That Was A Long Week

So I finished finals yesterday. Thank God.

After my last final, I went with Eric, Alberto (from Brazil, goes to Northeastern), and Lorenzo to the Ladies Market in Mong Kok. I picked up some stuff for Christmas presents and some stuff for myself.

We then met Josh and a couple other at a Korean barbecue dinner. It was quite good. I was very tired, so I didn't want to go out afterwards. Most of us went back to campus, and then we went over to the uni-bar for a couple night caps.

Today, I woke up and went to see Avatar with the same guys from last night (Gunter also joined us). It was really good. I highly recommend it. See it in 3-D.

I'm really tired now. I want to take a nap. Perhaps I'll do that, then some laundry, then some packing. I'm back in Chicago in two days. It's crazy.

Finals

I have been in the library every day from 9:30am-11:00pm, at least since last Saturday. I'm there now. I finished my final in Operations Management at 7:45, then I went to dinner with some friends - just on campus, though, as I needed to get back here. Because of the amount of time I've been spending in the library, it's been pretty dull. Basically, I leave to sleep or eat. That's it.

In happier news, I finish my finals in six days. I come home in nine. That's what I'm looking forward to right now...

Last Day of Classes

So today was the last day of classes for the semester. Yeah. Now only four finals and a couple papers away from Chicago...

Before that, however, we need a recap on the weekend.

Thursday night was a lot of fun. We went to this party on-campus beforehand and had a few beers. Everyone was having a good time, but then they ran out of beer and ended the party. This was actually a good thing, however, as we were just about to leave for the show in Wan Chai. So we made our way over there, and we made it just in time to hear the entire set. It was good. My friend Eric rapped with them for one song. He did a good job.

Friday, I didn't do too much. I worked out and worked on some homework.

I spent all of Saturday in the library working on my paper. (Literally, 10am-8pm. A great day)

Sunday, I got to the library again at 10 and further worked on my paper. I watched the movie again to get some more ideas. I just have another page, which I am finishing now.

Last night, the British kids with whom we hang around planned a "Sunday Roast" dinner for all of us. So we made our way to Central to have dinner at the Yorkshire Pudding restaurant. I had roast beef, roasted potatoes, vegetables, and two little Yorkshire puddings (which I expected to be something like a white pudding - a sausage - but it was like a little puff pastry. Tasty nonetheless). Then I also got some dessert, a sticky toffee pudding (a slice of pie, basically). Both my dinner and dessert were delicious. I was very pleased to have such a nice feed on a Sunday.

After dinner we walked over to the IFC building (the one in the Dark Knight movie) as we heard that there was some public areas atop it which offered some incredible views. Unfortunately, that part wasn't open, but a sitting area on the fourth floor was. It was very nice. After that, we took the Star Ferry across to TST in order to see the Christmas lights decorating all the buildings (on the island side). Once we got to TST, we putzed around for a little, then we took the MTR back to campus. I got back to my room and went to bed. The only bad news of last night was that I forgot to bring my camera with me. I looked at it when I was changing and said I was going to bring it with me, but it slipped my mind. Hopefully my words paint enough of a picture for all of you (doubtful).

This morning, I had breakfast and then my last class of the semester. It's crazy that it's over, but I have a lot of work between O'Hare and myself at this point. I'm in the library now, and I will probably be here for a good while.

Good to hear the Bears finally won a game. And BC got a bowl (although it is the Emerald Bowl, and it's against USC - in California). Oh well. Take care. Good luck with finals Kelly and Sean.

The Week

So, Sunday and Monday were spent in the library, doing work. That's it.

Tuesday, I went to class, ran, and then was invited to go to a Korean barbecue restaurant. Since I never had had Korea Barbecue before, I accepted the invitation. It was Eric, Lorenzo, Josh, and myself who ended up going. The food was very good, and there was a lot of it. I was also happy to find that there was broccoli there. Most of the food, however, was meat, which we cooked ourselves on this little grill at our table. It was a nice evening. (Pictures - there's only three, sorry)

Yesterday I went to my first class, then I went to the library to decide on a paper topic for my final paper for my film class. The paper examines an adaptation of text to film. I decided to do Breakfast at Tiffany's, so I decided to watch that in between my classes. It was a good movie, and Audrey Hepburn was great, naturally. (I've read Truman Capote's novella before.) After class, I went to work out.

Our farewell dinner was last night for all the exchange students. It's crazy that it is the end of the semester, but it was a fun dinner nevertheless. After dinner, I had a beer with some guys, then went to bed.

Today, I had my classes, ran, and now I'm about to go to dinner. A band comprised of exchange students is playing tonight in Wan Chai, so I (along with most of the exchange students here) will be going there later. Take care.

Caitlyn Should Have Told Us About These Pictures

I was snooping around on facebook trying not to do homework, and I found these pictures from Caitlyn. They're great.

An Excellent Short Story

I haven't done too much today, but I did read this short story. It was in the New Yorker. It's called "Alone" and it was written by Yiyun Li. It was very good. If you have some time, I'd recommend reading it.

The Racetrack and Thanksgiving in Hong Kong

So, on Wednesday night, we decided to go to Happy Valley Race Track, which is located right between Wan Chai and Causeway Bay. I hadn't been there before, and I heard it was fun, so I wanted to go. I went with Susanne, Heidi, Lorenzo, Eric, and AJ. We also met some other kids from UST there. I was really impressed by the size of the race track. It was cool.

When we walked in, this guy wanted to take our picture. He then gave us the decision to either keep the picture or get a certificate for free beers. We kept these pictures, but soon took more and got some free beers. That was cool.

I didn't do any betting, but the people I was with did so. Most actually won, too. Lorenzo put $10 down and ending up winning $200. Not too bad.

After the races, we walked over to Wan Chai. There was a band playing in a bar there, so we decided to go there. The band was pretty good, and there were also some other kids from UST there, so it was pretty fun.

Yesterday was a little different, since I was going to class on Thanksgiving. The classes went well, nothing too exciting. After Lit (around 6pm), Lorenzo, Josh (from WashU, via Canada), and myself took off to TST to pick up our Thanksgiving meal. We got four turkeys, cranberry sauce, salad, bread, and stuffing from Fat Angelo's. Then we went over to KFC down the street and picked up three buckets of chicken and mashed potatoes. We then took a cab back to campus and met the rest of the eating group in a room. There were about 20 of us. We had three of the turkeys pre-cut, and the last one I carved with a huge knife - the one I bought from Stanley Market. Most of the food went. It actually was really fun. I wasn't expecting to have such a good Thanksgiving while in Hong Kong.

After dinner, we put some music on (I brought my iPod and speakers) and played a few drinking games. It was fun. We then went out for the evening, and had a fun time. All in all, a very different but quite good Thanksgiving.

Today, I talked to Mom, Uncle Bill, Auntie Ro, and Kristina. I'm catching up on stuff now, and I'm gonna run shortly. Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.

Oh, and there are more pictures up, starting here.