On Ordering Chicken Feet and Other Adventures

The harbor at night, viewed from the highest point
in Hong Kong, Victoria's Peak. It was windy!

Greetings from Hong Kong! Xīn nián kuài lè! I've been here nearly a week, I know, but Hong Kong is a bustling, busy city and it definitely took a few days for me to get my bearings, shake off the lingering jet lag, and experience enough to give me something to write about.

Now, I could do a minute by minute recap of the last few days, but clearly what everyone really wants to hear about are the misadventures that come from being in a city where I know none of the language and can read and recognize nothing. Let me preface this by saying that I've not yet gotten sick and not yet tasted anything that I truly didn't like or had to spit out. Which I think means I'm not trying hard enough! I will try harder.

So, the food. Believe it or not, I've not had much rice in my diet as of yet: most of my meals have consisted of noodles, which are similar to (but much better than) ramen noodles in the states. I've tried an assortment of additions to these noodles - that's how I discovered that I apparently like shrimp roe! Also, the thing so far that has made my stomach turn the most was the gray beef meat balls I sampled on my noodles for dinner tonight. Yes, the menu picture I pointed to was labeled "beef," but what kind of beef and what part of the cow were definitely in question. The fish ball additions to my noodles I tried on the first day were much more to my liking.

New New New

Behold: a new year, a new blog layout, and a renewed commitment to posting fresh content as I move on to new opportunities.

It is hard to believe that eight months have already passed since I sat in a stadium and moved that tassel across my hat. It's weird that it's been that long since I've seen Duke and some of my closest friends.

It's even harder and weirder to wrap my brain around just how far away I'll be from everything I have ever known in about a month. Guangzhou is still a name on a piece of paper and some pictures that show up on an image search. China is an intimidatingly huge country full of places I want to explore, but it still looks small when I look at it on my google maps.

But I should have a visa in my passport and a plane ticket in my possession before the end of this month, so maybe it will feel more real then.

In the meantime, I hope to fill this blog with a recap of my brief Costa Rican encounter, some details about packing and what I'll be bringing with me to the other side of the globe, and my thoughts as I spend my last days in America for who knows how long. I also will be starting a new series, in which I look back at my favorite places/experiences/hostels/restaurants/museums/etc. from my various destinations and hometowns and explain why they make it on my favorites list. So be on the lookout for new content, let me know if you'd like to see me write about something in particular, and I hope you enjoy my continued ramblings.

Welcome to 2013, everyone. Our days ahead are full of promise.

The Iciest Spring Break

After over a year without international travel, I'm busting out my passport again for spring break. That's right, after buying the tickets in early October and many long months of waiting, Iceland is finally here! Although we don't have set itineraries, really, and haven't booked any accommodations past Monday, we do have a plan and a vague idea of how we're going to see most of the southeastern corner of the country - which is more than enough to get us all super pumped!

Here are some highlights of what we're planning to do:

Gullfoss

The Golden Circle Route: this is a day-long driving tour of some of Iceland's most famous landmarks, including Þingvellir National Park (where you can see crack caused by continental drift, as the North American and Eurasian plates shift away from each other) and Gullfoss (one of Europe's most powerful waterfall).

My Work Here Has Begun

Hey, sorry for the shortage of updates. I'm sure any excuse you could come up with for me is probably close to one I could invent. But classes have started, and I'm starting up with my jobs and obligations, and Prague is still beautiful.

Dobrý Den!

Greetings from Praha! After a few weeks of "break" and "rest," I once again find myself in a new place, meeting new people and adjusting to a new language. And I already love it! Prague is even more beautiful than people made it out to be, and my dormitory is both conveniently located and super swanky. I'm living in a quad room, which joins with a double to form our cool little suite.

Nothing terribly exciting has happened so far (you know, other than that whole "I'm in Prague" thing). But today we had the first day of our orientation, featuring tours of the city center and an overload of information. I've already managed to get lost - the streets are maze-like in some areas, so I'll have to be constantly vigilant to make sure I always know where I am (although sometimes getting lost is the best part). Will also have to be constantly vigilant to make sure I don't get pick-pocketed. We've had a ton of warnings about that, so it sounds pretty common.

The people so far have all been very nice - my suitemates are lovely, and it was fun going out with most of them last night and wandering around with them today. Believe it or not, I'm really excited for my classes to start and for the weird orientation stage of the semester to be over, but at the same time I hope it doesn't go by too fast!

Anyway, there's my mini-update. Will keep you guys informed as I go through orientation and learn more about life here and whatnot. And let me know if you have questions!

one last day

I'm sitting in my kitchen, in the same house I've lived in for 19 years (excepting those few recent years when I've considered college my current residence), and everything is pretty much normal. My dad fed our terrapin and got bit by our cat, my mom made her delicious croissant and sausage thingies and my brother loomed around the house for a while. But in a few days I'll be waking up in Cairo, Egypt and I won't really be back in this house for any length of time until December. Has it hit me yet? Nope. Am I totally prepared and/or packed? Absolutely not.

But am I excited? Hell yes.