Hong Kong, Continued to Shenzhen

Hong Kong is just amazing. It was really unfortunate that our program took so much time because I really wished I had more time to explore. I went for this amazing run up the ridge of a mountain, and had these breathtaking views of the ocean, a huge cemetary, and the skyline down below.
I'll skip details about the program orientation, except to say that the story on the organization is that they've had this program in Hong Kong for the last three years, but this is the first year that they've expanded into mainland China. Because the program has grown from 12 students to over 600, there is a fair amount of work left to be done, and the curriculum they provided us reflects that. However, it's clear that they really value us and that it's a big deal that we're here. We got to eat dinner in the police station building that usually isn't open to the public, up on like the 25th floor overlooking the water. Dinner was AMAZING; it was at least seven courses and just such good food. I've been trying to eat vegetarian when possible, but the sweet and sour chicken here is just too tasty to pass up! After dinner we wandered around the Wanchai (spelling) area for a bit, and then headed over to the "night-life" area of town that was just buzzing. We hung out in the streets and danced in the bars until around 1:30, and fortuitously headed home right before a torrential downpour began (A girl from India said that monsoons had nothing on this rainstorm! Other members of our group who stayed out later said that they waited an hour trying to hail a cab to no avail, as they were worried about flooding). So, thinking we were safe, we headed inside, where we hung out for another hour or so. I headed up to my room to get a bit of sleep before we had to meet in the morning for our trip to Beijing, and was extremely surprised to for three girls frantically running around the hall in their bikinis carrying bowls and pots. I asked them what on earth was going on and they said, our room is flooding! To myself I though, glad I'm not them, until I walked into my room to find is similarly covered in water. Evidently our AC lets water in, and the top third of my roommate's and my beds were totally soaked, and most of the floor had about a half inch of water covering it. Sooooo, being the trooper I am, I grabbed my pillow and slept the opposite way on the bed, but it was probably not the best night of sleep I've ever had (Better than the hostel where I stayed in Paris, easily).
The next morning, we hopped on the bus to Shenzhen (china) where we would fly to Beijing.

Highlights of the road trip:
1. Having our driver sitting in the right side of the bus the whole way there, despite the fact that in mainland China people drive on the right side of the road.
2. Bus driver backing up on the highway
3. Bus leaking on us (It was raining pretty hard most of the way there)

We thought our troubles were over when we arrived at the airport. Ha! First, two people in our group didn't have seats on the plane. This was solved by a four hour non-stop yelling match. I guess it beats bureaucracy? Our plane was scheduled to leave at 2. At 3, it still hadn't left its previous destination. Also at 3, all of southern China was experiencing hurricane like conditions, so we weren't really looking forward to hopping on a plane. No worries, no one was coming or leaving the airport. By 5, we had spent five hours chilling at the airport McDonalds (free wireless)--we looked like a Disneyland refugee camp; about 65 people, 100 suitcases, all camped out in one space. At 7, arrivals began to trickle in. By 9:30, we were boarding. The moment I was on the plane, I fell asleep. I hadn't slept more than 5 hours a night since arriving in Asia, so I was in need of a good sleep. At around 12:30 I woke up, looked out the window, and saw the Shenzhen airport. Evidently we were scheduled to take off at 1 AM, but I had passed out before that announcement! I promptly fell back asleep and woke up during landing. The other scholars said I was lucky to be asleep during take off because the plane seemed to be teetering back and forth before it took off, and that we had the steepest descent they'd ever been on. Ahh well. All's well that ends well, yeah?