Our second to last week in Hong Kong has been BUSY! We have had our last round of classes that ended Wednesday, and since then I've been focusing on finishing a paper and getting prepared for our final big quiz. It's titled a quiz, but it's actually more like a test. Also, my wonderful mom sent me a care package! We decorated our room with the contents and the food is long gone by now--sooo yummy. She is awesome. I had to choose carefully who I mentioned the caramel puffcorn to because in Global once one person knows, all 27 people know and before you know it your food is gone. On Monday we also took a trip to the art museum for a guided tour--we saw some of the paintings and pieces we'd talked about in class, which was pretty interesting. The art museum has a gorgeous view of the harbor and across from it is the skyline of Hong Kong island--GORGEOUS. The Avenue of Stars is located next to the museum and we loved the view so much that we went back on Wednesday night to watch the Hong Kong light show from there! I thought it was really cool, although some people in my group got bored within minutes. There was music coordinated with lasers shooting off of certain participating buildings and all of the buildings facing the water had Christmas lights and messages on them as well. One of the buildings participating was the building that Batman "jumps off" of in the latest movie.

On Thursday we went to the Tea House in Hong Kong park and met the owner, who sat us all down and gave us a lecture on the art of Chinese tea. It's amazing how artful it actually is, and they have it down to a science of how they collect the leaves, how long they let them oxidize, how long they let them steep, etc. It's amazing, and we got to sample all of the different basics. Greenish tea was my favorite. He also demonstrated kung fu tea-making technique for us and taught us the detailed way of drinking Chinese tea like a connoisseur would. It's complicated.

Friday we had an art viewing at the gallery on campus, and then at night we went to... the Nutcracker! It was a group event organized by our social committee and it was such a great night. We dressed up and took pictures. The show was really good and made me miss ballet (which is strange, I never really even liked ballet) but it was a different style than the shows I've seen before. There were scenes taken out and not as many dancers as what I'm used to. Still enjoyed it though, and watching ballet for 2 and a half hours apparently made all of our stomachs growl because half the group went to sushi and half went to the Flying Pan for breakfast again! I went to get breakfast... mmmm. We barely made the last train back home and I wish I could have seen how ridiculous we looked flying through the train station in high heels and dresses and laughing all the way.

Yesterday. Was. AWESOME. And also pretty painful! We decided to go on a hike that my friend Katie said was an hour and a half, labelled very easy online, and included three peaks. We got there and it turned out the hike was over three hours, labelled VERY DIFFICULT on the trailhead, and involved FIVE peaks. Phew! Hardest hike of my life! The peaks didn't have switchbacks either to help you climb, no, they gave you STAIRS straight up the side of the mountain. We climbed thousands of stairs, sometimes for half an hour straight up or down. Our legs were shaking. But it was worth it! The views were gorgeous and I only got a LITTLE sunburned. The trail spit us out at Stanley, a cute ex-pat beachside town where Katie's godfather lives. He invited us to his apartment where his cook had made green mango salad (spicy!), brownies, baguette slices with beef and cheese, and lemon meringue pie. We ate homemade food to our hearts' content and it was nice to meet him! Then we headed home after looking through the Stanley market. It was an exhausting day, and I woke up with extremely tight calves this morning. Oh well, it was well worth it!

Sorry for the long post! No need to read the whole thing if you get bored :)