Monday, December 28, 2009

the final approach!

plane ticket is bought, under a week left, southeast asia-here i come!

lots to do before i gos:
-vacation plan my cell phone
-buy some health insurance
-exchange a bit of money
-pack
-set up skype-skype me!


this blog will be a lot more interesting when I'm actually having adventures in HK.
something new to add to the list!

-hong kong museum of medical science- a study of chinese medicine, originally a hospital opened to combat an outbreak of bubonic plague. deemed "fascinating but morbid," with an autoposy room!

i am nothing if not morbid. this is going to be great.

Monday, November 16, 2009

NEWS NEWS NEWS

I HAVE BEEN OFFICIALLY ACCEPTED AT HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY!
..thatsss right china. here i come.

in light of this recent development lets chitchat about classes!

Options (to be hotly debated and voted upon via comments):
1) Glass Blowing-3 credits
2) Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta: A Survey-3
3) Speaking for Success-3
4) Traditional Chinese Society-3
5) Organic Chemistry 2-4
6) Abnormal Psychology-3
7) Psychology of Personality-3
8) Social Dance-1
9) Chinese Art Studio-3

(keep in mind i do have to take some boring classes if i want to be able to double minor and graduate on time).

.....and!
I have acquired a new soul mate! my love for excessive, sub-par photography can once again be unleashed upon the judgmental streets of new york. I opted for the Panasonic Lumix and so far, so great. Many of you may have been lucky enough to view the fantastic photoshoot trav and i had to break her out in the world. Much, much more where that came from! including: photographs of me with said camera, travis jumping off stuff, road kill, tre-mow, and HONG KONG.

Friday, October 23, 2009

travel guide!

to mark the official-ness of my travel, the logical thing to do was acquire a guide and phrase book! and on a recent dinner adventure with jac and travy, i did just that.

http://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/NationalGeographic/6200397?$product320x320$http://img.flipkart.com/bk_imgs/752/9789812684752.jpg

turns out my cantonese is even worse than my french. there are 6 tones (which involve raising and lowering of pitch) which i cannot even begin to grasp. i barely understand the terms pitch or tone and i have no sense of sound or music, as lauren can attest to from our tap dance adventures. But, ive got 2 months and a 20 hour plane ride to work it out.

and as for the travel guide! it has provided me with the most exciting of adventure ideas. Ready for this? SQUID HUNTING!! thats right, squid hunting. can you imagine anything more magical? you hunt the squid and then they cook it for you to eat right on the boat! it costs 500 HKD, or about 65 USD. i intend to make multiple trips in my search for architeuthis, the mighty kraken.

other exciting adventures include: multiple temples, the goldfish market, the light show, traditional villages, and a whole lotta hot pot.

this is shaping up pretty well.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Camera Time

Departure date is looking like January 2nd or 3rd (in order to get my small, lost self from the airport to school, hkbu recommends arriving on the 3rd/4th so they can pick you up). this puts the countdown around 2 1/2 months!

So, in celebration of this I've begun researching cameras (as mine tragically was claimed by the powers of the Far Rockaways.)So options!

Canon PowerShot SX200 IS Black
12.1 MP 3.0" 230K LCD 12X Optical Zoom 28mm Wide Angle Digital Camera. But is this pop-up flash an issue?



http://reviews.cnet.com/sc/33543456-2-440-OVR-1.gif

10.1 megapixels ; Optical zoom: 12 x, but fewer manual controls than choice #1


Samsung HZ15W

Samsung HZ15W 12.2MP Digital Camera - 4.2mm to 42mm f/3.3 to 5.5 Lens - 3" LCD

12.2 MP, 24mm wide angle lens (a really great quality lens as well), 10x optical zoom


Also to consider..the battery. AA or a rechargeable. All the travel blogs say AA( it might be hard to buy your specific rechargeable on the road if battery runs out and you have no way to recharge), but I'm stuck on the rechargeable ones. Is my anti-AA feeling without merit?

Anyone else have any camera opinions or thoughts?

Saturday, September 19, 2009

why hello, i am a traveler.

step 1: apply for passport-check
step 2: meet with study abroad-check