Oh How Sweet It Is To Be...

DONE! I finished up my last exam today. What a relief. It actually wasn't as difficult as I imagined...stay tuned for grade updates. Who am I kidding? I have barely kept this thing updated since I have been here; what makes you/me think I will when I return. Side Note: I won't. This could very well be my last entry on "The Lunz in Hong Kong...Maybe." I hope you all have enjoyed our time together. I will be seeing many (if anyone even reads this anymore) of you very soon I am certain. To be honest, I am not sure anyone other than my parents reads this. If so, please keep it to yourself. I wouldn't admit to reading this if I was you. Not exactly the cool thing to do. I would read something else for sure. Like the classifieds section of the newspaper or the stock quotes page. Surely those are more exciting! Now that my time is winding down I am having trouble finding things to fill my day with. Tomorrow, I will sleep in late and go shopping. Thursday is up for grabs. Any ideas anyone? Friday-Sunday morning - I could also use some help. Sleeping is always the best advice if anyone feels so inclined to make a suggestion.

It is getting quite warm over here. The humidity is picking up (especially today). I was able to go out to lunch with a friend that was studying at Purdue last semester. It is sad to already start saying goodbye as kids are already leaving and others have so many exams, even up until late Saturday night, that I won't be seeing them again.

It has been a good run. So until we meet again...nah...I don't have anything cool to say in a situation like this. hahahahaha

The Lunz

Oh Lovely Exam Time

I can't study. I have come upon my newest conspiracy theory: College administrators collaborated to make Facebook and Youtube so as to make students fail courses. This will increase profits as students have to retake courses and will increase the drop out rate, making the school look more difficult than it actually is. I know this is true. It has to be. I spent 3 hours on Youtube last night...you don't even want to know how much time is wasted on Facebook. Seriously, you don't want to know. If you don't have Facebook, don't get it. If you do, you are a lost cause by now. As I sit here in the academic building "studying" (this means getting on Facebook and Youtube, among others) I decided to write a little blog entry to explain my struggles. At this point in time, I am just ready for tomorrow to come. This exam is covering Transportation Logistics. Let me know if you have any thoughts on the topic...it is very exciting...uhh. I don't care what the most efficient way to fit containers on a shipping vessel is. This stuff could be nice to learn. It interested me when I signed up for the class. Not anymore. Now I think i will take my degree in Facebook-ology and Youtube-omics and be satisfied.

On the bright side of this topic, I am done on Tuesday with all exams! What a glorious day that will be. I will surely celebrate with a short (2-4 hour) nap after sleeping for approx. 12 hours the night before. I am not going to let the flu get me! I will hide away from it under the covers in my bed, which isn't that comfortable but always has treated me quite nicely.

Information Management and Technology followed by Shipper Strategies and Processes beckons. Back to the trenches...maybe.

OH MY! H1N1 FLU IN HONG KONG!!!!

I'm terrified. I have started wearing a surgical mask everywhere I go. I don't leave my room out of fear of instant death. Hopefully by now you have realized that I am joking. One case in a very large city is not my most pressing concern. The government has officially flipped out over this though, as they recall past SARS and avian flu issues. Everything is being sterilized hourly (it seems) and they are being very proactive to keep this "pandemic" under control. The school has sent out numerous emails concerning the topic. The original one reminded us to be clean and sleep. Luckily, all of you know that sleeping is not something I struggle with. Unless more than 12 hours per night is the new norm, I am in the clear. I also shower at LEAST every 4th day so I think that classifies as being clean. All students will be required to wear surgical masks during exams, which start on Monday. We will all also have our temperatures checked at the door before we can enter to take the exam. If I refuse, will I be failed? I am thinking of refusing. I don't like breathing warm air; I like crisp and cool, fresh air. Rebreathing through this surgical mask will cause me to perform more poorly on this exam than I would have previously. Mom and Dad, if I fail, it is the surgical mask's fault. One "positive" thing that may occur is if any student in any school comes down with H1N1 flu, all schools are shut down. This means that exams will not happen!!!!! YAY! Since approximately 35,000 people die yearly from the common flu, the current number of death isn't staggering. If this indeed turns into a pandemic, like those of past times, I may be here longer than expected. Who knows I will be able to fly home...I may have to swim. Hopefully this has reassured you that I have kept my awesome sense of humor through this "pandemic" (they could have not used this word yet...but then the media wouldn't be doing their job scaring people) and will be just fine. Not much longer now. Some kids have already started going home! Weird.

Hopefully I will have more blogs for you this week as we have entered the homestretch. Maybe I will write more to avoid studying. Joke! Well...kinda. Maybe...

