HONG KONG

Today marks the first day (or was it yesterday, these time changes confuse me) of my newest adventure: CHINA! When I figured out this 3 week trip abroad could fulfill a requirement I needed to graduate from Purdue, I eagerly persuaded my parents that this was the best option for finishing up my education. I am so happy they graciously agreed that I should make the trip to China, because I can already tell this is pushing me out of my comfort zone and will be an experience like I've never had before.
I landed in Hong Kong about 2 hours ago, on my way to Shanghai, China. Although I'm not technically in China yet, I am in Asia, and I've already experienced a first impression of the people, language, and culture I will be exploring during the next three weeks. I hope to get more and more in depth with what really interests me: how people communicate, what make them do the things they do, what sorts of ways are they different from Americans. So far, I've seen evidence of globalization (I say that as I sip my Starbucks, my travelling "must have"). Starbucks was serving up quite a different variety of foods, however. Although I stuck with an Americano (mainly because I only exchanged three USD for Hong Kong dollars), I could have chosen from the green tea and sesame seed frappe, or a hazelnut soy milk steamed drink, or "iced dumplings," which I never quite figured out what those actually were.
I can already sense that the people are nice and have more of a "community" outlook. So far, I've been helped, asked if I need help, and treated with respect. I OBVIOUSLY look like a tourist. In fact, with the color of my hair I can't really avoid looking like a tourist, except if I were to go to Sweden or Ireland.
I'm looking forward to meeting up with my friend Dan tonight. He has been studying in Shanghai this semester and the timing worked out perfectly for us to meet up. It will be good to have someone showing me the non-touristy things. Well, I will be blogging lots more coming up, keeping you updated on my China travels!