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.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Getting in the Groove
A lot has happened in the last 5 or so days, and it feels like I've been here much longer than I really have. I guess I'm already starting to get used to life in Taipei! My mom said that I needed to post a more upbeat entry than my last one, so here's an overview of these past few days:
On Thursday, my friends Eva, Elaine, Mami, Austin and I headed over to the campus to register for the semester and receive our student ID cards. The line was really long, so we ended up going to get lunch and beat the crowd when the office opened back up.
Registration did not take long, but was kind of frustrating for me because I got scolded for not having a photo on my health form (apparently they need about 5 passport photos to be satisfied) and not having a local phone number. Once we were all finished, we walked around the streets for a while doing some window shopping. When our feet were too sore to continue, we returned to the dorm to rest a while, but met back up for dinner. On my way to the lobby I met Xuan, an exchange student from Singapore, and invited her to dinner. The fact that she reads Mandarin was a big help when ordering dinner, which we got at a "bao" shop in a small local street market.
Yu, an exchanger from the 13th floor, was also at the restaurant and ended up joining us for the rest of the evening. After dinner we explored some more, ordered some bubble tea and checked out a really cool underground book shop.
Friday we went to lunch with a large group of other exchange students (mostly Europeans) at a really nice Dim Sum restaurant called Din Tai Fung. Apparently Tom Cruise has visited it. The food was amazing and plentiful, and the group very lively (cheering loudly everytime the waitress poured our tea), so it was a lot of fun. It was quite expensive, $450 each, but I feel that it was definitely worth it. After lunch, most of the exchangers took the MRT to Pingxi for the lantern festival, which I really wanted to go to, but it was pretty far away and there was a possibility that we might not get back until extremely late, and with the Chinese placement test the next morning, Mami and I decided to go to a closer lantern fair in Yuanshan instead. It was a huge display of handmade lanterns at the Taipei Expo park, and they looked really beautiful once the sun set and the lanterns were lit. We explored the surrounding streets as well, but there wasn't much to be found, so we returned to the dorm around 7 pm.
On Saturday, Eva, Elaine, Mami and I all got up pretty early to go register for the Chinese placement test. The first written part was pretty difficult, focusing on grammar and writing, and I missed ten (they graded them right in front of you), whereas eleven got you sent on directly to the oral part of the test. So since I missed ten I had to take a second test, which was a thousand times more difficult than the first. I probably only recognized about 15% of the characters. The oral part didn't go too great, as I had no idea what to expect. The instructor just asked my name and about where I was from, and then had me read a paragraph from a textbook. I had to skip a lot of the traditional characters because I couldn't recognize them. Luckily my placement here doesn't matter very much though, because I will have to take a placement test when I return to UNC anyways. After we had all finished the test, we met up and got lunch together at some random restaurant nearby. After that we window shopped, as is the norm, and then returned to the dorm as Elaine had to leave and Mami and Eva wanted to go for a run. I am not nearly motivated enough for that, so I hung out in my room until they came back. Mami went out, so Eva and I got on the MRT and headed to Shilin night market, meeting Elaine on the way. The night market was incredibly crowded but incredibly interesting. There was so much food and merchandise that it was hard to take it all in, but somehow we seemed to visit every shop anyway (*cough* Elaine *cough*). We walked around for hours, and I bought some nice souvenirs to bring back home (even though that's in the distant future), as well as some tasty snacks. Unfortunately we shopped just a little too long and missed the subway back, and had to take a cab.
Sunday was a very lazy day as I slept until about noon after staying out at Shilin pretty late the night before. I got up and and then had a chance to FaceTime with my friends Sarah and Amanda back at UNC for about an hour, before they went to bed (the time difference is hard to wrap your head around). When we hung up it was about 2:00, so I just ran down to the 7-11 to grab some lunch as I was starving. It was a pretty pathetic lunch, but I didn't know where my friends were or what they were up to, and desperately needed to do laundry, so it was a quick and easy fix. I stayed around the dorm most of the day, cleaning and doing laundry, until about 8:00, when I went to meet Mami and her childhood friend at the MRT station. We went to Ximending, where there is another (smaller and less crowded) night market. I scarfed down dinner, and when Mami and Shou finished (at a normal pace) we walked down the street a bit and eventually ended up in a dessert shop where they serve 雪花冰 (snow flower ice, pretty much), which is frozen condensed milk with toppings. We ordered two, but I mostly ate the mango one, as the other was more traditional, with beans and yams on it, which was a little strange for me.
This shop also allows people to write all over everything, so of course Mami and I added our mark so that a part of us would stay in Taiwan forever.
When we got back to campus, I met up with Elaine and Eva to play some pool, but the rec room was closed, so we tried to figure out our course registration instead. Registration at NTU is so complicated and stressful that it makes UNC's look like a piece of cake.
Today was the official first day of classes, but I don't have any scheduled until Thursday. I will however be sitting in on some in the coming days to try to see if I can add them. After I got up this morning I FaceTimed with my parents for the first time since I've been here, since they left on a cruise the day that I arrived. I ask my parents for their advise very often, so it was stressful not having them available to bombard with questions all the time, but it was good for me as I was forced to figure things out on my own and make financial decisions, etc. I was very happy to see them nonetheless. I met my friends at 12:30, and we walked to campus to get lunch at the outdoor cafeteria. I had 飯糰 (rice ball) and 鍋貼 (fried dumplings). It wasn't great, but it's cheap and there are a lot of options.
