Typhoons

On September 16, classes were canceled until 2pm because typhoon signal no. 8 was in effect. In Hong Kong, typhoons don't seem to put anyone in panic as they occur yearly. The signal system can hoist no. 1, 3, 8, 9, and 10 typhoons based on wind speed, and there is a protocol that once a no. 8 typhoon is in effect, school, work, and most transportation is stopped.

In preparation for Typhoon Kalmaegi on Monday night, you're supposed to secure anything that's loose, so I saw umbrellas and chairs in the outside dining area taken in and boycott banners taken down (more about that in another post). The communication of the status of the typhoon is very well executed in HK (well, they do get this a lot.) Here are signs I took pictures of:

signal no. 1 at my dorm front door

signal no. 3 at the library

Regretfully, I don't have any pictures of the no. 8 notice...I was in my dorm by then.

While I don't have a picture during typhoon preparations, these are the umbrellas/chairs I'm talking about in the dining area
(the benches and tabletops were kept there though, they're heavy enough)

The typhoon didn't hit HK directly, but brushed us from the side. From what I could see outside, the winds were strong (small trees bending) and the waves were very active. I never went outside while it was no. 8, so I can't say exactly how serious it was. Walking back to my dorm an hour before it turned to no. 8, the wind was pretty strong, though. (I had to resist so I didn't lose my balance).

No. 8 was hoisted on Monday night, and when I woke up on Tuesday morning, it was still no. 8. If the signal is no. 8 or above after 7am, all classes til 2pm are canceled. Because the signal changed back to no. 3 at around 11am, classes after 2pm resumed (but I didn't have any, so yay.)

I spent the day at the library writing postcards and studying...it was a relaxed day. Pretty cool to be able to say that I had a "typhoon-day" though...just seeing the signal notices reminds me that I'm no longer in Chicago, where typhoons, tropical storms, and hurricanes are only seen on TV.

Class Schedule

Registration for classes at UST started a week before class started. Like most schools I know of, there is a 2 week overlap of classes happening and the end of registration, so you can add and drop classes as you go to them and feel that you like/dislike them. Going into the first day of school, my schedule looked something like this...

MATH 2023:
Multivariable Calculus. I am taking this course to get credit at Northwestern for my MechE major. At Northwestern, calc is split into 4 classes, 2 single and 2 multivariable. I've taken 3 already, and want credit for the 4th (multivariable integral calculus). Math 2023 covers all of multivariable in one class, so hopefully the first half is easy breezy...

CIVL 2120:
Mechanics of Materials. Another class I want credit for, to replace CIV_ENG 216 at Northwestern. Everything in this class is basically new.

PHYS 1002:
Introduction to Astrophysics. From what I see it from the first few classes, this is like an intro to astronomy course, with anticipated math connected to it.

MECH 1905/1906:
Both introductory (freshman) mechanical engineering courses dealing with aspects of engineering using building design as the framework/example. One is called "Buildings for Contemporary Living" and the other is "Mechanical Engineering for Modern Life", but both are an overview of things to consider when engineering a building (or anything else), such as materials, intent, etc.

COMP 1022P:
Introduction to Computing with Java. So far, it seems pretty easy...my favorite part about this class is that the teacher is really cool and funny.

HART 1034/1023:
Light Art/Introduction to Experimental Animation. When I saw these 1 credit studio art classes being offered, I wanted to take them all...haha. But I can't (NU doesn't take 1 credit courses for any type of credit - even elective). Initially I thought I'd take both of these courses, but a local student told me that even though it is 1 credit, it has the workload of a 3 credit course, so I should choose one and drop the other...
Light Art is about 3D installations involving light and darkness (ex. glow in the dark stuff, shadows, etc). The instructor is from Germany but has been in HK for quite a while, and showed us her portfolio...I can travel HK to find her works! It's really cool.
Animation is more on the abstract side...I can't say much about it, we watched a bunch of samples from around the world...(you can probably tell which one I decided to drop.)

LANGUAGE:
I also enrolled for language courses for non-academic credit. These had small tuition tags on them, but I thought "why not." First, I enrolled in Korean, TuTh 12:00-1:30 (effectively deciding to drop the Mech classes). Then, an email came out offering Cantonese classes (TuTh 10:30-12:00pm), so I jumped on that and canceled Korean (although I could have taken both, I felt it was overkill). The tuition for Cantonese classes were HK$500, and you get a refund of HK$450 if you had 80% attendance!
Sadly, last week I got an email saying that I was unsuccessful in my enrollment for the language course. It was overbooked (which makes me sad, I feel like I enrolled just 30 minutes after the email sent out) and they would give me a full refund. It's ok, I'll just have to learn Cantonese the real way...by living in HK ;D

After all that, this is how my schedule looks like now.

As you can see, I stacked Monday night to make Tuesday more free. I also opted for PHYS 1002 instead of MECH 1906, and dropped animation. So far, I've been out every Tuesday/Thursday that I had free. Everything's so accessible here!

I'm excited about this schedule. Math and Civl are my hardest/most intense classes, while Phys and Comp I can just sit through and relax. Light Art is the class I'm most excited for...we're light painting this week! Can't wait to whip out my glowsticks...

Dalian

Before I went into HK, I went to 大连 (Dalian) to see my relatives and get over jetlag.

Flight

food on plane (first meal)

view on first flight

I took two flights, one from Chicago to Beijing, then another from Beijing to Dalian

view exiting plane

coming out of plane @ beijing

on 2nd plane to Dalian

One thing I noticed after entering the 2nd plane: the seating arrangement is the same. I was expecting a smaller aircraft for my shorter domestic flight. After analyzing the view outside my window (I sat on the same side of the plane both flights) I realized that the plane was in the same spot as the plane I came to Beijing in...(notice the building w/ red characters and the yellow sign on the ground which had the same number). I asked the flight attendant and he confirmed that the aircraft we were in had just come from Chicago...! (Made my day.)

Food
All I did in Dalian was basically eat, sleep, and shop...

my grandma's breakfast every day (for the past 10 years)

peking roasted duck w/ pancake -- street style

lamb skewers -- street style

my fav drink of China - Minute Maid drink (orange + mango)
wayyy different from American Minute Maid!

lamb skewers -- homemade style

pork cooked my brother's fav way 

chow mian + dao xiao mian

xiao long bao

zha jiang mian + la mian

Markets, etc.

We went out to buy things almost every day...

found Great Value @ chinese Walmart 

you grab your own meat...

sea cucumber is a very expensive delicacy...supposedly...(ew...)
they're sold in vials or on their own, but usually dried, so you add water and it expands...

McDonalds! dessert drinks were buy one get one 50% off...

food area (kind of like a food court...but not..)

meat is sold this way

grocery market

other things market

fabric market (I get my bedsheets here)

grocery market

Misc.

remodeled area

the "wood" is actually fake...

it's concrete + really believable paint

reminds me of Epcot of Disney World...

Overall, it was a quick trip that involved a lot of stocking up on cheap things and filling my stomach with lots of food. Getting over jet lag and getting used to the heat and lack of air-conditioning in China were also accomplishments of this trip, but nothing could compare to the humidity I experienced exiting the airport of Hong Kong...