What happened so far...

I left my home in Finland Tampere about a week ago, Monday 28.8.2006 at 12.00 to be exact. Got a ride from my friend Olli to the bus station and met another exchange student AJ in the station. I had met AJ couple of times before, but not really knew him. We had the same flight from Helsinki to Hong Kong by Finnair. (The cost of the ticket was about 540$ just for one way) The flight departed at 17.00 (actually 17:30) and took about 9h 45min to the Hong Kong. So we arrived to Hong Kong at about 8 o\'clock in the morning HK time (5 hours time difference, so 3 o\'clock Finnish time). After the night well slept in the plane (not), we were very sharp and tidy.

Customs went very smoothly, and then there was my local buddy Donnis in the airport to pick us up. Actually he wasn\'t there yet, but after a few minutes dazzling, meeting with another Finnish exchange student Esa, and a phone call - he arrived =) In the outside the heat struck, the temperature at this time of year in HK is always between 30 and 35, and humidity pretty hight. So since then I have been constantly sweating, at least outsides. We took a bus (21A) to near the Students Hall of Residence in Hung Hom, Kowloon. In the Students Hall we registered in with some paperwork and very interesting question forms about our interests and stuff..

After registering I went to my room to leave the baggages and there I met my roommate Henkka. (I\'ll add some pictures of the people and the place later) The room is about 15m2, including two beds, cupboards, tables etc, so there is not too much space. And definetly no privacy... Two this kind of rooms share a bathroom. Chinese way of living, but you\'ll get used to anything I quess, and so far everything has gone without bigger fights =) The room costs 1200HK$/month (1€ is about 9,5HK$), so at least it is very cheap. One interesting point about the room is that you have to pay for the airconditioner, and it is about 1,5 HK$/h. Not cheap compared to the prices..

After brief visit to couple other Finnish exchange students and off we went to register into our school, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University with the guidance of Donnis. With the help of Donnis we managed to register into school, buy local prepaid SIM cards and get most of the official and required stuff done.  One interesting thing is, that you need a certificate in order to use gym facilities, and even if you have a certificate you have to take an exam before you can fo. And it takes a week to process the results, which I\'m still waiting... Donnis was very helpfull in the first day, which reminds me that I haven\'t really seen him since... (Probably should call him tomorrow...)

After all the official stuff and settling in to live in Hong Kong I was very dazzled and tired (hadn\'t really slept for 1,5 days..) Managed to stay up till about 9 o\'clock and slept 13 hours straight till Wednesday morning. Wednesday went more or less with settling in better getting to know to the neighbourhood, finding the closest grocery, and other stuff. In the evening we had a welcome \"party\" in the Students Hall. It was a get together with other exchange students from all over the world, but without booze, because it is forbidden in the Students Hall (like it would stop us...). Met many very nice peolple from all over the world, and the interesting point is, that the student from mainland China were actually the friendliest ones, and they spoke extreamely good English. Nothing like the Chinglish you usually hear in Finland.

After the party we went for a couple of very nice bars in the Kowloon for few beers with some Finnish exchange students (AJ, Esa, Henkka, Janne and Renja) and local student Tung. Renja and Janne are exchange students from Jyväskylä, which I had met at some point. Actually Janne is living nextdoors with a local student George, so we 4 share the bathroom.

Thursday night... to the club... Not exactly, since we went to Hong Kong island to see a very well know turist attraction Victoria Peak, which is a sightseeing place in the hills near the center. From Victoria Peak you\'ll get a very nice view over Hong Kong. (some pictures later...) After that we got to know to Hong Kong island and after all day walking, to bed early.

Friday night... to the club... Wrong again, but in the evenign we went for a few beers again with the Finnish exchange students. On Friday my first course started, it is the Advanced Business English. So I actually will also go to some courses here!

Saturday night... to the club! But more about it later, because it is 1.15 in the night and I have to get up tomorrow at some decent time... So perhaps I\'ll catch up with this blog in a few days =)