Sunday, May 25, 2014
Alishan
I met Eva at 5:30 and we headed to Taipei main station to catch our train to Jiayi. We stood for 3.5 hours, and it was pretty miserable. Once it cleared out a bit I was able to sit down on the ground and sleep a little. We got to Jiayi around 10:00 and met our friends Sarah, Austin, and Nathan. We grabbed some food at the nearby market, since Eva and I hadn't eaten. At the hostel, we prepared to sleep for two hours, as we were getting up at 2:00am to go to Alishan and seen the sunrise. We grabbed breakfast at 7-11 and then met some other NTU exchange students who had just arrived, and our private driver, Ming. He drove us to Alishan, about two hours away, driving like a maniac through the pitch black and fog. He was very helpful though, taking us into the park in such a way that we didn't have to pay the entrance fee, and then taking us to the most popular spots. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to properly see the sunrise, but the sea of clouds nestled in the mountains was beautiful.
After a lot of stopping, pictures, and some hostile Formosan Macaques, we ended up at the Forest Railway station. We had lunch/breakfast/whatever at a small shop before deciding to take the train to the cherry blossom area. The blossoms were beautiful, but I'm not Asian, so I don't quite grasp the obsession with them. Austin and I ended up falling asleep on a marble wall while the others walked around some more. So naturally we got very sunburned. Back at the forest station, we still had a lot of time to kill, so we took another train to see some old trees. It required hiking up a lot of -you guessed it- stairs, and since we were all so sleep deprived, we didn't make it very far. Some mainlanders took interest in us and we chatted with them for a little bit on the trail. Back at the station we ate again and waited for Ming to come pick us up. He drove us all the way back to Jiayi, again like a maniac. So much so that Sarah had to tell him to take it easy. Back at the hostel, we cleaned up and went to eat dinner at a dumpling restaurant, followed by some dessert and Sarah obsessing over Kano posters. At the hostel we talked for a little bit, but I was unconscious by 10:00, and stayed that way until about 9:30 the next morning. We hurriedly ate a disappointing "western" breakfast at Shark Bites Toast, before sprinting across town with all our belongings to avoid missing our train. We made it with seconds to spare. Luckily we all had seats for the journey back, so I was able to sleep some more. We arrived in Gongguan at about 3:30.
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Fulong Beach
My next excursion was to Fulong Beach with Eva, Mami, Tim, and Caleb. I was fairly sick, so getting up super early to catch the MRT to Taipei Main station was nearly impossible. We met the guys there and bought our tickets to Fulong, which is a popular coastal area in the north of Taiwan. After a 90 minute train ride we rented our bikes for the day and started along our designated route. We biked through a pretty long tunnel before stopping at a rocky beach and to skip rocks for a while. We stopped here and there, and at one point hiked up a staircase (as is the Taiwanese custom) to a lighthouse, where we took pictures, and had pictures taken of us (white people become more fascinating as you leave the Taipei area). At this point, we had already gone more than half way around our route, so we decided to finish the loop. At the end, we hung out on a (very dirty) public beach, having bamboo battles and writing Chinese characters in the sand. After we returned our bikes, we bought tickets for a train that was leaving at that moment, so we sprinted onto the train right into the middle of a huge group of Taiwanese soldiers, who stared at us and made us question whether we had gotten on the right train or not. We stood the entire ride back, and my fever was starting to spike, so I felt pretty crappy. We finally got off the train and wolfed down some food at a Japanese Ramen restaurant, followed by some Coldstone ice cream before heading home.
Nantou 2-day trip
I signed up for a 2 day trip to Nantou, hosted by the ISIS club. We got up at the crack of dawn to meet the rest of the group at NTU's main gate, and were divided into groups according to where we are from. So Eva and I were put into the North American group with other 'Muricans and Canadians. We boarded the tour bus and our first stop was a farm in Taoyuan, about an hour away. At the farm we made lunch by pit-cooking a whole chicken (head intact), eggs encased in clay, and sweet potatoes. As the meal cooked in the pits, we made Taiwanese Aiyu jelly, which required massaging a bag of seeds into a pot of cold water, and mochi, which took a bit more effort. We had to pound sticky rice with a pestle until it became a uniform glob, which we then cut (with chopsticks) into little pieces and rolled around in peanut and green tea powder. Now that our appetizer was finished, we focused again on dinner. We took apart the clay brick pits that we had made, and washed the clay off of the eggs. The food was actually quite good, but some salt would have been nice.
