Bitter no more AND living with a COWBOY!

April 9, 2006

Fortunately, I don’t stay in a bad mood for very long. I spent most of yesterday hiding out in my room far away from anything that could annoy me and by 7:30, I was feeling much more civil. On the walk to the train, it occurred to me that I am actually only in Hong Kong for eight more days. If I thought about that earlier yesterday, I might have jumped for joy. After a little time to myself, though, my attitude improved so much that I actually felt sad about it. Don’t worry… there is no chance that I am staying any longer than planned. As proof, I booked my one-way ticket home today. I leave on April 25, and arrive in LAX on the 25^th. As long as U.S. Airways plays along, I will arrive in Charlotte at 7 AM on the 26^th. I can’t believe it!

Booking my return ticket caused me to reflect a bit on this experience. I’m sure I will reflect much more as the time gets closer. I think I’ll look at it from the perspective of what I would repeat and what I would avoid today. I foresee a lessons learned report coming along in the future, but I’d like to learn all of the lessons first.

Brilliant Decisions (if I do say so myself)

• Coming to Hong Kong for exchange
• Experiencing this craziness with two wonderful friends
• Traveling to Australia, Thailand, Beijing, Fiji, Vietnam, Shanghai, and Japan (assuming the trip goes well, of course)
• Dating my FGL
• Staying in Hong Kong for an extended term
• Building friendships with people from around the world. I can say I have friends in Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Pittsburgh, another TBD U.S. city, and Hong Kong
• Forcing myself to stay and face my fears

Less than Brilliant Decisions (some of these I would repeat)

• Living off campus with my STs. I would do this again because I loved every minute of it, although it did make my transition more difficult for the second term. I think I needed to go through that extra challenge.
• Not opting for a longer exchange at the beginning of the process so that I could have rented my apartment in Chapel Hill out. Do you know how many cute outfits I could have purchased with $3200 USD? Oh well, how could I have known, right?
• Not extending myself to the other exchange students earlier in the process. I didn’t know what I was missing, honestly.
• Spending so much time with my FGL. I would have still dated him, but maybe on a more casual level. I guess I’m just not a casual dating kind of girl
  

What was I thinking?

• My pity party on the way to and from Fiji. Let’s be honest, I threw it for two more days once I was back. Thankfully, I took a break from it for most of my time in Fiji. As a friend put it, I had white people problems. How could I possibly have fun living as a student in Hong Kong for an extra six weeks? I do see the silliness of it – I just didn’t see it at the time so much.
• Rather than dating one boy in Hong Kong, I should have dated boys from as many countries as possible. This trip is about cultural exposure, right?
• Not staying in better touch with my friends at home. I’ve tried to stay in touch via email, but I really feel like I have no clue what is going on in anyone’s lives. I promise not to be so self-centered when I get home.

Other updates:

• There is a rumor that HS is canceling one of our stupid class projects. This means I just have to pass two tests and I’m free and clear!
• Presumptuous German Boy from Friday night apologized for his behavior. At least I don’t have to remember him as such a jerk!
• In an EXCELLENT turn of events, I am going to live with Cowboy for the first three weeks in June. Get ready for lunch and happy hour, kids. I will need entertaining!