The past week is a blur of sunny days on the beach, wandering through the busy streets of Mon Kok and Central, and laughter and time spent with friends. (Okay, okay, so studying is not exactly the top of this list. It is really hard to study in this beautiful place). The theme of the next two weeks is time-and not having enough of it. It's starting to hit everyone that we won't ever get this time back. I will be back to Hong Kong many times in my life, but not in this capacity and not with these people. I will most likely never be in a position in my life where it will be okay to put a beach day, followed by Taco Tuesday, followed by a night out dancing before an exam worth 40% of my final grade and not even worry. When I look back on my memories and time spent in Hong Kong, I am not going to remember getting ten points higher on an exam because I sacrificed four hours of countless laughter and inside jokes with friends. Side note: I promise to everyone that I will pass all of my classes here!
Hong Kong has made me fall in love with the fast paced life style. I love that I don't rest here. I want to spend every second exploring the city. Hong Kong has taught me how to quickly elbow past the tour groups crowding in the streets. I slip between the cracks of crowds to make my way from one MTR to the next. I have mastered passing on the opposite side of the road in order to move past little kids walking with their moms. I have become impatient if the next MTR is 5 minutes away. I have never lived in a city before and seen the famous "hustle and bustle" of city-people. I love it. I sleep less here because I know that you don't look back on your life and remember the times you were sleeping. You remember the times that you were truly living.
During the past few days, I realized that I hustled so fast that I missed some things. It occurred to me that I will never have another class in SHTM. I will never walk down the stairs to the basement of the building in the morning and hear the cheerful security guard call out "早晨" (Good morning!) or sit through another seminar class, rolling my eyes and giggling with Taynah and Welsonne about how we know more than the the teacher. I forgot to memorize the moment of walking out of the SHTM doors for the last time. These realizations forced me to slow down a bit and just take it all in. I have been trying to take more moments when I just take it all in I have started really looking at the things that I see every day. I have been taking in the views of campus and my halls. I want to remember every image. I want to remember the walk from the halls to the MTR and my 8 AM morning commute to classes with Taynah (though I am so happy that my alarm no longer goes off at 7 AM).
It became easy for me to get used to the insanely beautiful things that I see every day. My long evening runs by the harbor made it so the building's glistening lights' reflections in the water seem normal. I no longer feel in awe when I go the beach and see beautiful blue water surrounded by mountains and gorgeous architecture. I don't even gawk out the window when the city buses wind up and down the mountains past the oceans. This is my home now and I started to forget that this isn't a normal thing. And this beautiful home of mine has far from normal views and memories associated with it. Everything is just so "Hong Kong" that I got used to it. This extraordinary place has started to blow my mind all over again. I tell myself to be a tourist again so I can see this city through the eyes of someone who isn't lucky enough to see it everyday. I honestly can't believe that this place exists. Hong Kong is the most beautiful city I have ever seen.
I am actually going to be continuously sappy until I leave because Hong Kong just has me far too sentimental. Fun fact: exactly a year and a day ago today I handed in the official agreement saying that I would be studying abroad in Hong Kong. I have sure come a long way from sitting in America crying because I was so scared about coming to Asia. Now I am sitting in Asia crying about going back to America because, well, I fell in love with the city.
I still have well over a month to go and since my mom arrives tomorrow, I get to become a tourist for the week (which I am so excited about). But first, here is the picture of the week!
Hong Kong has made me fall in love with the fast paced life style. I love that I don't rest here. I want to spend every second exploring the city. Hong Kong has taught me how to quickly elbow past the tour groups crowding in the streets. I slip between the cracks of crowds to make my way from one MTR to the next. I have mastered passing on the opposite side of the road in order to move past little kids walking with their moms. I have become impatient if the next MTR is 5 minutes away. I have never lived in a city before and seen the famous "hustle and bustle" of city-people. I love it. I sleep less here because I know that you don't look back on your life and remember the times you were sleeping. You remember the times that you were truly living.
During the past few days, I realized that I hustled so fast that I missed some things. It occurred to me that I will never have another class in SHTM. I will never walk down the stairs to the basement of the building in the morning and hear the cheerful security guard call out "早晨" (Good morning!) or sit through another seminar class, rolling my eyes and giggling with Taynah and Welsonne about how we know more than the the teacher. I forgot to memorize the moment of walking out of the SHTM doors for the last time. These realizations forced me to slow down a bit and just take it all in. I have been trying to take more moments when I just take it all in I have started really looking at the things that I see every day. I have been taking in the views of campus and my halls. I want to remember every image. I want to remember the walk from the halls to the MTR and my 8 AM morning commute to classes with Taynah (though I am so happy that my alarm no longer goes off at 7 AM).
It became easy for me to get used to the insanely beautiful things that I see every day. My long evening runs by the harbor made it so the building's glistening lights' reflections in the water seem normal. I no longer feel in awe when I go the beach and see beautiful blue water surrounded by mountains and gorgeous architecture. I don't even gawk out the window when the city buses wind up and down the mountains past the oceans. This is my home now and I started to forget that this isn't a normal thing. And this beautiful home of mine has far from normal views and memories associated with it. Everything is just so "Hong Kong" that I got used to it. This extraordinary place has started to blow my mind all over again. I tell myself to be a tourist again so I can see this city through the eyes of someone who isn't lucky enough to see it everyday. I honestly can't believe that this place exists. Hong Kong is the most beautiful city I have ever seen.
I am actually going to be continuously sappy until I leave because Hong Kong just has me far too sentimental. Fun fact: exactly a year and a day ago today I handed in the official agreement saying that I would be studying abroad in Hong Kong. I have sure come a long way from sitting in America crying because I was so scared about coming to Asia. Now I am sitting in Asia crying about going back to America because, well, I fell in love with the city.
I still have well over a month to go and since my mom arrives tomorrow, I get to become a tourist for the week (which I am so excited about). But first, here is the picture of the week!
There was a mini photo-shoot on Repulse Bay beach this past Tuesday, featuring most of my best friends here. After much debate over which picture to post (because it clearly had to be one of those), I settled on this one because it shows the scenery of the beach. It is not often that you find a beach with such diverse and incredible scenery, but you find them everywhere in Hong Kong. You also find insane Mainland Chinese tourists who attack and harass you to get pictures with them (but that is a whole other story). I had such a fun day with my friends making countless memories and laughing endlessly. I am so blessed to be here with this wonderful crew.