New School, New Friends, New Experiences
Hello again! I've begun to settle into my new life here at UMAC, but there were a few things on arrival that were a little... concerning.
(1) My bathroom is gross. I think it should be doused in fuel, set aflame, and rebuilt from the ground up. Luckily, there are mops and brooms around the toilet, they are just so old and dirty that I wonder how they could possibly clean anything! The mirror, the sink, the floors, the toilet, and the shower look like they haven't been touched by Mr. Clean in years! Speaking of the shower, until a few days ago, you could magically transform the shower into a bath! Because the drains didn't work! Lovely.
(2) My bed is not the most comfortable. At first, I thought the problem would be that I didn't have a pillow or bedding the first night due to thinking some would be provided. I was wrong, so I took my airplane pillow and put my folded sweatshirt on top and slept on that. Luckily, I brought a blanket with me, and I was able to buy pillows the next day, but that's not all. The mattress feels like a literal piece of wood with a little cushion on top of it. Let's take a moment of silence for the number of my fellow exchange students who have told me about how when they first arrived, they decided to plop down on the deceptively comfortable-looking mattress and were painfully rejected. 😔
(3) The electricity/water quota. As a relatively privileged person, I have never had to really worry about how much water and electricity I use. But now I kinda do. Only a certain amount of these utilities are covered each month, any more than that we will be billed. Not that great of a situation since that puts extended use of the air conditioner and my long, hot showers out of the question. I'll do my best.
(4) The campus is huge. In many ways, this isn't a negative because there are a lot of places to explore and activities to do, like going to the campus mall and restaurants or having different amenities in the many buildings. Compared to the small campus at Susquehanna, this is very refreshing. It's also very beautiful with a waterway that goes around the whole campus and interesting architectural features that connect buildings together. But it's so big, that it takes me more than half an hour to walk from one end of campus to the other, and right now, my feet hurt very much. It's pretty confusing too. Even with a map, I've gotten really lost multiple times since these features make it a little hard to differentiate one building or route from another.
Other than these things, it's been great! My week started off with orientation the day after we arrived, and I got to meet many of the exchange students. They come from all over, from France, Sweden, and Norway, to Brazil, Portugal, Japan, and Mainland China. They are all extremely nice and fun, and I can proudly say that we have all become pretty good friends.
The first day, we did some registration stuff and eventually went to a dim sum lunch at a restaurant called Du Hsiao Yueh in the Broadway area of town. The place was awesome, and was my first taste of authentic Chinese food. I wasn't sure what to expect, so when we got the first dish, I assumed it was the appetizer. However, it quickly went from one dish to ten with more on the way! We had so much food, and it was all so delicious that I can't even remember the names!
Afterwards, we had the opportunity to walk around the surrounding shopping and restaurant area, which was amazing. The weather was so beautiful with sun and sometimes a light breeze that I forgot it was early January. There was a small park and some murals and a fence with these colorful locks on every inch of it. It was very fun to hang out with the other students and see a bit of the area.
After that we get back to campus and had a tour with some of the full time students, complete with the group leader speaking into a microphone with another student carrying an amplifying speaker with a strap which was a little funny. I took a lot of pictures around the campus which I don't have room to add here, so I urge you all to check out my Gallery page where all of my pictures from this trip are put into albums for you to look at. Pictures of the Broadway area and our tour are under "First Day in Macau."
Orientation week continued as usual, but it was not short of experiences. One night, we all went out to eat some Portuguese food for dinner, which was new considering I don't think I really had any before. Also, I was able to finish a glass of sangria. Amazing, right? I mean, I still felt like I was being punched in the face from the taste, but everyone else was drinking it! And it's legal since the drinking age is 18 in Macau 😀.
Speaking of alcohol, guess who had their first shot at their first club? That'd be me. A group of
exchange students and I went to Hip Hop night at this club called "Cubic" where the admission and drinks were free that night. Who really knows how that place has stayed open, but I won't question. Anyway, so my friends automatically head to the bar to get shots of tequila, and I'm pretty unsure of what to do. Shots never seemed exactly appetizing to me, but I figured that I had to try it. And I screwed up slightly. Licked the salt, tequila spilled out of my mouth, and I sucked on the lemon instead of biting it 😅. I wouldn't expect anything more honestly. The club was very fun, but we stayed there so long that we only got about 4 hours of sleep that night, which wasn't very fun. More pictures of our night in Macau and in Cubic are in my photo album labeled Night Out.
