People said, when you did something for the first time, there will always be the second one. So, as I had my first hiking in Hong Kong, of course I will have the second hike😉Again, the hike  I joined was organized by HKBU's International Office. I intentionally only join the hiking activities which are organized by school. The first reason is because I realized that my stamina is poor, thus I walk slower compared to the others. The second reason is because once in while I love to stop to take pictures! By joining school's hike, I know there will always be student ambassadors that will accompany me to walk slowly and wait for me to take some pictures 😂 (Thank you for all student ambassadors that accompanied me!)

This time, the destination is Tai O which is located in the Western coast of Lantau Island. When I went to the International Office to register for the monthly outing, the PIC, Juventius, told me that it's gonna be a difficult hike compared to the previous hike that I joined. However, with the motivation to see that other side of Hong Kong, I registered for the hike and found myself making my way to Tung Chung MTR station on that fourth Sunday morning of October.

Hi guys! The real Autumn (or Winter?) has finally come to Hong Kong! The weather started to be very nice lately.  It's getting colder (especially in the morning) and windy that I need to put on my scarf. Daily temperature ranges from 22-27 degrees (FYI it's 17-19 today!) and it is not too humid anymore. I really love this temperature because I don't need to break a sweat when I run from one building to other building for class💦 The changes of temperature is really significant compared to the last two weeks. Me and my room mate even already slept without turning on the AC for about a week because we can let the window open during the night.

As I do my exchange period during the fall semester, I got the privilege to experience an annual event in HKBU that only happens during the odd semester. It's International Festival! The event was held on 25-27 October 2016 and this year is the 12th year of commencement. During this three days event, HKBU had ranges of activities that showcasing cultural diversity. There were photo exhibition, seminars, study abroad fair for the local students and also international market plus variety show.

I thought it was only yesterday when I wave my hands to my parents and friends who send me to the airport for my flight to Hong Kong. However, it is not. It's been 2 months since the day I landed in Hong Kong for the first time after 6 years, met hundreds new people from many different parts of the world and slept in a shared bedroom with my lovely roommate. Believe it or not, my time to study in Hong Kong is now less than 2 months. How time flies.

The bronze statue of Big Buddha (天坛大佛) is the second biggest outdoor-sitting Buddha statue in the world (after Taiwan) and the main centre of Buddhism in Hong Kong. It is located at Ngong Ping, Lantau Island. It's very easy to get there. Just take the MTR to Tung Chung station and go to exit B. There we can choose either to take the bus (Lantau Bus 23) or take the cable car from Tung Chung Cable Car Terminal. Both choices will bring you to the Big Buddha. We opted for the second option.

Hi guys! Today I list you guys 5 must BRING items when you're visiting Hong Kong. Some items can be brought from home, some others can be purchased once you arrived in Hong Kong. Whether you're going for holiday or study, this list of things will work for you!

Octopus card is a contactless smart card for payment. If you've been to Singapore, it works like their ez-link card which is used to pay the public transportations, but with additional function to pay for your shopping! (similar to Flazz BCA card in Indonesia). You can apply for Octopus card at Customer Service Centres at all MTR station. The initial payment would be HK$ 150, consists of refundable HK$ 50 deposit and HK$ 100 initial stored value. If you refund the stored value and the deposit within 90 days, there will be administrative fee of HK$ 9.

The standard on-loan Octopus card (left) and my temporary student Octopus card (right)

It's a common understanding that Hong Kong people are CRAZY for Apple's products. To satisfy the market, there are 5 Apple stores in 5 different districts in Hong Kong. At first, when I heard that HK got 5 Apple stores, I was like "meh" 😶, my hometown in Indonesia also has many stores that exclusively sell Apple's products. What's so special with 5 Apple stores?

BUT. I. WAS. WRONG.

I feel so bad for comparing the Apple store in Hong Kong and the store that sells Apple's product in my hometown, because it's a totally different concept (and size). Apple store in HK is exceptionally BIG. It ranges from 1 storey and 3 storeys. They got dozens of unit display for all products that can be played freely by the customers.

My first time going to Apple store was to the Apple store in Festival Walk mall which is located near my campus. I went there on weekday and I was amused to see sooo many people inside the store. It was really crowded! On weekday! Wow! A rare view if you go to mall in my hometown during weekday. After several visits to the Apple store in different times, I realized that Apple stores in HK always have many customers coming to the store every time and everyday.

Believe it or not, it's been a month since I arrived in Hong Kong. Time flies so fast!

After this first month, I started to settle down and adapt more to this 'new' surrounding. I know that the situation of Hong Kong is not much different from Indonesia if you're talking about the weather, food and stuff, but there are still many other things which can be considered as new for me: new bedroom, new roommate, new classmates, new habits and so on.

I started to have assignments and midterms schedules for my classes. Real university life has come! To be honest, it's quite challenging because I don't know the preferences of the lecturers, e.g. they prefer lengthy wordy answers or the short concise one. I hope I can give my best *finger-crossed*

The weather now also started to be nicer compared to the first 1-2 weeks I arrived in Hong Kong, but sometimes it could not be predicted. Yesterday I went for lunch by feet in the afternoon and it was very hot and bright. Then one hour later I walked home under the rain... My morale story would be: bring umbrella. I know I keep on typing this in most of my posts, but yeah, it's the fact 😂 It's my life-savior to protect me from sun and rain!