As Airport Xpress and Cloud 9 shuttles pass by on the road next to my window, I am cruelly reminded how much longer I have to hold on until my trip to San Diego International this Friday night. Hours melt into minutes, and those, into fleeting seconds that sadly but surely count down the time toward my tests.

It’s hard to believe that last year, during this time, I spent the holidays halfway around the world in Hong Kong. Everything was a walk away from the hotel - shopping, eating and every kind of entertainment. Streets were always bustling: morning rush to work, afternoon scuffle for quick lunch and the evening traffic jam when everyone would return home; always crowded: street vendors hawking wares while keeping one eye out for police raids, hungry businesspeople waiting for take-out orders on the way home from work, old ladies in orange rubber gloves pushing trash carts that occupied half the sidewalk; always interesting: looking down there was a mix of expensive leather shoes of men with loud, colorful sneakers of teenage boys, looking up you’d see the many Agnes B. and Gucci monogram purses of office ladies and inhale cigarette smoke swirled with wafting aroma of the nearest fried food stand and looking behind was the sea of Hong Kong people, yakking away on their Hello Kitty-charmed cell phones or shuffling to take out Octopus cards for the last step of their commute.

It’ll be hard not to miss the effiency of the MTR while I drive the long 20 minutes to Sanata Row for a get with my cousin to watch English Premier League soccer. It’ll be hard to beat last Christmas Eve spent in Macau, casino-hopping and enjoying authentic Portugese cuisine. Watching the ball drop in Times Square on TV (even in HD) can’t really compare to the Tsim Tsa Tsui waterfont fireworks display at the stroke of midnight during New Year’s. I’ll always remember looking longingly at the partygoers in Lan Kwai Fong, contemplating deserting my family for some liquored fun but without any companion to do it with.

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