Catch Up - Airport, Arrival and Room

Hi Guys,

So I've finally got a few hours spare before we head back out tonight for 'cheap international students night' at one of the local bars with my American friends!

This is going to be a bit of a long entry today with details for my Grandma and Poppa since they don't get to talk to me on Skype or facebook... so if you want to tune out and just scroll on down go for it... or just read the parts you want.

Saturday night/Sunday morning:

So I left Brisbane at the weee hours of the morning with a small send off from my family (Mum, Dad, Marsh and Larissa... who basically counts as family) :) and my three crazy entertainers (Jus, Nix and Rhi) + Sir William who is glued to Jus' hip... though I'm pretty sure he was just making sure I got on the aeroplane so that he could get his girlfriend back for a few months! ;) Also ran into Wayne and Sonya Treloar it was great to have people to walk through customs with, so thanks heaps guys!

The flight over to Hong Kong wasn't exactly a highlight as I get quite travel sick, even with the help of Kwell my stomach still decided to make itself known! ... Anyway, I got an unexpected stop over in Manila for refueling so I can say I've been there too, even though I only saw the tarmac.

Hong Kong (from inside the airport) looked good, even though it was hard to see through the smog/fog. I really felt like i'd left Australia when I saw a beautiful old fashioned boat in the river right next to the aeroplanes on the tarmac. It really gave the feeling of old meets new! (see picture)

In Hangzhou they have the most amazing architecture. The houses going from the airport into Hangzhou have the traditional Chinese style rooves but they are really tall and skinny! My Chinese taxi driver attempted to make small talk with me but the extent of my language skills only cover about 30 sec of coversation! ... so he put on some 'English' music for me, which was quite interesting to say the least. Though I must admit he was really sweet and helped me with talking to the international student office and getting everything up to my room!

My room you may ask... well put it this way, ever heard of a shoe box?? .... picture that! But not to worry there are familiar faces pasted all over my walls and a big Aussie flag hanging over my door! (yes, very patriotic!)

I am lucky however to have my own little toilet and bathroom. it is interesting however with no real drainage... when you shower, the whole bathroom gets a 'shower' and the floors is flooded for the rest of the morning... and by shower i mean 10 streams of water going in 10 different directions, run around long enough and you'll get clean enough! :)

Though even with all these things, it's still great fun and what would dorm life be without its quirks!

So that's the basic jist... still got time to spare... keep reading about my newly aquired friends and our misadventures in the first fews days in the next blog!

Steph xx