We also got waffles from the campus waffle shop (why the heck we don't have these in the US, I don't know). After eating we just made our way through campus trying to figure out where things are.
We also checked out the sports center, which is pretty impressive. Later, Mami, Eva and I took the MRT to the Social Science campus, which is quite far from the main campus, and very inconvenient as I have a class twenty minutes after that one on the main campus, and there is no way that I can make it back in time. This area of Taipei seemed less crowded and was very pretty, with old historic looking buildings and a lot of trees lining the streets. We got back to the dorm in time for the new student welcome party, where we did an ice-breaking activity, ate dinner, wrote calligraphy, made dumplings, and met lots of new people.
On Thursday, my friends Eva, Elaine, Mami, Austin and I headed over to the campus to register for the semester and receive our student ID cards. The line was really long, so we ended up going to get lunch and beat the crowd when the office opened back up.
Friday we went to lunch with a large group of other exchange students (mostly Europeans) at a really nice Dim Sum restaurant called Din Tai Fung. Apparently Tom Cruise has visited it. The food was amazing and plentiful, and the group very lively (cheering loudly everytime the waitress poured our tea), so it was a lot of fun. It was quite expensive, $450 each, but I feel that it was definitely worth it. After lunch, most of the exchangers took the MRT to Pingxi for the lantern festival, which I really wanted to go to, but it was pretty far away and there was a possibility that we might not get back until extremely late, and with the Chinese placement test the next morning, Mami and I decided to go to a closer lantern fair in Yuanshan instead. It was a huge display of handmade lanterns at the Taipei Expo park, and they looked really beautiful once the sun set and the lanterns were lit. We explored the surrounding streets as well, but there wasn't much to be found, so we returned to the dorm around 7 pm.
On Saturday, Eva, Elaine, Mami and I all got up pretty early to go register for the Chinese placement test. The first written part was pretty difficult, focusing on grammar and writing, and I missed ten (they graded them right in front of you), whereas eleven got you sent on directly to the oral part of the test. So since I missed ten I had to take a second test, which was a thousand times more difficult than the first. I probably only recognized about 15% of the characters. The oral part didn't go too great, as I had no idea what to expect. The instructor just asked my name and about where I was from, and then had me read a paragraph from a textbook. I had to skip a lot of the traditional characters because I couldn't recognize them. Luckily my placement here doesn't matter very much though, because I will have to take a placement test when I return to UNC anyways. After we had all finished the test, we met up and got lunch together at some random restaurant nearby. After that we window shopped, as is the norm, and then returned to the dorm as Elaine had to leave and Mami and Eva wanted to go for a run. I am not nearly motivated enough for that, so I hung out in my room until they came back. Mami went out, so Eva and I got on the MRT and headed to Shilin night market, meeting Elaine on the way. The night market was incredibly crowded but incredibly interesting. There was so much food and merchandise that it was hard to take it all in, but somehow we seemed to visit every shop anyway (*cough* Elaine *cough*). We walked around for hours, and I bought some nice souvenirs to bring back home (even though that's in the distant future), as well as some tasty snacks. Unfortunately we shopped just a little too long and missed the subway back, and had to take a cab.
Sunday was a very lazy day as I slept until about noon after staying out at Shilin pretty late the night before. I got up and and then had a chance to FaceTime with my friends Sarah and Amanda back at UNC for about an hour, before they went to bed (the time difference is hard to wrap your head around). When we hung up it was about 2:00, so I just ran down to the 7-11 to grab some lunch as I was starving. It was a pretty pathetic lunch, but I didn't know where my friends were or what they were up to, and desperately needed to do laundry, so it was a quick and easy fix. I stayed around the dorm most of the day, cleaning and doing laundry, until about 8:00, when I went to meet Mami and her childhood friend at the MRT station. We went to Ximending, where there is another (smaller and less crowded) night market. I scarfed down dinner, and when Mami and Shou finished (at a normal pace) we walked down the street a bit and eventually ended up in a dessert shop where they serve 雪花冰 (snow flower ice, pretty much), which is frozen condensed milk with toppings. We ordered two, but I mostly ate the mango one, as the other was more traditional, with beans and yams on it, which was a little strange for me.
Today was the official first day of classes, but I don't have any scheduled until Thursday. I will however be sitting in on some in the coming days to try to see if I can add them. After I got up this morning I FaceTimed with my parents for the first time since I've been here, since they left on a cruise the day that I arrived. I ask my parents for their advise very often, so it was stressful not having them available to bombard with questions all the time, but it was good for me as I was forced to figure things out on my own and make financial decisions, etc. I was very happy to see them nonetheless. I met my friends at 12:30, and we walked to campus to get lunch at the outdoor cafeteria. I had 飯糰 (rice ball) and 鍋貼 (fried dumplings). It wasn't great, but it's cheap and there are a lot of options.
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