The next day, I dragged myself out of bed and got ready to go on a tour of Macau, complete with my camera to take a hundred photos of everything I saw. Which is exactly what I did. So if nothing else, I suggest you to check some of them out in my Macau Tour album because there was so much to see that I simply don't have enough room to talk about or show pictures of them here; I even have a few short videos mixed in too!
We must have taken 4 buses that day to see a lot of the major sights and areas of Macau. We went to the Ruins of St. Paul's, a 400 year old church that was destroyed in a fire, rebuilt, and was once again destroyed in a fire. At this point they were just like "You know, forget it," and now the front facade is what remains. It was pretty cool, and it's probably the most famous landmark in Macau.
We also went to Senado Square where the streets are designed with these wave patterns made by these old black and white tiles and the colorful buildings are distinctly European. The square was still decorated from Christmas though, so I'll have to return again before I leave to see the full effect, but it's still a really beautiful place.
We got some street food from the recommendations of our student guides which included dumplings eaten with skewers and served in what honestly looks like doggy bags. Not a great mix though, because I poked so many holes in the bag that I sprung a leak and got the sauce on myself. But I couldn't stop laughing at the menu sign, because there were so many spelling mistakes that in addition to getting the "fired dumplings," I could have also gotten the "chicken mcnuggest." Later on, we got the egg tarts that Macau is famous for. They were very good, but only if I didn't really think about how creamy the egg was, because I wouldn't ever want a "creamy" egg 😖. But yeah, they are actually really tasty.
After a long day of walking and seeing all of these new things, we decided to head back to school. Everyone still had a lot of energy, so they were all planning on going clubbing again that night. Initially, I was also going to go, but sleep deprivation and aching feet all caught up to me, and I ended up going to bed and was out cold by 9:30. 9:30! That's just nuts for me! Well, I really needed it, and due to the fact that most of the group returned to campus at 6 am, I'd say that was a wise decision.
Yeah, that was a lot to talk about, and there's so much more I could share, like how we went to a Japanese restaurant and my friends decided to try chicken feet... That went well. But you can see a lot of the rest that I saw on my Gallery page where I have albums for everything I've seen, so there's still a lot more to check out! Feel free to comment and subscribe so that you can be alerted whenever I post, which should be about every Sunday. Tomorrow, I start my first week of school, so be prepared to hear all about that next week! Until then,
再见！
TL;DR: I have a shortlist of things that are less than great about this place, other than that it's great, I got some cool exchange student friends, bite the lemon don't suck, I wouldn't ever really want to eat a "creamy" egg, how did I go to bed at 9:30, I have pictures, and more pictures, and more pictures!
(1) My bathroom is gross. I think it should be doused in fuel, set aflame, and rebuilt from the ground up. Luckily, there are mops and brooms around the toilet, they are just so old and dirty that I wonder how they could possibly clean anything! The mirror, the sink, the floors, the toilet, and the shower look like they haven't been touched by Mr. Clean in years! Speaking of the shower, until a few days ago, you could magically transform the shower into a bath! Because the drains didn't work! Lovely.
(2) My bed is not the most comfortable. At first, I thought the problem would be that I didn't have a pillow or bedding the first night due to thinking some would be provided. I was wrong, so I took my airplane pillow and put my folded sweatshirt on top and slept on that. Luckily, I brought a blanket with me, and I was able to buy pillows the next day, but that's not all. The mattress feels like a literal piece of wood with a little cushion on top of it. Let's take a moment of silence for the number of my fellow exchange students who have told me about how when they first arrived, they decided to plop down on the deceptively comfortable-looking mattress and were painfully rejected. 😔
(3) The electricity/water quota. As a relatively privileged person, I have never had to really worry about how much water and electricity I use. But now I kinda do. Only a certain amount of these utilities are covered each month, any more than that we will be billed. Not that great of a situation since that puts extended use of the air conditioner and my long, hot showers out of the question. I'll do my best.
