My X-Mas in North Carolina

For Christmas this year, I was so fortunate to be invited to spend a couple of days together with my good friend Sora’s family – and it was a truly great experience.

We started off the weekend with delicious sushi

Sora, Nicklas and I went for a walk in Charlotte, the capital of North Carolina

A very "interesting" sculpture: Koala/Parrot-merger with glitter & gold. Purpose: No idea!

We had Spanish food for Christmas Eve. It was a bit strange not celebrating X-mas before the 25th as we usually have the celebrations on the 24th in Denmark.

We went to a candlelight ceremony in the local church (that can seat more than 3000 people at a time - that place is HUGE)

The church even has an escalator

My hosts (together with my friend Nicklas) in front of the main hall of the church

Our tasty Christmas dinner

10 Things I’m Going To Miss About North Carolina

As I will soon be traveling to New York to celebrate New Years, my time in North Carolina is truly coming close to its end. Accordingly, I have made an assessment of the things that I think I will miss the most once I get back to Denmark:

 

10. Never being underdressed: I have complained a lot about how people dress around Chapel Hill. And though I still find the attitude to dressing nicely rather weird, I must admit that it is very comfortable to just wear flip-flops every now and then and not necessarily have to wear heels when going out (while still not being underdressed).

9. Free stuff: The Americans are all about free stuff and coupons. Accordingly, my friends and I have had lunch for free innumerable times at the business school. That is especially valuable when on a student budget.

8. Relaxed lifestyle: One of the words officially accepted as being part of the English language this year was ”chillaxing” and though it is indeed a prime example of a totally unnecessary new verbal construction made out of two completely well-functioning words, I think that word quite accurately describes the atmosphere around Chapel Hill. People are generally very relaxed and things happen at their own slow pace as if we were living in a little bubble where time has been slowed down.

7. Huge grocery stores: I am a huge fan of American grocery stores. Not only are they extremely large, they have so many products that it still kind of confuses me. And they don’t just have a vast amount of products, the different versions of each product are truly overwhelming.

6. The weather: Though winter has indeed finally come to North Carolina, I find the climate here very intriguing. It is hot in the summer and somewhat humid, but it never reaches Hong Kong-levels. And the winter comes late (it is less than a months since I last wore shorts and sandals) without turning into the Danish “3 months of grey”.

Outlet Shopping

5. Outlet malls: Admitted, it is very hard to go shopping if you do not have a car (or someone who is willing to drive you), but once you get to the vast outlet malls you are in for brand name shopping heaven on earth. All the brands that are usually expensive in Europe are much cheaper to begin with – and then comes the heavy outlet discount on top of it.

4. Hospitality: Though I have indeed written quite a number of not-so-flattering articles about Southern American culture (especially the food), I must admit that the hospitality I have met here is overwhelming. People are generally extremely helpful and their doors are always open even if they hardly know you.

3. Liberal grading: Since the official rankings for the business school is very dependent on the GPA of the students graduating from there, most professors are very (very) nice when grading. Accordingly, you will have to make a real effort to fail a class. And I must say that even though some made a legit attempt this semester, I have yet to hear about a business student who got a D (no, traveling for most of the semester and not showing up for the exam is not sufficient).

2. Being an exchange student: This really does not have much to do with NC specifically, but it did indeed make my stay here very pleasant. The thing is that when you are on exchange, all you need to do is pass your courses (as the grades do not transfer to your official transcript), which means that there is much less academic pressure and much more free time. Also, being on exchange gives you the perfect excuse for not understanding that stupid fancy dressing theme you do not want to follow or getting a bit more goodwill from the school administrators since you are, after all, a guest here.

1. Friendly people: Another feature of the (Southern) American culture is most definitely that people are simply more talkative and friendly. It might just be someone smiling at me on my way to school, the Starbucks barista wishing me a VERY VERY nice day or the post office clerk telling me that I look like a princess – the little gestures can really make my day.

Goodbye, Chapel Hill!