For your enjoyment - Picture of me on the Great Wall. I haven't told you guys about that have I? Oh well. It was cool.

Good times in China

Since my last post I have been quite busy. For those of you who don't know, my favorite band is Coldplay...and they just happened to be in Hong Kong last Wednesday (25th). Wow. What an amazing show. I forgot how fun they were in concert. Unfortunately, they will be in the US over the summer which means I WILL see them again, spending too much money on tickets. Ahh, the sacrifices I make in life....food or Coldplay. I choose Coldplay. Too add to the excitement of seeing the concert, there was a big international rugby tournament last weekend. 3 days of people going nuts, dressed up and yelling at the matches. We went on Friday night for student night. It was a lot of fun. I'd never been to a rugby match so it was cool.

Now to the boring stuff that no one cares about. School. Boring. Ridiculous. Obviously, being the 21 year old college student that I am, I procrastinated until the last minute to do my work. Clearly this was the best course of action to keep stress low at the end of the semester. Coordinating groups of people, half of which are speaking a language that isn't quite as good as you would hope, is difficult. Let's call this a "learning experience." So this "learning experience" consists of editing pages of words that have poor grammar and sentence structure. Now, I am not saying they should drop out of school (well...maybe), I am just trying my hardest to understand that they are writing in a language that isn't their first. So, this is me being tolerant. Currently, instead of working on my papers (by the way...there are 4 in addition to the 2 presentations I still have) I am filling you all in on my life. Feel special. You are.

One of my friends is DJ-ing at a venue tonight. So, for all of you who like classic rock, current rock or more pop music....be sure to stay home because you will hate this. If you don't know what House and Electro music is I recommend not listening to it unless you want a headache (Mom & Dad). A thumping bass beat and computer generated tones generally don't strike your fancy if I recall.

I will try to write again soon...but this is all for now. Enjoy a picture from the Coldplay concert until next time....

Well Let Us See What Has Been Happening...

Last week was pretty fun. Monday morning I had a presentation. Monday afternoon I had an exam. Tuesday morning I had an exam. Judging by my previous statements, my weekend running up to that wonderful few days was spent in the library or sleeping. Well, now that week is over and here I am: still breathing. I got my grades back in this weeks class and it wasn't as great as I wanted to do. Oh well, they are small portions of my overall grade. School is boring...let's move to something else.

My hall had a formal dinner on Monday night. It was...fun. Half of the time they were speaking in Cantonese or English that was not exactly perfect. Needless to say, I zoned out for a fair bit of it. Not much excitement other than that with the residence kids.

Last night was St. Patty's day. Always exciting. A bunch of students went down to an Irish Pub for a bit. I love how everyone claims to be Irish on this day. Real Conversation last night...
Guy: (Yelling) Who here is actually Irish?
Girl: (Raises hand) I am!
Guy: Where are you from?
Girl: New York!
Guy: Have you ever lived in Ireland?
Girl: No.
Guy: (Still Yelling) Is anyone here ACTUALLY Irish?
Never lived in Ireland? Parents never lived in Ireland? Grandparents never lived in Ireland? In my book, your family may have been Irish but you aren't. I'm not. Call me a half-empty kinda kid, I don't mind.

For those of you who didn't hear, we took a fieldtrip to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last week. It was pretty uneventful but still an interesting thing to see.

That's about it for now. The picture is of myself and the kid who was sitting next to me at our dinner thing.

The Uneventful Month of February...

Some of you may have realized that I haven't added anything new for a while. While this may irritate some, confuse others, or fail to strike any sort of emotion in some...it is for good reason I haven't added anything. That reason is....Nothing has happened. We are now in full swing with this thing 'they' call school. Apparently, group projects, midterm exams and busy work (though very little of this) are things assigned to 'students.' I fail to see the benefits of such things when I am trying to travel, not study and take frequent naps. These 'Professors' don't realize how important napping is to young, college-aged males from Indiana. I must exert excessive effort trying to fix my schedule as to allot time for a 3-hour daily nap. Instead of aiding me in this effort, 'Professors' assign tasks to create distractions. However! I have disciplined myself regularly over the past 2 1/2 years of college studies to look past these distractions to find time to rest my mind and body. Mom, Dad...are you proud? I thought you would be. I know I will look back one day and hopefully be able to teach my children the value of napping instead of doing school work. Instead of drinking coffee, I take a short rest to rejuvenate myself for the next 2 hours before bed. Coffee sure is tasty though...I think I may go get a cup.

