Bryan in Hong Kong

No econometrics class today because of the Chung Yeung festival.

Here’s a traditional poem read during the holiday:

As a lonely stranger in the strange land,
Every holiday the homesickness amplifies.
Knowing that my brothers have reached the peak,
All but one is present at the planting of zhuyu.

Hmm… is my family planting zhuyu back in the US without me?! Has Sam already reached peak? Am I the one not present?!

According to Wikipedia “…it is customary to climb a high mountain” today. So that’s exactly what we did… click on the photo below for more…

Last night I went with a group of classmates to Ocean Park on the south side of the island. It’s kind of like Hong Kong’s Disneyland (before there actually was a Hong Kong Disneyland). Every year Ocean Park has a special Halloween event with haunted houses and everything. It’s amazing how universal amusement park rides are: the log ride, the free-fall drop, the rollercoasters, they pretty much had all the standard stuff though drastically enhanced by the fact that it’s situated on the side of a mountain overlooking the ocean instead of in a cornfield (no offense Holiday World!).

In other news, I also sent my absentee ballot back to Evansville yesterday. Looking forward to November 8th to see what happens.

Ocean Park rides.

A pic from a recent trip downtown.

The November 7th general election is quickly approaching. I just faxed in my request for a ballot this afternoon. If you’re voting absentee in Indiana, check here for the forms.

It’s my one-and-only brother’s birthday today. So instead of sending him a real card, I’m dedicating this blog post to him:

Dear Sam,

Happy birthday!

Your brother,
Bryan

And… in his honor, this post is filed under “random” and “holidays”. Happy b-day dude.

Just finished the last of three exams in a five-day period, so haven’t had time to make any posts in the last few weeks (let alone do anything non-academic worth writing about). After pretty much spending a solid week in the library I’m exhausted. Unlike classes in Shanghai, the ones here very closely parallel coursework in the US, meaning regular homework, midterm exams, and projects (as opposed to one giant final exam at the end). This means intense amounts of work during the entire semester.

Possibly heading to the island for Mexican food tonight. Another exam next week, so not too much rest time.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! I hope everyone is eating plenty of mooncakes.

Happy National Day everyone! I just returned from the fireworks at Victoria Harbor. In terms of the show, it might have been even better than the Dr.Phil-enhanced Boston 4th of July event (for some odd reason the event planners in Boston thought it would be a good idea for Dr. Phil to emcee). Anyways, the fireworks in Hong Kong were amazing, and the crowds were huge. I’ve posted a short video I took with my digital camera below. National Day also means that the weekly 4-hour session of econometrics is canceled tomorrow, so I’ll most likely just spend the day in the library trying to catch up on things.

Short video of the fireworks: