It'll do.

 When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable. – Clifton Fadiman

... except at the Gold Coast Residences.

I came home with a headache — one of those headaches that prohibits me from doing anything until I've laid down and slept — to find men repairing one of our bathrooms, and housekeeping was to arrive any minute.  After they knocked and I welcomed them inside, I curled up on the couch, hoping I would feel better lying down.  Within a few moments, I hear, "Missy!" as one of the adorable Chinese ladies taps my leg and motions for me to go sleep in my room (I'm not sure how they knew which one was mine).  I walk down the hall to find my crisp white sheets perfectly made up, clean towels folded on the window seat, and a freshly swept floor.

This happens twice a week.

I still think our accommodations are more than somewhat ridiculous — SCAD has a knack for finding and seizing luxury in unexpected places — but admittedly, I have grown to appreciate the person who sits in the lobby of our tower solely to hop up from the front desk and open the door with a "Good morning!" when we enter or exit; the security guard at the gate who lets everyone in, so it seems, with "Hi!  Hi! ... See ya!"; and the people at the marketplace checkout who bag up my groceries for me faster than I can count out the Hong Kong dollars I owe them.  I have paid for this treatment, I suppose, but it is still a breath of fresh air when adapting to a new country and SCAD quarter all at once.­

• • •

We went clubbing on Thursday night, as so many SCAD students do, which was a multicultural experience in and of itself.  Ladies got free entrance with a glass of (painfully cheap) champagne at Otto, which is the SCAD–Hong Kong club of choice.  I had intentionally come with friends who weren't looking to get drunk, so the experience didn't quite live up to what others had made it out to be; but the most interesting part of my evening was a conversation with a Taiwanese professor of psychology from Hong Kong University.  After chit chat regarding where we're from and why we're here, I sensed more in her than an alcohol tolerance obviously higher than that of her girlfriends.  She looked at us with purpose and said, "Travel. Travel as much as you can. Go everywhere."  She said to go to India in particular, and I asked her why, even though I already knew.  She said they have the poor — not like they don't have air conditioning; like they don't have food — and they also have the very, very rich, all together in one place.  She said they're the most spiritual people; it changed her life.  We toasted to America and the magic was gone; but India is the only place where someone has specifically told me to go, and she is the second person to do so.  Some day.

• • •

The rest of the weekend largely consisted of shopping in Mong Kok with Augusta.  I have never seen one person buy so many pairs of shoes in one day, but it helps that she wears a size 6½, which is par for the course in this part of the world.  Meanwhile, I'm left asking for 42s to fit my oh-so-enormous 8½ feet.  We made American idiots out of ourselves by asking if we could try things on, which, on the whole, is completely out of the question.  That's why they have giant mirrors: so you can hold it up to yourself to judge whether it will fit!  We weren't feeling quite that adventurous, especially when many of the styles here have equal potential of making us look like either runway models or misshapen walruses.

A few purchases from Nathan Road in Mong Kok

We also made it up to Victoria Peak on Saturday morning, which is the highest point on Hong Kong Island and consequently has the best view.  It's best to visit at night for the lights show, when the buildings in the skyline all light up in different colors that pulse to music; but that's for another weekend.  We went on a foggy morning, and we're proud of it.

The tram up to the Peak feels like a roller coaster: steep and fast.

Morning view from the Peak!  Most of Hong Kong is in visible from here.

We have fun together.

The food here is fantastic — they have everything — but then, I haven't tried anything too strange, and I'm okay with that.  My only complaint is that when they serve "coffee," it's really milk coffee, and it looks like this:

But they serve it with brown sugar, which I think is adorable.

The drink selection is incredible.  There's an almond drink, which tastes like marzipan; fresh squeezed blueberry juice (amazing); Black Cow (Coke topped with chocolate ice cream), and hundreds more varieties of fruit juices, cocktails, dessert drinks, tea, and milk coffee.  And as for food, lest anyone think I'm beginning to miss American food ... Augusta and I shared a Mexican pizza tonight, and it was delicious.

Here's to studying abroad in a land of luxury.

eb