09.10.14 // 11:17PM

The past few days have been very relaxing for me. Because of mid-autumn festival, a time when families gather together and look at the moon (?), the school has given us a day off. When visiting my distant relatives, I came across a group of people performing in the middle of the park. Children can be seen holding onto their unique, and super adorable, lanterns. Dinner at my relative's place was pleasant. It's always nice to be able to catch up with family, and understand their lifestyle here in HK. I've learned that some houses can be very small due to limitation of living space in HK.

After dinner, I met up with friends in Mongkok in hopes of finding activities around town. However, everyone seemed to have closed early because of the holiday. We had no choice but to head back to our dorms.

On the next day, we went to Sham Shui Po for lunch. It's an area known to have very cheap electronics. However, people in this area made me feel very uncomfortable. Perhaps they're not used to seeing foreigners. I felt like an alien because pedestrians would STARE as my friends and I walked by. Thankfully, we found a familiar spot in the area — Pizza Hut. Unlike those back in the States, Pizza Hut is an actual restaurant here in Hong Kong. They serve a lot more than just pizza. Also, their pizza toppings are amazingggg.

Pics from our lunch/dinner:

I've been in HK for over 2 weeks now. My experience here has been eye-opening. For one, I never thought I'd be able to survive 8000 miles away from home. I'm slowly learning to adjust to the lifestyle, and learning to accept challenges. Before leaving, I had pictured myself as an independent person. I never realized how much work my parents had put into providing a comfortable living environment for me. Here, I've slowly begun to pick up the little details/ issues that they would've taken care of if I were living at home. To be honest, there are moments when I wish I was home with my family, and in an environment that I'm familiar with. While people here treat me like a local student, I feel like an alien and I get lost everywhere I go. Because the opportunity to study abroad is rare, I have to continue to accept the challenge— adapting. Hopefully everything will work out in a week or two, and I'll get the swing of things here. :)

More pics of food:

Clam Linguine!