Flights & First Day.

I was a bit skeptical when I began my journey flying from Salt Lake to San Francisco and a way big guy sat down next to me without smiling, saying hi, or even making eye contact with me. Ew. So then I just started reading my book and eavesdropping on the conversation of the two people sitting in front of me because they were talking abnormally loud. Good thing that flight was short. In San Francisco I had a 6 hour layover that I spent doing sudoku and logic problems. Oh and I ate some dinner at Burger King because I didn't know when the next time I could get my hands on some decent chicken tenders would be, too bad the worker was super rude to me. When I sat down she said "We are closing, you only have 5 minutes to eat."

Once I reached the International Terminal it all changed though. I already felt like I was in a foreign land. I checked in way smoothly, headed to my gate, found out they offer free wi-fi and logged on. I spent the rest of my layover abusing the 45 minutes of free internet by using it 3 times in a row. Then we boarded the plane. Lucky for me I was one of the first on, I sat in my window seat and nobody had the seat next to me. Someone was on the other side of the empty seat, but he literally watched movies the entire flight. The next 12 hours went way quickly because I was asleep for basically all of it. When I was awake I did a little reading and watched "How to Train Your Dragon" with Chinese subtitles. It was a way nice flight.

Hong Kong Airport was way smooth to get around. I breezed through immigration, no questions asked. It was a way good feeling when he approved my visa and went to town with the stamp because as he was analyzing it I freaked myself out thinking about what I would do if I had gotten denied entry. So then I had 3 hours to kill until my shuttle arrived... the first hour was terrible. I wandered the airport with all my luggage wondering where I needed to be to meet the shuttle. Then the biggest tender mercy of my life happened and 2 kids approached me out of no where and asked if I was studying abroad at CityU. I said yes and we all became instant friends. Then we ran into a few more exchange students and within 10 minutes we had a group of about 12 people who were all waiting for the same shuttle.

From then on I've been checking in, getting a campus tour, unpacking, sweating in the humidity, and trying not to have an American accent. I've been in several large groups of exchange students where everyone is asking everyone where they are from, but when they get to me they say "You're from the United States, right?" It sort of bugs me, I wish I was more of a mystery. Oh well. What I do love is that I have met people from ALL over the world. Lots from Sweden, lots from Finland, a couple from England, one from Wales, one from Belgium, a few from Australia, and even one from Indonesia. Only like 5 from Hong Kong though... really strange. Turns out Utah is only famous because the Olympics were held there once, such a great claim to fame. I never realized that other people around the world didn't know we have the greatest snow on earth... apparently everything on a license plate isn't true.

Now I'm off to try some hot pot for my first time.