Something that may be interesting to some is my recent adventure with a few Purdue grads and other Purdue exchange students in Hong Kong. We were able to get together for dinner for some Vietnamese cuisine. It was pretty good...but obviously they didn't know that there was fine dining just a short walk from my campus at Cafe de McDonalds. Next time....

If you have any book recommendations, please forward those to my email inbox. I just finished one today and am trying to put off reading Capitalist Development and Economism in East Asia by Ku-Wai Li (my professor for Asia-Pacific Economies).

That is about it for now. Stay tuned...You never know when something exciting may happen?!

Oh Yeah! I went to see Top Gear Live. A car TV show based in England that airs on BBC. For more info...refer to Google. That is where the picture is from. It is a Zonda.

And another week is starting...

A fairly uneventful weekend for me.  In an effort to cut costs (taking a page out of the current American mentality...everyone's but the government that is) I have not eaten for 3 straight days.  I have gone all Ghandi and survived on lemon water only.  Since everyone knows I am again joking, I will continue.  I have spent the weekend catching up on sleep even though I haven't lost any.  I am just planning for the future here.  A nap here and there never hurt anyone.  I also have been watching a few movies (Slumdog Millionaire is very good), a bit of light reading and attempting to open a textbook or two.  Currently, I am putting off reading the textbook that is currently open on my desk.  Too bad I am typing on my computer which is setting on top of that very textbook.  Priorities.  I have nothing really spectacular to share, so I suppose I will ramble for a bit.  We did go to 10,000 Buddhas on Friday.  There are apparently actually 12,000 Buddhas.  I cried False Advertising, realizing that was illegal.  Unfortunately, I quickly realized I was in China and my lawsuit was met with deaf ears.  Another one in the loss column for Matt.  Bummer.  Anyways, 10,000 (12,000) Buddhas was not very interesting.  You walked up 400-500 steps with Buddhas all along the sides (note picture).  Then you got to a level where there was a building with floor to ceiling mini-Buddhas.  Yep, that's about it.  I guess it got me out of my room for a bit.  Hmm...I have a quiz this week in Organizational Behavior.  That should be fun.  Nothing else is going on this week.  Pretty uneventful.  Maybe I will have something for you next week.  Until then...

Bangkok to the HK : A chronicle of events

Loyal Followers, welcome once more to an installment on the life of me.  As many of you know the past week+ I have been traveling for Chinese New Year.  I made my way down to Thailand on the 22nd of January for a bit of relaxation in the sun.  Well, I was relaxed but then I had to travel home (more on that later).  Lets rewind to that beautiful day in January when we left Hong Kong on one of the warmest days since my arrival.  After a half hour or so on the MTR (subway) we got to the ferry which took us to Macau.  From there we boarded a plane to Bangkok.  Some of you may say "Matt, why not just fly out of Hong Kong instead of taking a ferry for an hour to Macau?" In hindsight, you raise a very good question!  With all the extra expenses (ferry, taxi & food) that it took to get to Macau, it may very well have been a better choice to just fly out of Hong Kong.  You live and you learn though.  Many of you were/are students and know that impulse often takes over in certain moments and you fail to think situations through all the way.  I believe this is the first time I have experienced this though...(sarcasm).  Anyways, we arrived in Bangkok and after a 45 minute taxi ride we were at our hostel.  Let me tell you, nothing but 5 stars there!  3 stars for air conditioning, 1 star for a bed and 1 star for a toilet/shower combo.  See! 5 Stars!  Now I am aware of how the rating scale works.  About $7 USD/night.  Can't complain there.  2 nights in Bangkok.  Done, over, thank God!

