The Start: LA Orientation

SOooo, this is my first blog ever. I should probably start by introducing myself. My name is Jordan Hoy. I am sixteen years old, in my junior year in high school. I am originally from Seattle, Washington and I attend(ed) Roosevelt High School. I really loved my life back in Seattle, but I felt like I needed to do something.

I am going to study abroad as an exchange student in Hong Kong for a year. I am going with the program AFS the world's most well-known exchange program). I have been through a rigorous application process, which was too boring to blog about. I received the Cargill Scholarship by writing an essay response to some questions. I am suppose to visit a Cargill factory in Hong Kong and send them a post card. Back in Seattle, I was suppose to visit a facility there, but they never contacted me so I didn't have to. Writing a blog is not required for this scholarship, but I want to. I want to update my friends and family and look back on my previous postings years from now.

You may ask, why Hong Kong? I get that question all the time. At first, I didn't know how to answer that question without sounding extremely corny and overly-dramatic, but the real reason why I chose Hong Kong is because my family is Chinese. I am fourth generation American-Chinese (my great grandfather immigrated here). I never really got a taste of real Chinese culture and I never learned the language. I am pretty Americanized so it should be quite the cultural change.

At this moment, I am sitting in my hotel room in Los Angeles(the weather has been surprisingly cloudy and chill in LA). All the AFS kids going to Asia are staying in the Hacienda Hotel just five minutes from LAX. Today, we had our orientation, packed full of information. Most of the stuff they told us we already knew, but I feel it was beneficial to be refreshed on all of the precautions.

There are only three of us going to Hong Kong; Ben, Jose, and me. Ben and Jose seem really nice and easy to get along with. They both seem to have good senses of humor.

I depart tomorrow morning... I am in shock; time went by so fast. I hardly had time to practice Cantonese (I took private lessons and learned the basics, most of which I forgot already). I am hoping that the language will just 'come to me' when I am emerged in the environment.
All of the China and Hong Kong kids have to be prepared and have their bags in the lobby by 4:15AM tomorrow morning. I am not looking forward to waking up that early.

Speaking of waking up early, I should probably get to bed.
I'll update soon(hopefully),
-Jordan Hoy