After the farm, we drove about three hours to the "Paper Church," which was apparently constructed by the Japanese for the Taiwanese after one of their churches was destroyed by an earthquake. I guess they didn't feel like the Taiwanese deserved a real church, made out of practical materials...
This activity was pretty lame, so most everyone just hung out in the nearby cafe area.
Our last stop for the day was the hostel. I shared a tiny platform with three other girls on the thinnest mattress I've ever seen. That evening we barbecued and played drinking games until about 1 am, before finally getting some sleep. The next morning we ate those weird multi-layered sandwiches for breakfast and then took the bus to Sun Moon Lake, which was surprisingly close by. We rented bikes and rode around about a fourth of the lake. The biking was relatively easy, until my gear shifter popped off my bike right before the most difficult hill. I have the best luck. We all gathered back at the bus station and then headed over to a gondola station which we took through the mist shrouded mountains to the Aboriginal Culture Village theme park. The park was very spread out, with its own gondola to get from one end to the other, but the amount of fun to be had was quite limited. There was only about two good rides, and no lines, so the allotted five hours was far more than we needed. We spent a good deal of time in a neighboring garden, waiting to leave.
We then began our 4-ish hour journey back to Taipei. Everyone was exhausted and passed out until we reached the craziest "rest stop" I've ever seen. In the US, a rest stop consists of bathrooms, some information and vending machines, but this one was a multilevel complex with restaurants, a theater, a supermarket and more. We ate dinner in the crowded food court, then got back on the bus and arrived in Taipei around 10 pm.
After the farm, we drove about three hours to the "Paper Church," which was apparently constructed by the Japanese for the Taiwanese after one of their churches was destroyed by an earthquake. I guess they didn't feel like the Taiwanese deserved a real church, made out of practical materials...
This activity was pretty lame, so most everyone just hung out in the nearby cafe area.
Our last stop for the day was the hostel. I shared a tiny platform with three other girls on the thinnest mattress I've ever seen. That evening we barbecued and played drinking games until about 1 am, before finally getting some sleep. The next morning we ate those weird multi-layered sandwiches for breakfast and then took the bus to Sun Moon Lake, which was surprisingly close by. We rented bikes and rode around about a fourth of the lake. The biking was relatively easy, until my gear shifter popped off my bike right before the most difficult hill. I have the best luck. We all gathered back at the bus station and then headed over to a gondola station which we took through the mist shrouded mountains to the Aboriginal Culture Village theme park. The park was very spread out, with its own gondola to get from one end to the other, but the amount of fun to be had was quite limited. There was only about two good rides, and no lines, so the allotted five hours was far more than we needed. We spent a good deal of time in a neighboring garden, waiting to leave.
We then began our 4-ish hour journey back to Taipei. Everyone was exhausted and passed out until we reached the craziest "rest stop" I've ever seen. In the US, a rest stop consists of bathrooms, some information and vending machines, but this one was a multilevel complex with restaurants, a theater, a supermarket and more. We ate dinner in the crowded food court, then got back on the bus and arrived in Taipei around 10 pm.
Wulai and Datong Hike
Ok, so I've slacked off big time in the blogging department. Sorry. Since blogging isn't really my thing, and I'm clearly unable to keep up with it, I've decided to spare you all from my mundane day-to-day activities and instead just post about my trips. That still leaves me with like nine posts to write. Oh goody.
The first excursion I went on since my last post was a hiking trip in Wulai, hosted by the NTU culinary club (strange, no?). We met up with the group at the Xindian MRT station and then took a bus from there. The bus ride was brutal as we had to stand and the driver whipped around sharp curves at unreasonable speeds, but luckily my shoulder wasn't pulled out of socket as I feared it might be.
The first leg of our long trek was up a steep road through what was basically a neighborhood. This part allowed for socialization and we were able to meet a lot of cool people, many of which are in Taiwan for the year teaching English. We finally made it to the trail head, and took some group pictures before submitting to the ensuing torture that is Wulai and Datong mountain. Ok so torture might be too dramatic a term, but I'm not lying when I say there were times I thought I was going to die. Apparently Taiwan doesn't believe in switchbacks or trail maintenance, so the 10 mile hike consisted mostly of steep, slick staircases on the way up, and rocky rope courses on the way down. It was one of the most difficult hikes I've ever done, but the beautiful scenery and the promise of hot springs made it well worth it.
When we finally exited the forest, we made our way back to the town of Wulai, where we walked through the small night market and inhaled some much needed food. The Wulai hot springs are great because they are public, which means FREE. We were the laughing stock of the locals as we squealed in pain from the scalding water, wondering how anyone could endure it. Eventually we became acclimated and relaxed, letting the hot water sooth our sore muscles and mosquito ravaged skin.
After jumping between the hot springs and cold river water until we were light-headed, we got dressed and made our way back to the bus stop, preparing ourselves for another painful ride. Back in Gongguan (that's where I live) we ate some amazing cupcakes and cookies with Tim and Caleb from a shop owned by a Californian, before going home and passing out. Taiwan has some incredible hikes that are definitely worth the exertion, if you don't mind having extremely sore muscles for a few days afterwards.
The first excursion I went on since my last post was a hiking trip in Wulai, hosted by the NTU culinary club (strange, no?). We met up with the group at the Xindian MRT station and then took a bus from there. The bus ride was brutal as we had to stand and the driver whipped around sharp curves at unreasonable speeds, but luckily my shoulder wasn't pulled out of socket as I feared it might be.
The first leg of our long trek was up a steep road through what was basically a neighborhood. This part allowed for socialization and we were able to meet a lot of cool people, many of which are in Taiwan for the year teaching English. We finally made it to the trail head, and took some group pictures before submitting to the ensuing torture that is Wulai and Datong mountain. Ok so torture might be too dramatic a term, but I'm not lying when I say there were times I thought I was going to die. Apparently Taiwan doesn't believe in switchbacks or trail maintenance, so the 10 mile hike consisted mostly of steep, slick staircases on the way up, and rocky rope courses on the way down. It was one of the most difficult hikes I've ever done, but the beautiful scenery and the promise of hot springs made it well worth it.
When we finally exited the forest, we made our way back to the town of Wulai, where we walked through the small night market and inhaled some much needed food. The Wulai hot springs are great because they are public, which means FREE. We were the laughing stock of the locals as we squealed in pain from the scalding water, wondering how anyone could endure it. Eventually we became acclimated and relaxed, letting the hot water sooth our sore muscles and mosquito ravaged skin.
After jumping between the hot springs and cold river water until we were light-headed, we got dressed and made our way back to the bus stop, preparing ourselves for another painful ride. Back in Gongguan (that's where I live) we ate some amazing cupcakes and cookies with Tim and Caleb from a shop owned by a Californian, before going home and passing out. Taiwan has some incredible hikes that are definitely worth the exertion, if you don't mind having extremely sore muscles for a few days afterwards.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Catching Up
Ok, so I know it's been a crazy long time since I last posted on here, and I apologize, but I can hardly even find the time to watch a single episode of House of Cards (priorities, right?) let alone write a blog. So this one's going to be reallll long.
My first class, Market and Economic Development of Taiwan was on Tuesday, February 18, and it's already so boring that I, along with the rest of the class, struggle to stay conscious. The professor is from Ohio and speaks English (obviously), which is great for me, but I feel sorry for the students whose first language is not English. He speaks very fast. After class, Austin wanted food, so we got waffles at the on-campus shop. I got banana and chocolate, nom. For dinner that night, Mami and I went to the super good and super cheap 餃子(dumplings) place with a large group of exchange students. Afterwards, I decided to stick with the group and go with them to a jazz bar. It was kind of lame in my opinion, but worth the experience, I guess.
