First Week of School

Hey Everyone!

I survived my first week of school! Already, I'm starting to experience what Hong Kong is famous for.... its fast pace! It has only been a week and I've had readings, submissions, and project briefs thrust into my hands! The other day, I was informed by email from one of my TA's that we had a small assignment due for the next day for a class that hadn't even started yet! I had to laugh; had I checked my email in the morning, like I usually do, I would have attended class unprepared! Great first impression, right? Thank goodness I had made a friend who happened to be in the same course. We're expected to know so much here, but everyone in MArch 1 seems to be as lost as I am. We're all dreading that lovely Revit modelling assignment. I'm sure we're all secretly hoping that we don't have to digitally model and re-create construction drawings of Zaha Hadid's Innovation Tower... And don't get me wrong, it IS on the list that will be assigned to an unlucky soul... hopefully that unlucky soul will not be me!

So far, I've made a handful of new friends. It's very interesting to see that the majority of MArch students are not from HKU but from schools around the globe. I've met people from Melbourne, Vienna, London, Mainland China, the States, and of course Hong Kong. Having friends and people in the same situation as myself really does make me feel like I belong, rather than being the odd man out. I've heard from a lot of foreigners not of Asian descent that it is very difficult for them to be included in a group, but I haven't encountered such a problem. Hopefully, I never will.

A few of us went to Central to visit City Gallery. The gallery was a brief history of Hong Kong, its statistics and intended developments. One of their installations included a large map of the HK area and permitted you to build the future of HK. I'm not sure if my friends would have done it, if I wasn't so enthused to play, but they
entertained my inner child.

There were a lot of blocks
... and yes we did clean up

Good luck to all my friends starting a new school year or starting their new job! May you all get through the year with plenty of smiles, great friends, reasonable profs/employers, and more hair on your head then when you first started! Take care and being busy is no excuse not to keep in touch!