(4) The campus is huge. In many ways, this isn't a negative because there are a lot of places to explore and activities to do, like going to the campus mall and restaurants or having different amenities in the many buildings. Compared to the small campus at Susquehanna, this is very refreshing. It's also very beautiful with a waterway that goes around the whole campus and interesting architectural features that connect buildings together. But it's so big, that it takes me more than half an hour to walk from one end of campus to the other, and right now, my feet hurt very much. It's pretty confusing too. Even with a map, I've gotten really lost multiple times since these features make it a little hard to differentiate one building or route from another.
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| The first dish. |
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| Du Hsiao Yueh Restaurante |
Other than these things, it's been great! My week started off with orientation the day after we arrived, and I got to meet many of the exchange students. They come from all over, from France, Sweden, and Norway, to Brazil, Portugal, Japan, and Mainland China. They are all extremely nice and fun, and I can proudly say that we have all become pretty good friends.
 |
| Wow, that escalated quickly. |
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| Me with some of the other students. |
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| A part of campus |
Orientation week continued as usual, but it was not short of experiences. One night, we all went out to eat some Portuguese food for dinner, which was new considering I don't think I really had any before. Also, I was able to finish a glass of sangria. Amazing, right? I mean, I still felt like I was being punched in the face from the taste, but everyone else was drinking it! And it's legal since the drinking age is 18 in Macau 😀.
 |
| I was honestly just impressed with the graphics. |
exchange students and I went to Hip Hop night at this club called "Cubic" where the admission and drinks were free that night. Who really knows how that place has stayed open, but I won't question. Anyway, so my friends automatically head to the bar to get shots of tequila, and I'm pretty unsure of what to do. Shots never seemed exactly appetizing to me, but I figured that I had to try it. And I screwed up slightly. Licked the salt, tequila spilled out of my mouth, and I sucked on the lemon instead of biting it 😅. I wouldn't expect anything more honestly. The club was very fun, but we stayed there so long that we only got about 4 hours of sleep that night, which wasn't very fun. More pictures of our night in Macau and in Cubic are in my photo album labeled Night Out.
The next day, I dragged myself out of bed and got ready to go on a tour of Macau, complete with my camera to take a hundred photos of everything I saw. Which is exactly what I did. So if nothing else, I suggest you to check some of them out in my Macau Tour album because there was so much to see that I simply don't have enough room to talk about or show pictures of them here; I even have a few short videos mixed in too!
 |
| I guess this was the sturdiest part. |
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| The tiles go out to a good portion of town. |
We also went to Senado Square where the streets are designed with these wave patterns made by these old black and white tiles and the colorful buildings are distinctly European. The square was still decorated from Christmas though, so I'll have to return again before I leave to see the full effect, but it's still a really beautiful place.
 |
| Yum! |
After a long day of walking and seeing all of these new things, we decided to head back to school. Everyone still had a lot of energy, so they were all planning on going clubbing again that night. Initially, I was also going to go, but sleep deprivation and aching feet all caught up to me, and I ended up going to bed and was out cold by 9:30. 9:30! That's just nuts for me! Well, I really needed it, and due to the fact that most of the group returned to campus at 6 am, I'd say that was a wise decision.
Yeah, that was a lot to talk about, and there's so much more I could share, like how we went to a Japanese restaurant and my friends decided to try chicken feet... That went well. But you can see a lot of the rest that I saw on my Gallery page where I have albums for everything I've seen, so there's still a lot more to check out! Feel free to comment and subscribe so that you can be alerted whenever I post, which should be about every Sunday. Tomorrow, I start my first week of school, so be prepared to hear all about that next week! Until then,
再见！
TL;DR: I have a shortlist of things that are less than great about this place, other than that it's great, I got some cool exchange student friends, bite the lemon don't suck, I wouldn't ever really want to eat a "creamy" egg, how did I go to bed at 9:30, I have pictures, and more pictures, and more pictures!
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