Leaving a new world

By Maximilian Christman

Hard to believe this trip is already over; it was as short as it was jam-packed with activities and hard work. I can now say that I’ve visited four continents, and I hope that the rest will follow soon (including Antarctica). Hong Kong is the perfect model of a metropolis. The city copes incredibly well with very difficult spatial and geographic constraints and has set a high standard for urban design.

The final grind

In terms of classes, this week was a lot different than the last. Field trips and lectures were mostly replaced by group work time to be devoted to our final poster and policy presentation. We spent numerous hours every day this week refining our ideas, phrasing policy statements, absorbing feedback from Dr. Melnick and Robert Gibson (one of the CityU faculty working with our class) and deciding on poster layouts.

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Everything new, everything good

By Maximilian Christman

Wow, the days have really blown by here in Hong Kong. I feel like I just started this trip yesterday, but I’m already at the halfway point. With five straight days of intense classes, this laid back weekend has been much appreciated.

The daily routine

While every day has been different here in Hong Kong, there are some commonalities to each day of the previous week. We start in a classroom at 9:00 a.m. with a few PowerPoint lectures from various people. My personal favorite was one last week when we heard about the history of Hong Kong from Mr. Jason Wordie.

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What a journey, what a destination

By Maximilian Christman

Seventy-two hours: that’s how long I went without sleeping on a bed during my travels from Tempe to City University of Hong Kong (CityU). Those 72 hours doesn’t even include the 15 hour time change, so during that period I slept on planes, grass and benches before settling into my cozy, yet very firm bed here in Alumni Civility Hall at CityU.

To review my itinerary, I started from Phoenix and flew to San Francisco. From the Bay Area, I took an 11-hour ride on a Boeing 747 to Tokyo. Surprisingly, the landscape of Tokyo as viewed from the plane was very green and hardly developed. I know that Tokyo is one of the densest cities in the world, so the airport was clearly on the outskirts. My final flight was on a newer 767 operated by ANA Airlines, “The Inspiration of Japan.” Not surprisingly, they offer better amenities and customer service than any of the airlines in the U.S. I got into Hong Kong International Airport at 10 p.m. local time, and my two-week stay had officially begun.

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Getting serious about getting ready

By Maximilian Christman

Now that school and graduation are finished, I’ve had three solid weeks of nothing but free time. I knew that this period was coming, and I promised myself that I wouldn’t get bored. I would work out, watch movies and hang out with friends, but I would not get bored. I think I’ve kept up that promise fairly well, but there’ve been moments where I really wanted something substantive to do. So I think this trip is coming at the exact right time. I’ve been appreciating all of the recent communications from our TA on this voyage to Hong Kong, and I really can’t wait to get started.

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A Little About Me

By Maximilian Christman

I’m a senior, and this study abroad trip to Hong Kong is my last class at Arizona State University (ASU). I already participated in all of my graduation ceremonies and have fulfilled all my requirements and desired elective classes. So one might ask why I’m taking this class at all.

Well, first of all, I love to travel. I love to explore new places. I pride myself on my ability to adjust to new situations. Take, for instance, my decision to attend ASU despite being accepted to University of Wisconsin, which is 10 miles from my parent’s house. I wanted to know and explore a new place, so I made the state of Arizona my new home.

This trip is a rare opportunity to study sustainability in a completely new setting. Sustainability, more so than any other discipline, requires hands-on learning. Sustainability discourages cookie-cutter solutions, and as an aspiring sustainability professional, it is my duty to learn about new environments and how to adapt solutions to a unique situation.

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