The next day, the four of us made sure to get to class (Exploring Taiwan: Topics on Culture and Society) extremely early, since we were auditing and knew that there would be a lot of competition to get enrolled. The room was packed; people lining the walls, sitting on the steps, even awkwardly standing behind the projector screen. We got there early enough to get seats in the front, but it didn't matter because they chose who would get in by lottery, and I never win anything (except an NTU hoodie, woot woot!), so I didn't get into the class. I hear it's pretty awful though, so maybe that was a good thing. On the way back from class, I bought another mattress from 7-11, because they are so pathetically thin and my hips were starting to hurt. I thought I was being smart by buying it from 7-11 instead of the dorm lobby, since it was cheaper, but when I got back to my room I realized it was slightly smaller than the first mattress. Oops. Oh well, it was still a great purchase. I do still miss my memory foam, though...
That night, Mami really wanted to go to club Myst (near 101) with a lot of other exchangers, so Eva and I said what the hell and joined her. I'd never been to a club before, so I figured what better time to try it out than when in Taiwan? The club was pretty amazing- almost exactly the kind of thing you'd see in a movie or something. A huge dance floor packed with sweaty bodies dancing to painfully loud music, bouncers, and even pole dancers. Also, it was ladies' night, so we got free drinks until midnight. The night was a lot of fun (except for the brief part where someone slammed into me on the dance floor and popped my knee out), and I'm glad I decided to give it a try. We got back at around 2:30am, and I slept like a baby, even with a melty ice pack on my knee.
On Thursday, Eva and I got lunch at a pretty sketchy looking place up the road, but we were starving so we ate the bland food happily anyway. We got Bubble tea (we're all addicted) and shopped around a stationary store before heading to our class (Exploring Taiwan: Natural Resources and Environment). The class was interesting, but it went a little over on time, so we were late to our next class (History of Free Will), which is really far away. I hate philosophy and the class is taught by a really boring German man who doesn't seem to have the course planned out, so I know that I will dread it every weak. When it finally ended, Eva and I scarfed down our 7-11 "dinners" and met Mami at the dorm to head back to campus (my poor knee) for the club expo. There weren't very many clubs there, so it was a little disappointing. However, we did find out about a 2 day trip to Nantou, which is in the center of the island, and we all decided to sign up. It is next weekend. Afterwards, we went to the dumpling place and ate until it hurt, before returning to the dorm. Mami and Eva went to play ping pong, but I was tired and my knee was still in a lot of pain, so I went up to my room and iced it while I watched House of Cards. Season 2 is fantastic, by the way.
Friday, we had to take the MRT to the other campus for our Cross Taiwan Strait Relations class. The class seems interesting but the professor is a hard ass and made everyone stand up and introduce themselves and tell him how much background they had in International Relations theory. Luckily I'm an International Politics major, and that seemed good enough for him. When we returned to Gongguan, Mami and I got a baozi snack before heading to another class. Mami was enrolled, but I wasn't, and decided to audit. It was Economic Development, something I've studied a couple times before, so I decided not to take it. Also, the professor said that Coach K was his hero, and I couldn't let that slide. That night, Mami and I took the MRT to the Shilin night market, and met Eva and a couple new friends there. I had a popular "snack", a huge slab of fried chicken. It's no Bojangles, but still delicious. When we got back to the dorm, we decided to watch Crazy Stupid Love in Mami's room, but everyone except me fell asleep, so I pretty much watched it on my own. Weaklings.
I slept until about noon on Saturday and had to rush to get ready since I was meeting a group of friends at 12:30 to get lunch and then go to the zoo. We ate at the dumpling place (I think we might have a problem) and then decided that we hadn't allotted enough time to do the zoo that day. We instead decided to go for a hike up Elephant Mountain. The trail was more of a never-ending staircase, but it was a fun work out with some amazing views. Desperate for a snack, we walked to Taipei 101, hoping to go up to the Starbucks and enjoy the view from within, but it had closed for the day, so we ate in the food court instead. I got ice cream because that is kind of a tradition with me and my Dad after we hike/backpack, and it just felt wrong to get anything else. Finally, we went to our Karaoke appointment, and butchered every Avril Lavigne and Coldplay song that they had, but it was fun.