NC Culture: Pig Pickin’

 

Andrew's family was so kind as to invite all the GLOBErs to a "Pig Picking"

 

Lots of traditional Southern food

... and, of corse, a vast amount of desserts.

Chilling around the bonfire, and dancing on the porch

California: Livin’ in a Movie Scene

As summer is slowly turning into winter in North Carolina with accompanying lower temperatures and midterm tests at the business school, I decided that it was about time for another get-away. This time, I went to visit a couple of friends in California. Here are some photos from an amazing weekend at “The Golden Coast”.

We started off in LA with dinner and an attempt to ride a mechanical bull

A "hearty" American breakfast: Egg Benedict

Hash is almost "legalized" in California: Here, "medical kush"

My "hosts" and I at Venice Beach

Rodeo Drive: High-end shopping (as featured in Pretty Woman)

Hollywood Walk of Fame: Snow White's star

Griffith Park: If you look really closely, you might be able to spot the Hollywood-sign!

The view over Los Angeles. Notice the layer of smog: Hong Kong flash-back

Sunset in La Jolla, San Diego

It was such a nice trip. I think it might actually be true what they say: That the grass is always greener in California!

You Know You Are in America When…

Finally, after 48 hours of traveling (due to a 10 hour delay, thanks to United Airlines – a so-called service company) I arrived in North Carolina. Coming straight from Hong Kong, the vast cultural differences hit me right in the face as soon as I got off the plane.

If I were to explain the most eye-opening experiences I have had and the most significant observations I have made, this would be my list:

I'm in the US!

The American Dream: The first person I talked to in the airport was this really friendly lady at the information counter. Before I could even start asking her a question, she looked at me, smiled and said: ”You look so pretty today. Are you auditioning for American Idol?” Welcome to America!

I knew that Americans love their cars. However, I did not quite expect the extent of it: When I exited the airport there was literally no way out unless you had a car: No sidewalks and no public transportation.

The clothes: I know I am biased on this one: I come from Europe where we tend to praise our own sense of style to a quite unreasonable degree and I have been exposed to Asian fetish fashion for almost 8 months. However, I have just one question: What is up with the running shoes, the sports shorts, the white tennis socks and the T-shirts with you university’s logo? That is sports clothes. In other words: If you are not working out I do not understand why you would choose to wear that!

It is a well-known fact that obesity is one of the largest health risks in America – and it is for that matter also a huge health issue in Europe. Maybe it is just because I’ve lived in a country where you can never be too skinny (there is no such thing as a diagnosis for anorexia in Hong Kong) but I was utterly surprised by the number of severely overweight people here: The busses have a special ramp to accommodate for this and all chairs are 1.5 times the size of their Asian counterparts.

The food. Everything here is deep-fried, full of sugar or super sized. After eating Asian portions for a long time I am now struggling to even digest the vast amount of food contained in small American portions. And since I am in the South they deep-fry literally everything (Oreos, coke etc. – you name it, they fry it). And apparently, breakfast is another word for candy here: I walk down the super market isle thinking that the insulin producers must be extremely fond of the way most Americans start off their day.

Student organizations are huge here – and they pledge for causes I would never have imagined: There is a ton of religious organizations, very specific minority-oriented groups and a vast amount of teams participating in any sport you could possibly imagine – or how about joining ”Students Against Abortion”?

There is so much space here. Everything is bigger! My new room has a closet the size of my dorm room in Hong Kong and most student houses are huge. Also, you can go for a walk without constantly bumping into people. That is such a strange experience when you come straight form one of the most densely populated cities in the world.

Strangers talk to me everywhere: On the streets, in shops and in restaurants. People are so chatty here and I have no idea how to respond to them. Mind you, I come from a country where you would normally think that a stranger just smiling to you either has a mental condition or is some kind of criminal. It’s nice that people are friendly but I have no clue how to react to them.