Now that Bangkok is over, we board a bus to the Islands.  First stop - some random place at 4:45 am where they drop you off for 2 hours while you wait for another bus.  However!  You may be thinking "what will you do for food?" Answer: It is a company restaurant.  $5 USD for a pack of Oreos?  Might as well!  Don't worry, I waited to eat.  I'm too cheap to be suckered like that.  Oh, I must have forgotten to tell you that the first leg of the bus ride was about 9 hours.  Next leg is only 3 hours.  Now we only have an hour and a half long ferry ride and we are at Koh Samui!  Exciting stuff.  When do I get to sleep?  2 days in Koh Samui.  What did we do there?  Nothing exciting!  Can we stop moving yet?  Absolutely not!  We have to go to Koh Phangan for a day.  This day happens to be January 27th.  If you don't know what that means, immediately terminate reading this blog and return to your prior activities.  So we go out for dinner and a few drinks because I am legal in the U.S. of A. now (legal in China/Thailand since arrival but what fun is that?).  I reiterate my previous point...Can I go to bed yet?  NO!!! We have to get up at 8 am the next morning to go to Koh Tao!!!  After another ferry ride, we arrive in Koh Tao for 3 days.  YAY!!! SLEEP!!!  If you have ever traveled any distance over an hour with me, you know my tendency to fall asleep on any journey.  Pattern continued on current trip.  Koh Tao was the most relaxing part of the trip.  Myself and another kid left Koh Phangan early from the rest of the group as he wanted to become a certified Open Water diver.  I agreed to accompany him and contemplate making a dive or two of my own (already certified if you didn't know).  Wednesday...what did I do?  Arose from slumber at approx. 9 am.  Headed to restaurant on beach for breakfast.  Ate while reading Kite Runner (which is an amazing book if you haven't read it.  Very powerful message).  Finished eating...didn't move from table.  Ate lunch in same seat.  Moved to beach chair at approx. noon.  Moved back to previous table for fruit snack and remained there until I finished book.  Went and took a nap.  Awoke for dinner.  Very fulfilling day in my eyes.  Day 2:  Took refresher course in diving since I hadn't been in the water for 6-12 months (PADI Regulation).  Too tired to do anything else.  Retired to bed.  Day 3: Wake up time 5:45 am.  Dive Boat leaves in 30 minutes and I need my gear.  Get everything and am at the dive site around 7 for the sunrise.  In the water for a first dive of about 40 minutes to a depth of approx. 18 meters.  Second dive is about 55 minutes to a depth of approx. 16 meters.  Fun day.  Time to start heading back to Bangkok!  Taxi from hotel to ferry.  Ferry from Koh Tao to Chumporn.  Overnight train from Chumporn to Bangkok.  Bangkok for one night.  Plane at 7 am in the morning.  Are you getting bored yet from reading this?  Shake head Yes or No.  If Yes, stop reading and take a nap (my specialty).  If No, continue reading.  Our day in Bangkok is spent in the hotel room as we are exhausted.  Wake up call at 4:00 am.  Taxi to the airport.  Checked in by 5.  I wanted to take the 5:30 taxi instead of the 4:30.  An hour of sleep is always nice and we would have made it no problems.  Sunk cost now.  I can only look back and remember how I was right from now on! :) After a 2 1/2 hour flight we are back in Macau.  Another taxi ride, a ferry and some time spent on the MTR and here I am back at my computer writing you this descriptive and exceedingly long blog entry.  Impressed?  I didn't think so.

Total types of Transportation used on trip:  11 (Plane, Train, Subway, Taxi, Tuk Tuk (Google that if you don't know), ferry, small boat, moped, truck bed, bus, feet)

Average temperature: 85 (approx.)

Percentage of time spent in transit that I was asleep: 75% (best guess since we had an overnight train and bus)

If you made it this far, congratulations.  I am going back to watching Quantum Of Solace on my computer before retiring to bed after a bit of light reading via The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan.  

Viva La China

Well the week is over and it is Chinese New Years time for Matt.  Matt will be traveling to Thailand to bask in the shade (Matt burns).  Many of you know that Matt's birthday is coming in a mere 5 days.  The vacation lasts until the 1st of February.  This means Matt will be spending his birthday in Thailand.  Very interesting.  Matt and others will be staying in Bangkok for 2 days and then going to an island...not sure which one.  Matt was going to go to Phuket but they are not doing that now (as of the current moment).

Matt did laundry today before he leaves (in 1 hour...and he hasn't started packing!) and accidentally put a red shirt in his load that had socks and a few white undershirts.  Oops!  Matt saw this and felt pretty dumb.

Matt isn't sure if he will have internet while in Thailand but if he does then he will update this with interesting stories.

Matt has nothing else at the current moment except to tell you that writing in the 3rd person is not going to happen again on this blog.

Mini Vacation #1

Last night we ventured to Macau for the night.  For those of you who don't know what Macau is, it is a city somewhat like Vegas with lots of casinos and such.  Saying this, Mom and Dad...I need money!  Not really.  I decided I would spend $20 (Hong Kong, less than $3 USD) on a slot machine just to add to the experience of being there.  I lost.  Shocking I know.  Anyways, we just sat there and watched some performers on stage sing American songs fairly well.  There were also these swing dancer people but that wasn't very cool.  I learned how to play a game after watching it for 3 hours and having 3 people explain it to me.  However, I wasn't about to place money on my new found knowledge.  When the performances ended we headed back to our hotel where we neatly packed 9 people into a hotel room with 2 twin beds.  I slept in a chair...if you can call it sleeping.  A little more interesting information...we had to take a 1 hour+ ferry ride to the island.  Now, before those of you who know certain ferry-related stories go all whoo-hah laughing, I didn't get sick.  Didn't even feel queazy.  Another kid got quite sick but my stomach was being a champion and decided to behave on the water.