Sunday was a lazy day without much excitement, excluding me dying my clothes blue in the laundry, but I was more than okay with such a day because I was exhausted from all the activities of the week. I cleaned my room and watched House of Cards until it was time to FaceTime with my parents. I made my mom a Facebook so that she can see my Taiwan pictures. I hope you're not creeping too hard, Mom! I also found out my Chinese placement that morning- Intermediate level 1. It was a higher placement than I expected, since everyone else who has taken through 203 got placed into Beginner level 3 or so.
On Monday, we got pizzas at a small outdoor place called SoFree Pizza. They were good, but small and meatless. I was still kind of hungry, so luckily we went to a well-known shaved-ice shop nearby. I got a chocolate and banana one, which was tasty but looked like poopy water once it started to melt. We then returned to the dorm and did some horribly boring readings for our Market class. We had Chinese class at 6:30, so we got an early dinner at a steak restaurant, but the meat looked very questionable to me, and I was still pretty full from lunch, so I just stuck with some bubble tea. We then headed to class. Everyone seems really surprised that I placed into such a high level, which seems a little insulting at times, but honestly, I'm pretty surprised too. I guess my studying over winter break paid off. The class is super tough, I can hardly understand what's going on most of the time, but I'm going to stick it out because I think that it will be really beneficial. The vocab and grammar isn't bad at all; I've learned the majority of the first chapter back at UNC already, but the speaking and listening is where I need to improve. After three stressful hours, the class ended and we went to buy our textbooks.
Tuesday started out with Eva and I going shorts shopping. Most of the shops were still closed, even though it was about 11:00, but she still managed to find a couple pairs before we met up with Elaine, Mami and Austin for lunch at the outdoor commissary. I tried a chicken burger that Austin claimed was "life-changing." It was quite delicious, but not as filling as I'd hoped, so I got a peach and whipped cream waffle to eat on the way to class. After being lectured about tea for two hours, we returned to the dorm to study. I went to the gym and ran for half an hour instead. Later, we met up again and accompanied Mami to her cheer practice to offer our support. However, we were starving, so we didn't stay long. We went to a restaurant that serves Italian food, and it was actually pretty good. I got some of 7-11's killer soft serve ice cream on the way back and then studied Chinese until about 1:00am. So difficult.
Wednesday consisted of lunch at a Japanese place, more Chinese studying, some House of Cards, dinner at the Gua bao place, a Chinese quiz and another stressful three hours, bubble tea as a reward, more studying, and reading for Free Will. (Can you tell I'm realizing how ridiculously long this post is?)
Thursday we got lunch at a big indoor food court type thing and then walked to the Language department so that Elaine could try to switch into an easier Chinese class. They wouldn't let her. We returned to the dorm to hang out before going to class, and I enjoyed all the Facebook posts about UNC beating NCSU (Go Heels!). In class we learned about tea culture, and tried about 4 different types before we had to leave to make it to Free Will. That class was miserable again, but as long as I get a C, I'm good. When the torture finally ended, we met up with Elaine to get dinner and try to find some gloves for the next day's hike, which apparently would have some intense rope sections.
The hike on Friday was the hardest I've ever done, and I've made some pretty intense climbs before. The Taiwanese apparently don't believe in switchbacks or trail maintenance, so it was pretty much ten miles straight up and down two mountains: Datong and Wulai. It was beautiful, but a lot of hard work. Despite the extreme soreness that we felt for the next couple of days, I'm really glad I decided to go. I'm not a city girl, so getting away from all the bustle and noise and into nature was really refreshing. When we finally made it out, we walked through the night market in Wulai and got some snacks before going to the nearby hot springs. Hot is an understatement, and at one point I accidentally stepped in the hottest pool there and nearly boiled my skin off. The locals laughed at us as we squealed and complained, but eventually we got used to the pain and had a good time switching from the hot springs to the cold river. It helped a lot with our muscle soreness. Eventually we headed back through the town to the bus stop, getting some more snacks on the way. The bus ride, just as in the morning, was a miserably uncomfortable twenty-minute ordeal, being thrown around into strangers and nearly dislocating our arms. When we got back to the Xindian MRT station, we decided to get some dessert with some really cool guys that we had met on the hike. I got two cupcakes and a cookie for $120, and I will admit without shame that I ate all three that night. I also bought some real toilet paper that I found in a supermarket nearby. Good day.
