answer any questions =)

Richa