First "Normal" Week

Tuesday - Thursday, July 7-9

This week was our first "normal" week of classes. I have 2 different courses - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I am taking Chinese Culture and Society and Human Resource Management. Both professors, as I mentioned are visiting professors from the US. I am really enjoying both classes, but the pace of the course is really quick considering we only have 11 full classes with these professors. The morning session runs from 9:30 - 12:15 and the afternoon course is from 2:30 - 5:15. There is a nice break in between the courses so we can get lunch, relax, print out slides for class, or get reading done. My classes are mostly reading and reviewing slides, and the grades are based on the final exam and participation rather than homework assignments.

I don't mind living in the residence halls, but it is different having a room mate again, and a small (hard) bed! My room mate is really sweet. Her name is Jill, and she is from Shanghai. When she came here she only knew what she had taught herself in English, so she is excited to use her English, and each day I can see how much she has improved.



This week we have had a lot of buzz about H1N1 - Swin Flu. There were a few confirmed cases in our hall, and we are now required to not only take our temperature upon entering a room, but also wear masks throughout the day. Everyone is so nervous to the swine flu, and the administration is making us all paranoid to get sick.

After classes, we typically study at night and get ready for the next day so we don't have much work for the weekend. We also have visited the campus bar, which is always empty, to drink Stella's and play Jenga. (Yes Warren, you would love the fact that every bar serves Stella on draught.)

On Thursday after class we were walking out and Brittany got a call from Saj asking if we had seen Marc. Of course we had seen Marc about 15 times that day, but little did we know that it was his 27th birthday and he neglected to let us know!! In very American fashion, we all get excited and decide we should go out and celebrate in SoHo and LKF, since it is not only our last day of classes for the week, but a birthday celebration!


The first place we went to in SoHo was a Ukrainian bar and restaurant, Ivan the Kozak. They had delicious bliny (crepes) and the drinks were pretty good. The decorations were exactly like something you would find in a traditional Ukrainian restaurant - with church calendars and prayers on the wall as well.




Our favorite part of this place became the "Ice Room", which was blasting air conditioning, had Christmas trees, face icicles, and hundreds of vodkas for shots. After this, we went to Claudio's favorite jazz/gay bar, Gecko, and then finished our night with a "nightcap" in LKF at Insomnia, where we found the BEST coverband in HK!