The next day I forced myself out of bed and met Eva to head to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, which I had been wanting to go to for a while. I don't think my body had ever hurt so much, so the walking and stairs were pretty difficult, but we survived. We met our friend Jennifer there, and I took a bunch of pictures, and we even got to see the changing of the guards, which was very long and elaborate. There were also some really beautiful gardens along the outside of the plaza. Afterwards, we took the MRT down a few stations and went to a carrefour to get some supplies. I finally got some clothes hangers, and bought some Coke and Doritos because I had a moment of American weakness. We then went to Taipei Main Station via bus and got a hot pot dinner in the underground mall. It was then time to say goodbye to Jen and head back to the dorm. I got a lot of weird looks from people, probably because the saw my purchases and thought I was reinforcing the image of unhealthy American, but screw it. They've probably not tasted the incredible deliciousness that is Doritos.
Sunday, I got lunch (at a disappointing Greek joint) and went to the library with Eva and Elaine and studied Chinese for a few hours. The library closes as 5:00 on Sunday, which is...unusual. We studied some more in our rooms until about 6:00, when Eva and I met up to play pool. Jennifer and Mami joined us shortly after, and we paid for our Nantou trip before getting Guabao and....you guessed it, dumplings. Back at the dorm I studied more Chinese and had my weekly FaceTime session with my parents.
And finally, we're almost up to date. Yesterday (Monday), I slept in really late and was finally soreness free. Everyone was following different schedules so I ran down to 7-11 and bought some fruit for lunch. Then for the rest of the day I did laundry (successfully, this time), cleaned my room and studied Chinese. I met up with Elaine for dinner, and then headed to Chinese class. This time it wasn't so bad because we mainly did partner work and only had to present one thing in front of the class. That doesn't mean that my mood doesn't greatly improve the second the class ends though.
And that's pretty much it. If you've stuck it out and read this entire thing, go find something better to do. Seriously.
My first class, Market and Economic Development of Taiwan was on Tuesday, February 18, and it's already so boring that I, along with the rest of the class, struggle to stay conscious. The professor is from Ohio and speaks English (obviously), which is great for me, but I feel sorry for the students whose first language is not English. He speaks very fast. After class, Austin wanted food, so we got waffles at the on-campus shop. I got banana and chocolate, nom. For dinner that night, Mami and I went to the super good and super cheap 餃子(dumplings) place with a large group of exchange students. Afterwards, I decided to stick with the group and go with them to a jazz bar. It was kind of lame in my opinion, but worth the experience, I guess.
The next day, the four of us made sure to get to class (Exploring Taiwan: Topics on Culture and Society) extremely early, since we were auditing and knew that there would be a lot of competition to get enrolled. The room was packed; people lining the walls, sitting on the steps, even awkwardly standing behind the projector screen. We got there early enough to get seats in the front, but it didn't matter because they chose who would get in by lottery, and I never win anything (except an NTU hoodie, woot woot!), so I didn't get into the class. I hear it's pretty awful though, so maybe that was a good thing. On the way back from class, I bought another mattress from 7-11, because they are so pathetically thin and my hips were starting to hurt. I thought I was being smart by buying it from 7-11 instead of the dorm lobby, since it was cheaper, but when I got back to my room I realized it was slightly smaller than the first mattress. Oops. Oh well, it was still a great purchase. I do still miss my memory foam, though...
That night, Mami really wanted to go to club Myst (near 101) with a lot of other exchangers, so Eva and I said what the hell and joined her. I'd never been to a club before, so I figured what better time to try it out than when in Taiwan? The club was pretty amazing- almost exactly the kind of thing you'd see in a movie or something. A huge dance floor packed with sweaty bodies dancing to painfully loud music, bouncers, and even pole dancers. Also, it was ladies' night, so we got free drinks until midnight. The night was a lot of fun (except for the brief part where someone slammed into me on the dance floor and popped my knee out), and I'm glad I decided to give it a try. We got back at around 2:30am, and I slept like a baby, even with a melty ice pack on my knee.