Pre-Departure Therapy

I am trying not to be too sad about leaving Hong Kong. Though it is hard and I most of all want to contact the immigration authorities and point out the fact that they ought to give me a special VIP life-long visa to this amazing place (in fact, I think I could make a good case for this based on my shopping spending’s significant contribution to the economic recovery), I will have to leave very soon. Therefore, as part of my pre-departure therapy, I have decided to list some of the things that I am not going to miss:

Those stupid umbrellas: Hong Kong people love their umbrellas. They use them rain or shine, and since the weather is so extreme here it actually kind of makes sense. However, people generally do not know how to navigate with an umbrella. Result: I have been hit, stabbed and slapped so many times that I now automatically screen my face whenever a person seems to be umbrella-courtesy challenged.

Pollution: Being the neighbor of China’s industrial districts has its consequences. A thick badly-smelling cloud of smog over most parts of Hong Kong is surely one of them. At times the pollution has been so severe that I could not even go for a run without jeopardizing my health (and coughing like an eighty year old chain smoker)

Where are the stars? Unfortunately, smog is not the only kind of pollution I have experienced here. The light pollution has indeed been quite depressing: In fact, it never really gets dark at night! I have not seen the stars properly since I left Denmark in January and just observing the lights from the vast amount of airplanes flying in and out of HK simply isn’t the same.

Crowdedness: This one is very simple. There are people everywhere – all the time! You go to the shopping center in the middle of the day: Completely full (aren’t HK-people supposed to work a lot?). You take the MTR at midnight: Packed. You go for a walk around campus and you’ll have to walk in zigzag to get anywhere. Ever heard of personal space? You might as well just forget about it.

The dorm: I have shared a room with 2 other girls for five months. My space in the room consisted of a bed, a desk and half a square meter of floor space. The room was so full of mold that I needed to take antihistamines in order to avoid feeling nauseous all the time. Some of my “dear” flat mates liked to have barbeque inside the flat! Oh, and did I mention that we were 15 girls sharing 3 bathrooms and 1 kitchen?

Mystery food: In Hong Kong there is always an x-factor when you eat. Even if you are cautious and order apparently harmless dishes such as chicken, you can never really be able to predict what exactly you will get. Chicken might turn out to be pork chop or it might include parts of the animal that you would not normally characterize as food (feet, eyes, the head – you name it, I’ve had it).

Humidity: I come from a country with cold, dry climate and HK is the exact opposite. Humidity levels are usually around 90% and you get a completely different perception of temperature when the air is that full of moist. It might not be very charming, but the reality is: You are sweating all the time!

Hello Kitty: Ok, HK people. I have learned to live with the bows, the glitter and the sequins. On a good day I might even accept a pink outfit. But what on Earth is the matter with grown-up women wearing Hello Kitty? Let me get this straight: Being youthful is good but there is this little thing called dignity and it ties neatly with another – apparently unknown – concept called “dressing for your age”.

HK seen from the sea (I give in: This city is awesome!)

Nostalgia and Clichés: I’m Going to Miss This Place

HK Skyline

It is official: I only have one week left in Hong Kong now. After having spent almost 8 months here, I can surely say that I have been through all the textbook stages of cultural adaptation: My first month here passed in the blink of an eye: I loved the city and everything seemed new and exotic. Then came the culture shock which lasted almost three months: While buried in tons of group reports at school and living in a dorm that literally made me sick, I was on Skype every night and manically messaging my friends at home. Luckily, the end of exams and my exploration that, actually, Hong Kong is a cleaner and more Westernized version of China, meant that I moved on to a stage of increased acceptance of the place. And finally, as I (re-)discovered the many amazing things Hong Kong has to offer, I gave in: I now feel at home in a way I would never previously have imagined.

Consequently, it is almost with tears in my eyes that I am now trying to wrap up the most amazing and challenging 8 months of my life with the 10 things I think I will miss the most:

10. The skyline: It is such a simple thing, really. On a daily basis I rarely ever notice how amazing this city is. But every now and then my friends and I will go to The Peak or Avenue of Stars – and simply stand there mesmerized by the colorful contours of HK’s innumerable skyscrapers.