The second week of classes are starting quickly.  I am still trying to get the perfect schedule so I have class at convenient times.  Another factor is I am trying to get in classes with some friends so when project time comes around, I can trust/rely on people I am more familiar with.

For those of you who have been having issues with the cold, please know that I am right there with you...in spirit.  I was having trouble today as the heat was just too much for the jeans I was wearing.  I needed a pair of shorts.  It was easily mid-70s.  I just want you all to remember that I have sacrificed my body to the heat so you don't have to...please, thank me later.

I know there are people who have sent emails or messages and haven't heard back from me.  I have realized that sometimes I read things and forget about them.  I am in the process of finding them mixed in 3 email accounts, facebook, etc.  If you just want to send a copy again or a new message, it will go to the top of my inbox and I will probably respond!

I will have another post coming soon...surely there will be lots of info to share.

The first 2 days...

So classes started (aka no fun).  I had 4 hours of class on Monday and 3 today.  The class today was 3 hours straight with a 15 minute break about 2 hours in.  It was long, boring, and I learned nothing.  Ahh the joy of Organizational Behavior on syllabus day.  The discussions have been so general and the accent/lack of proficiency in English makes class funny at first but then it just becomes frustrating.  Kids from other schools aren't as well versed in the joy of having international teachers as us folk from Purdue.

In case anyone was wondering (Brandon, Krin, etc.) I took a 5 hour nap today.  I felt proud of my accomplishment.  I think it may be a personal best for a mid-afternoon nap.  I got up a little before 5:30 and am currently tired again (9:34 pm).  

Tomorrow class doesn't start until 3:30 pm so I may try to sneak a bit of a nap in prior to it.  I want to be well rested and ready for an exciting lecture on International Management.  It should be quite the lecture tomorrow.  I am going to go ahead and throw this out there, but I am guessing that we will discuss the attendance policy, grading scale, group project, test(s), and a brief overview of how the class will progress.  Stay tuned for actual results.

All in all, things are fine here.  Meeting lots of kids from around the world.  I mainly hang out with  kid from IU (I know, I know...), one from Australia, and another from California State - Long Beach.  All great guys.  The larger group of exchange students has formed into smaller groups of friends.  It is funny how quickly it happens.  I have battled a bit of a cold and a small stomach issue.  The stomach issue was created by a sketchy Brazilian BBQ restaurant and solved by a solid night of getting sick (I'm sure everyone wanted to know that).  The cold will be solved with ample sleep.  By ample I am hoping to get at least 15 hours in a 24 hour period.  That is just how I roll.

Well, that is enough for now.  Emails are nice (gives me something to do in class).  Let me know if you like this idea or not.  I will probably keep doing it even if you don't but whatever.  I like your opinions nonetheless. 

The First Week...

Hey! I'm in Hong Kong! Haha As many of you know, I arrived safely (obviously since I am writing this).  Some basic info, I start classes Monday (1/12) and finish sometime around the middle of May.  I'm living in a dorm with a roommate, which is weird going back to sharing a room again.  I'm on the 6th floor of my building with a view of the courtyard and the city (just terrible).  We have been pretty active with various activities and meetings for the exchange students.  Most of us got here between the 5th and 7th but some stragglers are still coming in.  Yesterday we had lunch with the Foreign Service rep in HK from the US.  He just basically explained what not to do (lots of examples), what to do (fewer examples other than get out and explore), what they do (wasn't paying much attention here), and what careers and internships are available around the world.  I signed up to work in Tel Aviv, Israel for this next summer and will not be coming home before then.  HA! Not really...show of hands, who thought I was serious? :)  We have gone exploring somewhat to some of the more touristy spots (restaurants, nightlife, light show on the water, etc.).  The food is pretty good but I got a bit of an upset stomach last night... I think I was trying to do too much with my lovely stomach. 

I can't think of much else to share but if you have questions let me know.  I'm still figuring out how to use this thing and am only doing it because Krin is and he is cool and I want to be like him! Hahahahahaha...but seriously.  

I am going to try to keep this updated fairly regularly.  My email inbox has been quite full, which I enjoy but once school starts and I begin traveling more it will be much easier from my end to update this with what is going on.