On Thursday, Eva and I got lunch at a pretty sketchy looking place up the road, but we were starving so we ate the bland food happily anyway. We got Bubble tea (we're all addicted) and shopped around a stationary store before heading to our class (Exploring Taiwan: Natural Resources and Environment). The class was interesting, but it went a little over on time, so we were late to our next class (History of Free Will), which is really far away. I hate philosophy and the class is taught by a really boring German man who doesn't seem to have the course planned out, so I know that I will dread it every weak. When it finally ended, Eva and I scarfed down our 7-11 "dinners" and met Mami at the dorm to head back to campus (my poor knee) for the club expo. There weren't very many clubs there, so it was a little disappointing. However, we did find out about a 2 day trip to Nantou, which is in the center of the island, and we all decided to sign up. It is next weekend. Afterwards, we went to the dumpling place and ate until it hurt, before returning to the dorm. Mami and Eva went to play ping pong, but I was tired and my knee was still in a lot of pain, so I went up to my room and iced it while I watched House of Cards. Season 2 is fantastic, by the way.
Friday, we had to take the MRT to the other campus for our Cross Taiwan Strait Relations class. The class seems interesting but the professor is a hard ass and made everyone stand up and introduce themselves and tell him how much background they had in International Relations theory. Luckily I'm an International Politics major, and that seemed good enough for him. When we returned to Gongguan, Mami and I got a baozi snack before heading to another class. Mami was enrolled, but I wasn't, and decided to audit. It was Economic Development, something I've studied a couple times before, so I decided not to take it. Also, the professor said that Coach K was his hero, and I couldn't let that slide. That night, Mami and I took the MRT to the Shilin night market, and met Eva and a couple new friends there. I had a popular "snack", a huge slab of fried chicken. It's no Bojangles, but still delicious. When we got back to the dorm, we decided to watch Crazy Stupid Love in Mami's room, but everyone except me fell asleep, so I pretty much watched it on my own. Weaklings.
I slept until about noon on Saturday and had to rush to get ready since I was meeting a group of friends at 12:30 to get lunch and then go to the zoo. We ate at the dumpling place (I think we might have a problem) and then decided that we hadn't allotted enough time to do the zoo that day. We instead decided to go for a hike up Elephant Mountain. The trail was more of a never-ending staircase, but it was a fun work out with some amazing views. Desperate for a snack, we walked to Taipei 101, hoping to go up to the Starbucks and enjoy the view from within, but it had closed for the day, so we ate in the food court instead. I got ice cream because that is kind of a tradition with me and my Dad after we hike/backpack, and it just felt wrong to get anything else. Finally, we went to our Karaoke appointment, and butchered every Avril Lavigne and Coldplay song that they had, but it was fun.
Sunday was a lazy day without much excitement, excluding me dying my clothes blue in the laundry, but I was more than okay with such a day because I was exhausted from all the activities of the week. I cleaned my room and watched House of Cards until it was time to FaceTime with my parents. I made my mom a Facebook so that she can see my Taiwan pictures. I hope you're not creeping too hard, Mom! I also found out my Chinese placement that morning- Intermediate level 1. It was a higher placement than I expected, since everyone else who has taken through 203 got placed into Beginner level 3 or so.
On Monday, we got pizzas at a small outdoor place called SoFree Pizza. They were good, but small and meatless. I was still kind of hungry, so luckily we went to a well-known shaved-ice shop nearby. I got a chocolate and banana one, which was tasty but looked like poopy water once it started to melt. We then returned to the dorm and did some horribly boring readings for our Market class. We had Chinese class at 6:30, so we got an early dinner at a steak restaurant, but the meat looked very questionable to me, and I was still pretty full from lunch, so I just stuck with some bubble tea. We then headed to class. Everyone seems really surprised that I placed into such a high level, which seems a little insulting at times, but honestly, I'm pretty surprised too. I guess my studying over winter break paid off. The class is super tough, I can hardly understand what's going on most of the time, but I'm going to stick it out because I think that it will be really beneficial. The vocab and grammar isn't bad at all; I've learned the majority of the first chapter back at UNC already, but the speaking and listening is where I need to improve. After three stressful hours, the class ended and we went to buy our textbooks.
