Byebye Hong Kong

On 13th of June it was time to leave Hong Kong after exactly 5 months (I left Finland on 13th of January). Where did the 5 months go? It was just yesterday when I arrived to HK! Though have to say that it feels forever since I've been in Finland.

I spent most of my time with hall activities and it was so fun. :) Dance team performance was awesome experience, basketball team won the championship and I got the "Most Devoted Player" prize for BB team (more about that in coming up "Presentation Night" -post. I will miss the hall life, my floormates, other international students (one of them I will see in Brisbane, haha :D), HK food and DESSERTS, cheap shopping and food and everything else I forgot to mention.

Though I think my skin will thank me for leaving HK. At some point it was in super bad condition as I just continued my normal skin cleaning habits as in Finland. Air quality in Finland >> air quality in HK (>> air quality in Beijing). Normally you won't notice anything special in the air quality, but your skin surely does.

People say that at some point of your exchange you will be so fed up with everything (and then the feeling goes away), but it didn't really happen to me. Why "really"?  It's because at one point maybe in two weeks of time I had flu, almost broken finger, problems with my back and food poisoning or something similar. I don't know why I got all the "illnesses" I got during the spring at the same time, but it was super annoying. But that's not really HK's fault. :)

I'm also thought about all the things I want to do in Finland: explore more Helsinki and nearby, eat new potatoes, salmon, good salad, rye bread, berries, berries, BERRIES!, study more Japanese, learn to cook more different dishes, buy small bowls to eat the meals in Asian style (I already have some chopsticks). Have to say that some dishes are just easier to eat with chopsticks.

Then how about the Japan trip?

Japan was simply awesome and had great weather for all the time I was there. Warm/hot/sunny, but not humid like in HK. :) I biked around Kyoto, saw many temples and gardens, slept on tatami, ate good food, did shopping, saw the red toriis, went to Nara to see the deers, went to a japanese public bath, bought a yukata, visited Osaka Pokémon Center...

Now I'm in New Zealand (and the Internet connection is awful). It's winter here and thus it looks like Finnish autumn right now and at the moment it's raining. Not the best time to come here, but well it's on the way to Australia anyway (cheapest flights to Brisbane were via Auckland) and nice to see were my friend Henna and her boyfriend Arttu have been living for the half-a-year. We'll also meet in Singapore for one day on the way home. :D

Speaking of Australia, Henna showed me photos and videos of koalas they saw with Arttu in Sydney. So cute! I don't know what will happen when I see actually them... It's a life long dream about to come true again...

Not sure how well I can load photos to this blog (uploading them to Facebook doesn't work), so this is text-only post now. I'll write some posts ready and post them at the end of the next week when I get to Brisbane.