Houtun Kong: 你好! Hi!

你好嗎! How are you?

Everything has been so amazing here in Hong Kong! I am really happy with my decision to come here and to have this great opportunity to expand my view of the world. This adventure is new way to learn new things about myself because here I am all alone without my darling Hany, without my dearest twin sister Noora, without my loving family (other sister, brother, mom, dad) and without my lovely Finnish friends. I miss you all but I need to experience this by myself. I am enjoying it for real! Still I can't wait until you come to visit me in oder to share this with you. Hany is coming during Easter and also my mom, sister and brother are coming in April.

The past three weeks has been really busy. In HKU we have add/drop period for our course enrollments. We can add and drop as much courses as we like during the period and check if the course is interesting (read: if the teacher is nice). It was really hard to decide what courses to drop and add. Actually some of the five courses that I selected back in Finland before I even arrived here appeared to be impossible to enroll since the lectures and practicals were running at the same time. And so I had to drop one or two of the courses. Now I have selected Nutrigenomics, Food and Nutritional Toxicology and Clinical Nutrition which are really interesting with the Asian way of thinking. Maybe in next blog text I will tell you more details about my studies after I know more about the topics, practicals etc. I am also really lucky to have a chance to work at the Food and Toxicology Laboratory which is led by the Associate Professor of Food and Toxicology who I mentioned in the previous blog text. I am hooked up with one of professor's PhD student who is doing research and I am helping her. The laboratory is located in the School of Biological Sciences.

School of Biological Sciences

But let's talk about something funnier for example my freetime habbits! I want to visit as many places in Hong Kong as I have time to visit during my exchange. Hong Kong is divided into three different areas which are called the Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula and the New Territories which reaches the borders of China. The University of Hong Kong and my residence are located in the Hong Kong Island. So last Saturday we had time to explore Kowloon with my exchange friends, Louise from Canada, Simon and Vivien from Germany. We visited Chi Lin Nunnery Temple in Diamond Hill and Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple in Wong Tai Sin. The second one is home for Taoism, Buddhism and Confuciasim and the first one is Buddhist temple. Below you can check out some pictures of the temples and areas. Also we had enough time to go shopping in the Ladies Market which is also really popular attraction in Kowloon. At the end of the day we went to watch the Symphony of Lights show in Tsim Sta Tsui. They say it is the World's Largest Permanent Light and Sound Show. We enjoyed it!

Chi Lin Nunnery

Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple

Chinese Lunar New Year is celebrated next week so the whole week is free from schools and works. We are planning to explore more Hong Kong and the islands around it for example Lantau Island. Also we will visit Macau which is known for its casinos and gampling. There is interesting places for example Macau's Portugese area, Taipa and Coloane. I am really excited but I will also work hard with my studies during the break. Can't wait!

Hong Kong Breakfast

Maybe you are also curious to know something about the food that I have eaten here. First it was really hard to know what to eat and what is safe etc. I don't want to take any of my diarrhea beverages which I got from my teacher back in Finland - ahah. After few tasting times I found food is usually actually really good and I have tried several cuisines for now. And everything has been really delicious. I have tried for example Hong Kong styled breakfast, Hot Pot, Dim Sum, Dumpling and Japanese cuisine. There is a lot of different ways to eat your dish - with tea, with chopsticks, with hot water.. But no lactose-free milk for me! *sadface* Maybe I will tell you later more about the dishes - after I have became more like real Hong Konger!