Tuesday started out with Eva and I going shorts shopping. Most of the shops were still closed, even though it was about 11:00, but she still managed to find a couple pairs before we met up with Elaine, Mami and Austin for lunch at the outdoor commissary. I tried a chicken burger that Austin claimed was "life-changing." It was quite delicious, but not as filling as I'd hoped, so I got a peach and whipped cream waffle to eat on the way to class. After being lectured about tea for two hours, we returned to the dorm to study. I went to the gym and ran for half an hour instead. Later, we met up again and accompanied Mami to her cheer practice to offer our support. However, we were starving, so we didn't stay long. We went to a restaurant that serves Italian food, and it was actually pretty good. I got some of 7-11's killer soft serve ice cream on the way back and then studied Chinese until about 1:00am. So difficult.
Wednesday consisted of lunch at a Japanese place, more Chinese studying, some House of Cards, dinner at the Gua bao place, a Chinese quiz and another stressful three hours, bubble tea as a reward, more studying, and reading for Free Will. (Can you tell I'm realizing how ridiculously long this post is?)
The hike on Friday was the hardest I've ever done, and I've made some pretty intense climbs before. The Taiwanese apparently don't believe in switchbacks or trail maintenance, so it was pretty much ten miles straight up and down two mountains: Datong and Wulai. It was beautiful, but a lot of hard work. Despite the extreme soreness that we felt for the next couple of days, I'm really glad I decided to go. I'm not a city girl, so getting away from all the bustle and noise and into nature was really refreshing. When we finally made it out, we walked through the night market in Wulai and got some snacks before going to the nearby hot springs. Hot is an understatement, and at one point I accidentally stepped in the hottest pool there and nearly boiled my skin off. The locals laughed at us as we squealed and complained, but eventually we got used to the pain and had a good time switching from the hot springs to the cold river. It helped a lot with our muscle soreness. Eventually we headed back through the town to the bus stop, getting some more snacks on the way. The bus ride, just as in the morning, was a miserably uncomfortable twenty-minute ordeal, being thrown around into strangers and nearly dislocating our arms. When we got back to the Xindian MRT station, we decided to get some dessert with some really cool guys that we had met on the hike. I got two cupcakes and a cookie for $120, and I will admit without shame that I ate all three that night. I also bought some real toilet paper that I found in a supermarket nearby. Good day.
The next day I forced myself out of bed and met Eva to head to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, which I had been wanting to go to for a while. I don't think my body had ever hurt so much, so the walking and stairs were pretty difficult, but we survived. We met our friend Jennifer there, and I took a bunch of pictures, and we even got to see the changing of the guards, which was very long and elaborate. There were also some really beautiful gardens along the outside of the plaza. Afterwards, we took the MRT down a few stations and went to a carrefour to get some supplies. I finally got some clothes hangers, and bought some Coke and Doritos because I had a moment of American weakness. We then went to Taipei Main Station via bus and got a hot pot dinner in the underground mall. It was then time to say goodbye to Jen and head back to the dorm. I got a lot of weird looks from people, probably because the saw my purchases and thought I was reinforcing the image of unhealthy American, but screw it. They've probably not tasted the incredible deliciousness that is Doritos.
Sunday, I got lunch (at a disappointing Greek joint) and went to the library with Eva and Elaine and studied Chinese for a few hours. The library closes as 5:00 on Sunday, which is...unusual. We studied some more in our rooms until about 6:00, when Eva and I met up to play pool. Jennifer and Mami joined us shortly after, and we paid for our Nantou trip before getting Guabao and....you guessed it, dumplings. Back at the dorm I studied more Chinese and had my weekly FaceTime session with my parents.
And finally, we're almost up to date. Yesterday (Monday), I slept in really late and was finally soreness free. Everyone was following different schedules so I ran down to 7-11 and bought some fruit for lunch. Then for the rest of the day I did laundry (successfully, this time), cleaned my room and studied Chinese. I met up with Elaine for dinner, and then headed to Chinese class. This time it wasn't so bad because we mainly did partner work and only had to present one thing in front of the class. That doesn't mean that my mood doesn't greatly improve the second the class ends though.
And that's pretty much it. If you've stuck it out and read this entire thing, go find something better to do. Seriously.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)