9. The pace of life: I love living in the pulsating city. Everyone seems to have a purpose, a role to play. Every single day, I am amazed by the pace of change and entrepreneurship that is apparent here. If you haven’t been in a place for a couple of months, there might have been built a brand new 20-floor building. Truly impressive!

8. The beaches: Admitted, the beaches in Asia are generally not really comparable to their European counterparts. But if you study the guidebooks carefully and do a bit of an effort, you will discover well-hidden gems on small islands – and, believe me, it is so worth the try!

7. HK lifestyle: In this city there seems to be no such thing as “over the top”. You want to dress in glitter from top till toe: Go ahead. How about having a club with shark-tanks in the walls: Sure! Or is a helicopter simply your preferred means of transportation? (and you, coincidentally, happen to grow 1000$ bills in your backyard) HK is the right place for you!

6. The expatriate community: I had never imagined that Hong Kong would inhabit so many expatriates – and that the international environment would be so impactful. Because most people here are more or less “foreigners”, they are much more open-minded and willing to talk to strangers. If you go to Happy Valley or simply a bar in the Westerner-dense parts of Hong Kong Island, you might end up talking to a high-profile CEO or an entrepreneur who was just supposed to have a single sleep-over in HK 15 years ago but ended up living here ever since!

5. Convenience: Everything is close and designed for the convenience of the users (yes, so-called Danish welfare state: Watch and learn). The metro is always running and if there is just a 10 seconds delay, the speaker in the train announces the metro-company’s most deep-felt apologies. There are shopping centers and grocery stores everywhere, and a carefully designed network of bridges makes sure that you can pretty much walk from one end of Hong Kong island to the other covered by roofs.

4. Shopping: There are malls everywhere and their opening hours are actually adjusted to match a busy lifestyle. After having browsed everything from high-end luxury gold-covered too-big-to-imagine shopping malls to the local market where you have to make a serious effort to not buy counterfeit products, I give in: Hong Kong is shopping heaven!

3. The food: In Hong Kong it is custom to dine out at least once a day. You can get every kind of food that your might desire – and mostly at very reasonable prices. This city has truly broadened my food-horizon: I have found that I love Dim Sum (excluding chicken feet, cow stomach, jellyfish salad and pig intestines – but whatever!), I could eat sushi every day for the rest of my life, Korean food is delicious, Vietnamese cuisine is extremely tasty, and I really like Indian food. Did I forget something? Probably… There are the amazingly pretty birthday cakes, the many “healthy” (well, relatively at least) desserts, and the overwhelming street stands selling fresh exotic fruit.

2. The nightlife: I don’t think it will be highly controversial to announce that HK might have one of the best night life scenes I have ever experienced. With the infamous Lan Kwai Fong and Wan Chai districts as focal points, there is always something going on. Whether you are up for ladies’ night, clubbing, a sports bar, dancing on the beach, a themed roof-top party or just a laid-back lounge, HK is most definitely the place to be.

1. The people: This one is simple and so cliché. Yet, this is what really made the difference for me and sparked my sincere love for this city. During my 8 months I have met the most unbelievably amazing people. From class-mates over the most random encounters in the street to friends-of-friends-of-friends, I can honestly say that I have never before met so many inspiring, enthusiastic and downright fabulous human beings in one single city!

I love Hong Kong!

I Think I am Becoming Asian #1

After living in Hong Kong for more than half a year (time surely flies…) I think I am becoming Asian. I have now overcome most of my initial culture shock and am beginning to feel Hong Lifestyle creeping in on me. Here, I’ve tried to sum up some of the things that make me think I am beginning to get integrated:

1. I no longer eat salads unless I am at a really fancy restaurant. Yes, they do have food hygiene inspections here – it just seems that the line between acceptable or not is drawn at the point where the consumer has to be hospitalized.

2. I have been living off Asian food for so long that I now fit a Japanese one-size. The food might not be healthy in the ‘high-fiber content way’ but the portion size does the trick.

