These are all the classes I'm taking:
International Marketing
Careers in Business
Globalization
Astronomy
Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
World Literature
Although some are easier than others, let's just say this semester's got me swamped with work. Of course, most of those classes are very interesting (to me), so the work is at least somewhat enjoyable. Lots and lots of reading. Unfortunately, that leaves me little time for blogging.
These past few weeks, it's been hard to establish a routine, but I think I've finally established some semblance of a schedule. So, I'm making it my goal to update once a week. Naturally, there will be some exceptions to that rule (namely, when I'm going out of town), but I'll try to stick to it as much as possible.
Moving on to other things. I've got a very nice new apartment this year just off-campus in Aspyre, which I share with Christine and my other (much cuter) room-mate, Marcus Aurelius:
Don't let him fool you with that innocent-looking face. His favorite hobbies include biting feet and ripping the stuffing out of Christine's futon.
In many ways, it feels good to be back in the USA, but really I do miss Hong Kong. I miss the people, the language, the food, the weather, the music, and the smells. I miss being able to ride a rented bike along Tolo Harbour at sunset. I miss taking the MTR on Ching Ming Festival Day when the cars all smell like flowers. I miss backpacking in Mainland where no one speaks English and sipping tea in a back-alley tea shop chatting in Chinese about American basketball. Could you call it homesickness? I'm not sure. In many ways, Hong Kong feels like home, but so does Mainland China. So does Singapore, so does Thailand, so does Vietnam, and so does Japan. Wherever I go, wherever I've been, I take something back with me--some memory or feeling that belongs only to me.
An art teacher once told me that you can't see a picture clearly until you see it from a distance. I feel like I've become a lot older in a short period of time, and the older I get, the more I realize that our experiences are the same. Looking back, I'm starting to see how the ups, downs, ins and outs of my life so far are coming together or have already done so. When I look back at this blog in 10, maybe 20 years, things that have happened will look very different. I don't want to wish my life away but, just this once, I feel curious to see what the past will look like through a future perspective.
I realize, of course, that I'm getting boring, not philosophical. No matter how fondly I look at the (very recent) past, I live in the present. With that said, I'll fill y'all in on recent events. As a warning, these events are significantly less exciting than the usual last-minute plane-hopping to foreign countries.
Lately, I've been taking some of the Hong Kong IBCE students to run errands. It's very hard to get around Columbia without a car. Thursday was the third time I took them to buy things, and this time I brought these lovely ladies to Walmart.
We even went to eat Chinese food and, what do you know, the lady working the cash register at the Little Panda Express was from Hong Kong. It really is a small world.
In other news, Christine and I went on a midnight cookie-baking spree. Anti-climactic, right? Don't say I didn't warn you. Tell you what, though...if you decide to drop in, we might share the cookies. :)
Upcoming events...not many. However, next weekend is the Columbia Greek Festival! Know what that means? Bring on the baklava and the souvlaki, and I'll bring the Chinese kids. Another big event to look forward to is the IBCE New York City trip in late October. But, that's all for tonight.
Please remember to come get some cookies. The recipe left us with 88 of them!
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