1/21/18

It’s sort of ironic that our first day entirely off was also our first day of real work. Sure, we’ve had readings and blog posts, but those have been a far cry from the schoolwork we’re used to at Williams. Today, though, when I finally sat down to start researching for my paper, I felt it all come back, and even though we’ve only been off for a month or so, it was a little daunting to put myself back into an academic mindset. I really shouldn’t be complaining though – I started today by sleeping in until 11, and then reading in bed until 1, so I was thoroughly recharged and ready to tackle the assignment. We found a nice little hipster coffee shop in Yuen Long where we camped out, taking only a brief break for lunch. The barista (who had apparently won a number of some sort of awards – I’m not a coffee drinker, but she made some sort of iced-mint-chocolate concoction that was delicious) recognized us after a while (since we repeatedly got up to order drinks/snacks, so as not to overstay our welcome in the only coffee shop with WiFi within 30 minutes by train) and seemed thoroughly amused by us, hunkered down in our little corner. Like with writing any paper, I wasn’t nearly as productive as I’d hoped, but I made some major headway, and hope to finish a whole draft by tomorrow. With only 4 days now left in Hong Kong, time is feeling more and more precious, and every hour spent banging my forehead against a keyboard feels more and more agonizing – but, as long as I can tap into those healthy study habits that I (theoretically) formed during the semester, I should be able to leave myself with a decent amount of time to do at least a few of the many things left on my Hong Kong bucket list.