3. When getting into a taxi I automatically say the destination in Cantonese. Although all streets in HK have English names it does not imply that the average citizen actually understand the English translation. ‘香港中文大学, please!’

4. Meat will never be the same for me again. I have gotten used to the fact that ordering chicken means you will get the entire chicken – skin, bones, head etc. included. Also, HK’ers never waste anything: If your meat is shredded you can be sure that they did not remove the fat before serving you the dish.

5. Hand sanitizer is my new best friend. When you live in the most densely populated area in the world you need to minimize your level of germ intake as much as possible.

6. I have learned that metro-rides in the morning are not a place for relaxed and respectful traveling. They are battlefields and you seriously need to fight to get a seat.

7. I no longer freak out when I see a cockroach or a rat. I accept their existence and am happy that they are not in my room or in contact with my food (at least as far as I am concerned)

8. In Copenhagen, I bring a jacket to wear outside because it is windy. In HK, I bring a jacket, long pants and a scarf to survive the aggressive air-conditioning in my office. Concerns for global warming, anyone?

9. I used to always take the stairs to get a bit of exercise. Since most buildings here are taller than ten floors and the stairs usually only are for fire-drills (and hence disgusting), I hardly ever take them unless the lift is out of order.

10. I have now learned a special regressed level of English to make myself understood. As in: ‘Sir, sir: tea, tea… yes, MORE tea… yes, TEA… yes… Thank you, sir’

Ode to Sushi One

  

Midnight Sushi

 

 

Starving until 10 pm and waiting in line for what seems like forever 

Undertaking an eating endeavor and always eating one piece too many 

Seared salmon, tuna, squid, crabstick, maki and mango rolls 

Half-priced sushi and hot tea galore 

Interesting chop-stick challenge designed to make you struggle 

  

Overdose of wasabi mixed with soy sauce in a tiny plate 

Notably the only place where I sincerely enjoy seafood 

Everyone’s Hong Kong favorite – Asian food the nice way 

Nabila, Peter and I @ Sushi One

Campus tour – part 2

Want a look into my daily life? Here is the second photo-tour around the campus at CUHK:

Let’s start out with a picture of a typical (messy) kitchen in the student hostel where I live:

Lately, I have carried my camera around as much as possible to catch the few glimpses of sunlight whenever the sun breaks through the massive layer of smog. Here is a view at one of the lakes on campus:

And this one: Seriously, I have no idea why they put up banners saying ‘Rubberband’!

My favorite dish on campus so far: Noodles in soup with sliced beef (and chili sauce) at Chung Chi Student Canteen. Before going to China, I thought I liked Chinese food. I was wrong: I like Western Chinese food! Though I like some of the traditional food, I am still having a hard time getting used to very strong seafood-flavours. Also, the idea that ‘all parts of the animal are equally good’ have I not yet learned to appreciate fully (I would still like my food without skin, bones and fat, thank you very much!). Accordingly, I have found some ‘safe dishes’ in the canteens on campus that I go for – to avoid unpleasant surprises, and this is one of them.

Yet another sunny moment. This picture is taken on Chung Chi campus. The university has four colleges (much like in Harry Potter), and though I am a United College student (just as the Nobel Prize winner Professor Kao), I like Chung Chi college the most. It is located near a lake and has some nice green spots:

The other colleges are New Asia and Shaw College. This, however, is the monument of United College:

The view from my flat i I-House: After we had fire alarms going off about 4-5 times a day in three days time, they suddenly started digging holes outside of the building. I hypothesized that they were for the students who fail to react if there is an actual fire. However, it turned out that the holes were for trees – and not a mass-grave.

Spring comes early to Hong Kong – and the flowers at CUHK are indeed very pretty:

And if you thought the video was the last you were going to see of CUHK student associations, you were wrong! They continue to amaze me with their enthusiastic food-stomping/clapping maddness. Moreover, they also promote their causes with posters. And who in their right mind would not want to join this?