Well everyone, very interesting start to the trip. Got off the plane in Taipei and had my friend pick me up and we took an hour bus ride into Taipei, but because of miscommunication with the university here, we walked around Taipei with all my luggage for close to 3 hours. Finally we found the dorm, than I walk in and found out that I needed to bring bedding, so I slept on a board with no blankets or pillows, it sucked. On the other hand, I have met all my roommates. I live with Filip who is from Czech Republic, Alex who is from Sweden, and Tuukka (Dookuh) who is from Finland. Awesome guys so far. Walked in the door to the dorm and Filip was here and he asked if I wanted to go to a concert, so within 5 minutes of being in the dorm I was already heading out to see the city. Might as well start the trip off right! Concert was fun, took a cab back to the school and zonked out for the night, though I was not comfortable and freezing my nuts off. Than today I woke up at some weird times and finally got up at about 10:30 and I walked around the campus a little bit, kind of a weird campus but interesting. It's been raining ever since I showed up so I haven't been able to see the campus in the sun, which I think it will look beautiful once I do. Palm trees everywhere and lots of greenery, it looks pretty cool. Than I got lunch with Filip and Tuukka and his girlfriend Emilia who is also from Finland. We ate and than Duukka, Emilia, and I went out to Ximen district and got all our bedding and everything, we had a blast walking through Ximen. Ximen is kind of a younger crowd so it was a fun atmosphere. We went out to a sushi place, which I couldn't get myself to eat....yet. That's coming lol. We got all our bedding stuff and headed back to Campus. So far a pretty fun day.
To be honest if someone was to offer me a free plane ticket home last night and this morning I would have gone home in a second. I was incredibly overwhelmed with everything, I didn't have the internet to connect with you guys, I couldn't find an ATM, and I didn't know a single person. Honestly I hated it. But, I feel it's coming around now, hanging out with Tuukka and Emilia was very fun and I've gotten to know them quite well already, so that was really nice. Anyway, we're about to head out and grab a bite to eat. I'll post pictures tonight!
Kyle
Just saw your pictures on fb, it looks amazing there. I'm sure you'll get used to the overwhelmed feeling and feel right at home soon. You have to try sushi too! Just don't try anything too "out there" to start out with, trust me that stuff is delicious. Hope you're having a great time bud, we're gonna miss you Dorothy!
ReplyDeletekyle!!! hope everything is going great!! It looks awesome over there! Just try sushi you will love it!
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KYLE!!
ReplyDeleteYou should go eat Korean BBQ when you get the chance! It's not far, I forgot what the night market is called already :(, but it's not too far away from Shilin Yeshi, it's a good 20 mins walk (you want to walk to save your MRT money).
Awww, you're getting some of the culture shock! No worries, I give you 1.5 weeks until you truly get use to it. You'll find out that there's so much to do that you'll end up falling in love with Taiwan.
I hope you get the chance to go down south!
Hi Kyle!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update on the posts, they are great to read. I'm trying to figure this blog out with Nate's help. Let's see if this works!
Aunt Kathy
"To be honest if someone was to offer me a free plane ticket home last night and this morning I would have gone home in a second. " And, that was how Professor Smith felt when he first went to Taiwan on his own many, many, many ... years ago (and he didn't even know where he was going to stay prior to the trip). Hang in there and contact people to whom I introduced you. You will gradually get used to everything there, and have your own group of Chinese "buddies".
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