Well, it took a 3 hour car ride to the airport, a 3 hour maintenance delay (at least they caught the problem before we were in the air) and 16 hours on a plane, but I am finally here!
The drive to, and the wait at the airport weren't terrible. I spent a lot of the delay wandering the shops in the terminal or doing word searches in the book I bought during my wandering. What I wasn't prepared for was how sore I would get during the plane ride. I know 16 hours is a long time, but even with the extra leg room I had because I was in the first row of my section, I was fidgety most of the ride. Thank goodness the air line provided entertainment in the form of free tv shows and movies on your own personal screen, because I'm not sure I could have read that entire flight like I planned. I was happily surprised at the listings they had for movies though. Several, like The Fault in our Stars, were very recently out of theaters. It let me catch up on all the movies I missed over summer. When I wasn't watching a movie, I slept, which I don't think was a good idea, especially not towards the end of the trip, seeing how it's 5:15am here and I am wide awake for the day.
After finishing the plane ride, getting through Hong Kong International Airport was surprisingly easy after a few helpful people directed me, and the others on my flight with me, where to go. While making our way though the airport, we noticed a group of cameras around a man. Turns out, the one time I'm in an international airport, so are a famous pop singer and his new wife! It was crazy to see how in your face these cameras got to the pop star. What was really great was that Hong Kong Baptist University had student ambassadors waiting there to take us back to the school after they collected everyone. The ambassadors and other exchange students I met were all very nice and we have plans to meet together tomorrow (today now) so we can venture our way into the city in search of an Ikea to finish the set up of our rooms.
The rooms we were given, while smaller than the dorms I have had before, are still well sized. Plus, with so little packed, I was done organizing my room in like 15 minutes, so that was great! My roommate hasn't arrived yet, so I'm in the room alone right now, but she will either be an exchange student that arrives in the next few days, or an international student that will be here mid next week, and either option is exciting!
So far, though I am only going on 7 hours in Hong Kong, everyone has been very kind. From the other exchange students I met at the airport, to the girl I met on the elevator who lives on my floor and helped bring my luggage to my room, and my RA (which they call hall tutors here) who has been very helpful with helping me set up my email and wifi.
Though I'm sure there will be tons to get used to, and situations that won't be as easy as moving in, for day one, everything has been pretty great. I can't wait to see what else this trip has in store for me!
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